Homemaker in the Making: Garlicky Focaccia Bread

Since I noticed that there are bottles of mixed herbs and seasoning left untouched in the fridge, I decided to put them to good use. Cant let these ingredients go wasted right! I am an anti food wastage advocate. Heh, which explains my curvy figure too. I got this recipe off the web but I made quite a bit of modifications to it so can I call it mine now? Haha. This one is really easy to prepare! Preparation merely took 10 to 15 mins while the baking time took me 35 mins. Anyway I am proud to showcase my first home made bread here. I am really proud as I made this from scratch! Plus I used plain flour and not bread flour which is easier for making bread. So here I present my crunchy on the outside, soft at the inside bread!

    Baking in process. This is the first time I am using the new oven.

Freshly baked! Can you smell the aroma? 

 Look how soft and fluffy the bread is! First attempt at making bread. Success! 

I cut it into strips so that it is easier to eat. Pair it with a mushroom soup and you are good to go!

Here's the recipe (makes a 9" by 13" pan)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of warm water of around 50 degrees (Dun use boiling water otherwise you KILL the poor yeast)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups all purpose/plain flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon of Masterfoods garlic seasoning (Optional. You can use fresh herbs like sage, thyme, rosemary)
1 teaspoon of Masterfoods dried mixed herbs and a little more for sprinkling (Optional. You can use fresh herbs like sage, thyme, rosemary)  

Procedures
1. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan 
2. Combine and mix all the dry ingredients (except for the garlic seasoning as it is only used in the final step)
3. Add in the warm water and olive oil and mix well. (You can use an electric mixer or do it by hand) 
4. Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it doubles in size or becomes bigger..
5. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 200°.
6. After the dough has risen, gently poke the dough all over with your index finger to remove excess air.
7. Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with Masterfoods garlic seasoning and Masterfoods dried mixed herbs or the dried herbs of your choice.
8. Bake the bread till it's golden brown around 35 to 40 minutes.
9. Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Cut and serve! 

This is really easy to make! Try it sometime! 

Here's a silly gif I made. Look at the cutesy ribbons on my hair! My eyes look too big in here.. scary! Happy weekends everyone :)