Slow Cooked Focaccia Bread

 On the Down to Earth Forums this week one of the members shared about Slow Cooked Focaccia Bread and gave the recipe. I asked her for permission to use the recipe on my blog and she replied that it is from this page on the Great Australia Bite. This is on Facebook but you don't have to be a Facebook member to read the recipes there. I'm not and I was able to scroll through some fabulous recipes which I intend to try out in the near future. So here are my adventures with making the Slow Cooked Focaccia Bread.

Firstly, here is the recipe from the Facebook page. I couldn't find anything about copyright on the page to give credit to the person who wrote the recipe.

Slow Cooked Focaccia Bread

Ingredients 

3 cups of Self Raising Flour

2 cups of WARM water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
(that is the base - you can add what ever you like into the mix and on top )

Method

Turn your slow cooker on to high.

Line it with baking paper, and give it a good spray.

Once the ingredients are mixed, put the mix in the slow cooker then put what you like on top.

Before placing the lid on, drape a clean tea towel over the top of the slow cooker then place the lid on so that it holds the tea towel there. This is to stop condensation dripping on the bread.

Cook on high for 1 and a 1/2 hours

Once cooked place under the grill for about 5 minutes to brown the top.

Well, I had a few issues with making this bread. On Thursday I started measuring out the flour and then realised I didn't have enough white SR flour left so used two cups wholemeal SR flour and one cup of white SR flour. I thought it would be too heavy when using three cups of wholemeal SR flour anyway so was fairly confident it would work out.

Unfortunately, when the one and a half hours were up, it wasn't cooked properly but I had to go out so took it out of the crockpot and it ended up being a big 'doughy'. However, it mustn't have tasted too bad as it was all eaten for dinner.

So I thought I would have another try yesterday so cut up some parsley, rosemary and chives as well as some garlic and added them ...

 ...to the flour and water and mixed it up...

...put it in the crock pot with some olives on one side for the olive lovers in the family...

...put the tea towel under the lid to prevent drips onto the bread...

 

...and left it for two hours to cook as this time I used half white and half wholemeal SR flour...or so I thought. I looked into the crock pot and was wondering why it hadn't risen very much so checked the packet of flour I had bought the day before and would you believe it...it was PLAIN FLOUR!!! I thought I had bought SR flour.

So hopefully the next time I make it I will actually use the correct ingredients and cook it for the correct amount of time. As with the first try, the bread was eaten in no time with some pea and ham soup so obviously it was still quite tasty.

Here are the notes on the Great Australian Bite page about toppings you can add:

NOTES

Here are some toppings that you can use:

* add rosemary to the mix, then on top added diced bacon , grated cheese and parmesan ( grated) cheese.

* ham, rosemary to the mix and on top added diced ham, cheese and Parmesan.

* garlic ( as much as you like), diced bacon, pineapple pieces to the mix , then on top grated cheese, bacon, pineapple and Parmesan.

* on top Vegemite and grated cheese and Parmesan.

* add to the mix olives, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms to the mix, and sun-dried tomatoes and olives and cheese on top.

* or just some simple herbs and cheese to top.

Let me know if you try the recipe and if it works out for you. Next time I go shopping for SR flour I will wear my glasses!

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Don't forget about my 1st blog anniversary giveaway! If you would like to win an Australian wildlife book you just have to leave a comment after this post and you will be in the draw. Please note that if you don't live in Australia there will be a special draw for you so just mention that you are from overseas so that you go in the correct draw. The giveaway closes on June 15th! Only a week to go!

UPDATE: I know a couple of readers are on holiday at the moment who might like to enter in the competition so I have extended the closing date till the end of the month, 30th June! Anyone can enter whether you are a new reader or have been visiting here for a while.