Want some focaccia with that?

You may recall that we made focaccia last week during our first foray in the kitchen of this semester at culinary school. Our chef wanted us (many of whom had never baked bread before) to try her almost fool-proof recipe to build some kitchen confidence.

And it was good. And easy.

So good and easy, in fact, that I made a double batch at home the next day to take to a dinner party. This time, though, I added chopped fresh rosemary to the dough and topped it with a generous amount of dried cherries and scallions that had been soaked in wine.

So, between what I've been cooking at school and at home, I've certainly been doing plenty of baking. But I've been feeling behind in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" Challenge. (Especially since I got to interview author Peter Reinhart for an article the other day -- more on that another time.)

Anyway, guess what the next bread in the challenge is? That's right. You guessed it.

Focaccia!

So, I made another pan of focaccia tonight. But I started this one yesterday. Quick, it's not. But it is fairly easy. You just mix up the dough, put it in the pan and let it hang out in the refrigerator overnight.

I wasn't feeling super-creative, so I topped this one with Reinhart's recommended herb-infused oil with minced garlic.

As with pretty much all breads, the long, slow rise gives this one extra flavor and richness. And I really like the texture -- it's spongier and softer than the other focaccia -- all the better for soaking up all of that oil.

But I'm pretty sure this would've been out-of-this-world if I'd topped it with that dried cherry-scallion mixture.

Hmmmm. Sounds like there's another batch of focaccia in my future.