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Boy received some professional, life altering, bad news this past Friday. Obviously, I wanted to be a supportive wife and do something nice to help cheer him up. I wanted him to remember, that no matter what, I am always here for him. We have been through worse times, and regardless of the obstacle or devastation, we will always weather the storm. Together. Besides, he couldn’t get rid of me even if he tried. I’m entirely too stubborn.
So, I wanted to cheer Boy up, but I had absolutely zero idea what to do to accomplish that goal. So naturally, I googled “how to cheer someone up”. This is the list I found. No offense to whomever created that list, but really?! Why don’t you add ‘catch fire flies together’ as well? Lame. However, I did end up reading the list to Boy and we had a good laugh, so I guess there’s that.
Since google provided absolutely zero inspiration to provide cheer, and I was left to my own creative devices, I turned to the thing I know, and do, best. Cooking. I contemplated baking cookies, or maybe searing a big, fat, juicy steak , but ultimately I decided on making bread. You see, Boy is like a lot of us, a carb-oholic. Recently he has been eating buttered bread like it’s the cool new thing to do, and he desperately wants to be part of the “in” crowd. I’m talking half a loaf a day, easy.
However, I didn’t want to make just plain sandwich bread. I wanted the bread I made for my honey to be special. I mean, this was supposed to be a bread so magically delicious it would turn his frown upside down. What I came up with was this – No Knead Goat Cheese, Pistachio and Rosemary Focaccia. Boy loved this bread and declared, while stuffing his face, he would not be sharing… so I am pretty sure I accomplished my mission to bring cheer. 🙂
This focaccia is seriously delicious. The texture is exactly how I like my focaccia to be: dense and chewy, yet soft and tender. However, the toppings are what really make this bread special. The focaccia is creamy, tangy and decadent from the goat cheese, salty and crunchy from the pistachios, and earthy and well balanced from the rosemary. Overall, this bread is hearty and spectacularly scrumptious.
As if all that wasn’t enough jazz, the bread is made even better because it is a no knead bread. Yes, you heard me right. No kneading necessary. Simply stir the focaccia ingredients together in a large bowl, walk away and let it do its yeasty thing. If that isn’t #Winning, I don’t know what is.
Also, this focaccia is customizable. Don’t fancy goat cheese (because you must be nuts)? Swap it out for parmesan or Asiago. Pistachios not really your thing? Try cashews or walnuts. Don’t care for Rosemary? Switch it out for thyme or dill. Or, you could get really crazy and nix those ingredients all together. Instead, opt for sundried tomatoes, black olives, red onions, roasted red pepper… or you could keep it seriously simple with just sea salt and some balsamic. The world is your oyster and this focaccia is your blank canvas.
Regardless of how you chose to top your focaccia, I can guarantee you are going to love it. So don’t knead some dough with me and instead, cheer yourself up by stirring together some fantastically fresh and delicious Focaccia. Until next time, cheers and happy baking!
-xoxo-
Cheyanne
Goat Cheese, Pistachio & Rosemary Focaccia
Ingredients
- 17.5 ounces Bread Flour (about 3 ¼ cup + 2 TBS)
- ¾ tsp Active Dry Yeast
- ¾ tsp Granulated Sugar
- ½ ounce Kosher Salt (about 1 TBS + 1 tsp)
- 11.5 ounces Water – divided (about 1 ½ cups minus 1 TBS)
- ¼ Cup + 1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil – divided
- 4 ounces Goat Cheese – crumbled
- 1/3 Heaping cup Pistachios – shelled and roughly chopped
- 1 TBS Fresh Rosemary Leaves – finely chopped
- ½ tsp Coarse Sea Salt , plus more to taste
Instructions
- Preparing Dough: Heat ¼ a cup of water to between 105-110 degrees F, either in the microwave or on the stove. Sprinkle in yeast and granulated sugar. Stir to combine. Set aside and allow the yeast to bloom for 5-10 minutes, or until mixture is foamy and yeast is activated and alive.
- In a large bowl* combine flour, salt, and remaining water (1 ¼ cup minus 1 tablespoon). Stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Add in the yeast water and stir again to combine until all ingredients are moistened. *Bowl should be at least 5 times larger than the volume of the dough to account for rising.
- Rising: Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, set aside, and allow to rest at room temperature for 8-24 hours, or until dough has drastically risen. (mine took about 12 hours)
- Remove the plastic wrap and discard. Sprinkle the top of the dough with a small amount of flour and transfer to a lightly floured work surface.
- Flour hands liberally and form the dough into a tight ball by tucking the dough up and underneath itself and rotating dough. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil on top of the dough and rub to smooth over.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into the bottom of a 12’’ cast iron skillet or large cake pan. Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the skillet and turn gently to coat in oil.
- Using your palm, gently press dough down to flatten it slightly. Cover the skillet tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough stand, at room temperature, for 2 hours or until dough mostly fills the skillet. When 30 minutes is left of standing time, adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 525 degrees F.
