Black Olive Spider Focaccia

Black Olive Spider Focaccia

This focaccia recipe is a house favorite! I love it on chilly fall days paired with a hearty soup. Mix it up and add your own toppings or try this deliciously spooky spider art design. See it served at my Hocus Pocus dinner party here!

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 tbl olive oil + more for greasing and topping
• 4 cups OO flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup black pitted olives
• dried rosemary for topping
• freshly ground salt for topping

Directions

1. In a measuring cup, add the warm water (between 105-110F). Sprinkle the yeast on top, give it a quick stir to incorporate, and let sit until yeast shows signs that it’s active.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt.
3. When the yeast is active and bubbly, (up to 10 minutes), pour it over the flour along with the olive oil and mix with your hands until incorporated.
4. A shaggy dough will form at this point. Knead the dough within the bowl for an additional 20-30 seconds until it becomes somewhat of a workable ball.
5. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 2-2 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
6. Punch down the dough and place in a large, olive oil greased glass mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to five days to increase flavor.
7. When you are ready to make the focaccia, punch down the dough and transfer to another olive oil greased mixing bowl that’s at room temperature. Let rise one more time for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 450F and slather a generous layer of olive oil over the bottom and edges of an 8×11 glass casserole dish.
9. Place your dough into the dish carefully as to not deflate. Add a little more olive oil to the top and to your hands, and press your fingers deep into the dough to create the dimples as your stretch the dough to the sides of the dish.
10. Add your toppings. For the spiders, slice an olive lengthwise in half for the body. Slice the olive into rounds and half the rounds for the legs. Press the spider pieces gently into the dough to stick. Sprinkle with dried rosemary and fresh ground salt.
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top has nicely browned. Let cool before removing. To remove, some areas may get stuck to the bottom. I use a metal spatula to go around the edges and underneath the bread to remove in one piece.