Bread/focaccia toppings?

Latest Articles

Bread/focaccia toppings?

Downsizer Forum Index -> Recipes, Preserving, Homebrewing

Author

Message

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 05 9:05 am Post subject: Bread/focaccia toppings?

Got a smattering of sisters and nephews to tea tonight and to go with their sausages (they're bringing their own

) I thought I would knock up some reasonable bread...I've already got some plain white rolls in the freezer so I thought I'd do some foccacia-alike, I will do an olive/sage/shallot one as that's our favourite, and I want to do something bland because the nephews are notoriously fussy.

Would it work to mix some cheddar in to the dough, and then add a small amount to the topping? I don't think herbs would be advised

Or do you have any other favourite toppings we could try, either bland or tasty? I might not get around to them tonight, but I do like making this kind of bread, makes a change with soups and is a nice snack on it's own, and it always looks like you've made an enormous effort when you have people round

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 05 9:29 am Post subject:
Don't do rosemary and red onion (my favourite) then, because apparently the rosemary sprigs look like eyelashes and don't go down well with the pickier child! How about feta cheese? Or just red onion on its own with a bit of sea salt. Chopped up red peppers? Something like a sliced up peperami would probably work as well if you could face it.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 05 11:35 am Post subject:

Not so much a topping suggestion, more of a mix, but I quite like to put a squirt of tomato puree and some dried chillies in the dough to make a spicy, pink foccacia. It's not what you'd call bland, though! Similary, very finely chopped onions in the dough itself are nice.
Red onions give a nice sweet topping. For an aniseedy taste, try fennel seeds.
If you're using ordinary white bread dough, a good glug of olive oil and a bit of extra flour before a second kneading can transform it into instant foccacia dough.

hils

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 568
Location: Nottingham

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 05 12:18 pm Post subject:

I work in a deli and we 'do' paninis and fokka's - called 'Big Fokkas'!
We toast them in a panini grill, if you have the facilities to do this - George grills work with the help of the weight of a brick.
Try using a cheese that melts and is quite gluey. Jarlsberg is good. This sticks the opened bread together disguising its contents.
Much to my boss's dismay I market the fokkas to the kids as (please forgive me) "like macdonalds but bigger". Works every time! See macdonalds does have its uses.
We are a veggie deli (i'm not) but you could do fillings like chicken breast with bit of mayo, lettuce and cheese.
Maybe make a few fokkas with sesame seeds on top like a burger bun.
You could do a breakfast fokka - bacon, tomato (sauce if they're really fussy) and cheese.

The worlds your lobster with this one!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 9:32 am Post subject:

Thanks people, rather nice ideas I'll be stocking up for the future.

I did:

red onion, olive and eyelash

red onion, feta and two thyme
mozzarella (mixed some in to the dough and some on the top
cheese and tomato (yep, that's a pizza by any other name)

Not surprisingly the mozzarella one went down really well, but the first two were remarkably tried out by at least three children, and one of them, who last time I saw him being offered a choice of food went for a little baked potato with his butter, actually seemed to enjoy the red onion and feta one...he asked to be allowed to pick off the red onion bits, but hey, the flavour was there, I bet if it wasn't visible he'd have scoffed it happily.

I had made the first two to be eaten cold so they were available to eat while people were still hungry, before the plainer breads, I think that was a good move (though unintentional, as I was trying to stop them from drowning themselves and forgot to put things in the oven on time

)

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 10:46 am Post subject:

Drowned kids is not good!

Glad they tried - they obviously expect weird food from aunty bugs! I've got an aunt like that!

chilli and mozerella is fab (maybe not for nephews) and goats cheese and anything (particularly red onion and eyelashes) is good.

Devious does a recipe for bread which is very nice, and doesn't need a messing about with rising (i use it when I run out of bread flour!) with goats cheese

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/r_0000001420.asp

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 11:56 am Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Glad they tried - they obviously expect weird food from aunty bugs!

NOBODY calls me aunty

... we've never gone in for that in our family (on either side) and everyone is just first names.

I must try that recipe as you're so enthused about it, TD doesn't like goat's cheese but in bread it is probably much easier to take. Of course now you're a free woman I should be getting you to bake and send it to me

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 12:03 pm Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

... TD doesn't like goat's cheese ...

To me that's like saying I don't like drinks - there are so many different types ou there. Now if he's on abou the brie style ones that walk out of the house on their own when you're not looking I can understand, but a nice firm goats cheese is fantastic in rissoto.

TD, do you wish to clarify?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 12:10 pm Post subject:

Northern_Lad wrote:

TD, do you wish to clarify?

I love goats, I could spend hours with them.

However, I've tried goats milk and various soft goats cheeses of relative mildness to ones that have evolved into their own life forms. They all just taste 'goaty', just like goats smell and it something I don't like the taste of. I really want to like goat products, actually goat meat is fine, as a few goats seem the best animals after chickens for us to get. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 12:15 pm Post subject:
The 'goatyness' of the cheese is aparently down to the age of the milk when the cheese was made, rather than the age of the cheese. I have tried a sort of goats-cheese fudge (sounds bad, looks like ear-wax) that a swedish friend of mine brought back, that was quite nice, and not really goaty at all.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 12:24 pm Post subject:
Gjetost? I've always wanted to try that, but I'm still not sure whether I want to eat animal rennet ...we learned a bit about it in our Norwegian class, they eat it with jam on bread apparently...

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 05 12:29 pm Post subject:
Not a clue what it was called, and I can't ask at the mo 'cause they're off suffering a week in the Dolomites....grumble, grumble. Sounds like the stuff though.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Recipes, Preserving, Homebrewing	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

View Latest Posts