Hawaiian Honey Focaccia Bread

Part of what I enjoy so much about cooking is the personal spin that gets brought to any given recipe. I love how recipes can be personalized and made to feel current and local. This Bread is the perfect example of that, made to feel special to eat on our Island by the use of locally sourced Honey.

My version of this Italian classic is dense, so moist, and comes together effortlessly. The key here is to use local honey, flakey salt, and grassfed Butter such as Kerrigold. Oh, and you have to be generous with the use of Butter.

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Ingredients:

4 cups All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Sea Salt

1 package Instant Yeast

2 cups warm Water ( you want to to be like a baby's bathwater in temperature)

1/3 cup Honey that is local to you - I like the one from Big Island Bees

Olive Oil

1/4 cup Grassfed Buter

Flakey Sea Salt such as Maldon

Method:

In a large bowl whisk together Flour, Salt and Yeast.

Using a glass cup measure, combine the water and honey together. I like to get my hand in there and mix the honey and water so they are truly combined and 'one'.

(Note: If the water is too hot you will kill the little 'yeasties' . If it's too cold you won't wake them up. The perfect water temperature for working with yeast is 'baby bath' temp. It should feel warm on your inside wrist but not sting at all)

Pour the Honey mixture into the flour and mix to combine with a wooden spoon. The Dough should be quite wet, sticky when you touch is but not runny.

Gently pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl and generously drizzle Olive Oil (about 2 Tbsp) around the sides of the bowl. This will help the dough to 'climb' the sides as it rises.

Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and allow to rise until doubled in bulk- about 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, Line a 9x13 in pan with the softened Butter. Rub it into the creases of the pan really well, and along every inch that the bread will touch. You don't want that bread to stick!

Transfer the dough to the baking pan and gently pat and stretch it out to mostly fill the pan.

Cover and allow to rise again, about an hour, until bubbling and jiggling and fluffy.

Preheat the Oven to 400.

Drizzle with another 3-4 Tbsp of Olive Oil and then get your hands in there and create many dimples in the dough. Pushing and popping to allow air bubbles to rise, creating wells for the oil to sink into.

Finally, sprinkly with Maldon Salt and pop it in the oven!

My loaves usually cook in 15-20 minutes - I like them very browned!

Allow to cook in the pan for 5 mins and then turn them out onto a wire rack. Enjoy with more butter, olive oil, or use for your favorite Sandwhich!

xo Beth