Focacchia

Fresh focaccia and salad from the last
of the tomatoes and peppers.  Onions
are still going strong.

When the milk is about to get "blinky"...has that certain smell you can't put your finger on, but you're sure if you don't use it right away it will spoil...do some baking.  Traditional Focaccia recipes don't call for milk, but it works really well.  Most traditional recipes I have looked at don't call for eggs either, but in this case I made enough dough for 5 batches of, well, something.  By adding those ingredients, the dough was good for sweet rolls, some of it got finished with whole wheat flour for bread, and in the end one of those batches became Focaccia.
FOCACCIA
This flat Italian bread is baked in a relatively hot oven.  It is topped with olive oil and your choice of Italian spices, grated Parmesan cheese and other ingredients if desired.
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
1 2/3 cup warm milk or warm water
Parmesan cheese for grating
1 tablespoon Italian spice mix
1/4 teaspoon crushed chili peppers (optional)
Olive oil and kosher salt
Preparation:
Stir the honey or sugar into the warm milk.  When it is cool enough to add the yeast (120-130º F), sprinkle the yeast over the liquid and let sit for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile measure out 3 cups of the flour and add the salt to it.

The risen dough.

When the yeast has bloomed, add the olive oil or melted butter and then stir these liquids into the flour.  Beat with a spoon or in the mixer with a dough hook until a ball of dough forms.  If doing this by hand, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for several minutes.  In the mixer, continue running it for a few minutes.  Try to add as little flour as necessary and still be able to handle the dough.  Add the last 1/4 cup little by little if necessary.
Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, get out your favorite pizza pan or two, depending on size and prepare it by brushing with olive oil and sprinkling with cornmeal.   Preheat the oven to 425º F.  Turn the dough onto a floured surface, punch down, roll out and put on prepared pans.  Let rise for another 15 minutes.
While you are waiting, get out some kosher salt, bring the olive oil over and a pastry brush if you are so inclined.  When the 15 minutes have passed, use your finger or the end of a wooden spoon to poke indentations all over the focaccia.

Rolled, on the pizza stone, brushed with
olive oil, sprinkled with salt and spices
and then topped with grated Parmesan.

Drizzle with the 1-2 tablespoons olive oil.  This is the traditional way to do it.  However, if you want the olive oil to be evenly dispersed over the bread, brush it out with the pastry brush.  Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and then sprinkle the spices and grated Parmesan over it.  Use real Parmesan - not the powder in a can.  You'll be glad you did.
Place in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 375º F.  Bake for 15-25 minutes or until lightly golden.  Baking time will depend on your oven and how thick or thin you made the bread.  Two easy ways to cut it are using a pizza cutter or a good pair of kitchen shears.
Option:
Dice half an onion and sauté in a little olive oil.  Add some minced garlic cloves, stir for a moment, turn off heat and let cool.  Spread across focaccia before sprinkling it with spices.
Sweet Option:
My mom would take her leftover yeast dough from cake baking and roll it out much like the focacchia dough.  She'd poke indentations in it too.  Then she would cut little chunks of butter and place one in each indentation.  To finish it off she would sprinkle the whole thing with sugar and pop it in the oven.  What a treat!  In our German home it was called "Zuckerkuchen" (sugar cake).  When there was enough for two little rounds, she'd sprinkle one with grated coconut.  It just doesn't get any better than that!
HOMEMADE ITALIAN SPICE MIX:
There are as many combinations as there are cooks.  You can tweak this to suit your taste.  Some recipes call for a teaspoon of dried minced garlic.  I leave it out and use fresh from the garden when appropriate (which is almost always).
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried thyme