I'm going to need more counter space!

I sure am racking up the kitchen appliances this year, lucky me though! For my birthday in August, my boyfriend Chris, gave me a KitchenAid mixer.  He is the best! He definitely knows how much I love to bake, but I have a slight suspicion he also knew the things he would benefit from in this gift (ahem, obsessed with chocolate chip cookies). That thing has seen a lot of action in the past 4 months, let me tell ya. My mother even gave me an ice cream attachment to go along with it. But my most recent kitchen appliance would be a Cuisinart Bread Maker from my parents this Christmas! Homemade bread? And all you do is just put the ingredients in the machine? Yep, sounds pretty good to me! Oh, and it is… You really can’t beat homemade bread.

 Now, onto my first recipe posting, which is something not found at the top of the food pyramid, strangely enough!

Foccacia Bread, all thanks to my lovely bread maker. I used the basic recipe that came along with the Cuisinart book, and only slightly tweaked the herbs on top of the bread and crust. The bread turned out absolutely perfect! We had it tonight with my dad’s slow cooker pork shoulder and a squash and spinach casserole. It would pair well with pasta, or any Italian dish obviously, but it went well with tonight’s dinner. Just like any bread recipe, you don’t have to rely on a bread maker. But for me, I don’t want to hurt it’s feelings. It’s not like it’s one of the best things ever… I probably won’t use it to make cinnamon bread tomorrow…

Although I just had to put the ingredients into the bread maker, select the correct setting, and press start, here's what all went in it:

Crust:
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. water, room temperature
2 tbsp. plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 1/4 teaspoons Italian herb blend
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups plus 3 tbsp. bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast (I used bread machine yeast)
*(I also added a small amount of garlic powder to the crust mixture, about 1 teaspoon)


Topping:
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Italian herbs, about 1/4 cup of any combination (I used basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme)

The dough had to knead and rise for a total of 1 hour 30 minutes in the machine, then I was able to roll it onto a jelly roll pan, put on the toppings, and let her bake. I think that's about as easy as it gets. Oh, the things I can make with this bread maker now...