- Topping & Baking: Using your fingertips gently press the top of the dough to make indentations and to help the dough completely fill up the skillet. Lift up the edges of the dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape. Use your finger tips to pop all the air bubbles that rise to the surface of the dough.
- Sprinkle the goat cheese and pistachios evenly over the dough, using your fingertips to press cheese and nuts into the dough. Drizzle the dough evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle with rosemary and sea salt.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, the bottom is well browned (lift it with a thin spatula to check) and the internal temperature of bread is 190 degrees F, about 16-24 minutes. If the bread is getting too brown too quickly, tent the skillet with aluminum foil. If the top of the bread is fully cooked and golden brown, but the bottom is not as crispy as desired, transfer the skillet to a burner over medium heat and cook until crisped, about 1-3 minutes.
- Let bread rest in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cutting board and allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
*Recipe adapted from Serious Eats
*Bread can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in an oven preheated to 300 degrees for 8-12 minutes.
Nutrition
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Jennifer
My husband has been having a pretty crappy week at work, bet this focaccia would cheer him up too! wow, this looks amazing Cheyanne!
Cheyanne Bany
Oh no, Jennifer!! I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope your husbands week has gotten better!! 🙂 And you are right, a little carby love never hurt anyone! Cheers, girlie!
Anu-My Ginger Garlic Kitchen
This no-knead No knead focaccia looks awesome! Loved the combination of goat cheese and pistachio!
Cheyanne Bany
GAH! Anu, I am so sorry I am just NOW seeing this comment! My site has been doing a LOT of updates and back ups… and I am JUST NOW seeing comments posted a while ago! 🙁 this makes me sad. But, your super kind comments always turn my frown upside down! Cheers, girl! xo
karrie @ Tasty Ever After
Just now reading this as I am so behind in my life at the moment! Your text the other day makes more sense now 🙂 Glad all has worked out and, damn girl, this recipe looks fantastic!! Another exceptional job in the creatively dept and you are killing it with your photography skills.
Cheyanne Bany
Ha! Obviously I am SOOO behind as well, because this just NOW popped up in my comments section – Whaaa? Thanks for being such a great friend, Karrie! Your friendship is one of the BEST things that has come out of this blog! xoxo
Heather – Butter & Burlap
Oh no! Sorry about the bad news! I’m positive this bread would make me feel 1,000 times better… I mean… just look at it! It looks amazing! And the flavors you chose are absolutely perfect! You get a wifey gold star 🙂
Cheyanne Bany
Thank you, Heather. What is it about carbs that just make everything seem so much more bareable? 🙂 Carb-coma? lol. Thanks for the gold star, I’m totally going to be showing my husband that! Cheers and warm wishes for a wonderful Friday & weekend!
Erin @ Miss Scrambled Egg
Cheyanne – You’re such a sweet wife. Homemade bread is one of the best ways to show your love and empathy toward a tough situation. I hope things turn around.
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks, Erin! I thought homemade bread was a good idea… It’s so hard to watch someone you love upset and not be able to change things for them. I am sure you understand, as a fellow food blogger, it is easy to turn to food to provide support and show your love. I mean they do say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! 🙂 Cheers and warm wishes for a fabulous weekend!
Thao @ In Good Flavor
I’m so sorry about your husband’s bad news. Hopefully it will eventually work out in his favor.
I love no-knead bread recipes, and this one sounds fantastic! I think rosemary and focaccia are meant for each other. I also love how you added nuttiness and crunch with the pistachio. Yum!
Cheyanne Bany
Thank you for the kind words, Thao! Life will always come with hard times, but I am a firm believer in perseverance and never giving up or losing hope. 🙂 I’m also a firm believer that bread can help make you happy in sad times! lol. I totally agree, that rosemary and focaccia are a match made in heaven. They totally belong together! Thank you again, for putting a smile on my face! Warm wishes for a wonderful weekend!
Gayle @ Pumpkin ‘N Spice
Wow this bread is absolutely gorgeous! I love the goat cheese and pistachios on here! And no knead bread is always a winner in my book. Delish!
Cheyanne Bany
Thank you, Gayle! No Kead is great, right! If I can find a lazy way to do something, without sacrificing flavor or texture, I am always in! Cheers and warm wishes for a wonderful weekend!
Beeta @ Mon Petit Four
So sorry about the bad news! But on a happy note, this bread looks life-changing. I mean, you need life-changing bread for life-changing moments so this definitely fits the bill. I love how high you got your focaccia bread – fantastic job, Cheyanne! I need to try this recipe 🙂
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks Beeta, for the kind words! Bad news is apart of life, unfortunately… we are working on hopefully turning that bad news into good news. Which could be positively life changing for us – kind of like this bread (lol). Do me a favor and keep your fingers crossed! 😉 This focaccia recipe is pretty dang fool proof, so if you do try it, I hope you love it and find it as easy as I do! Cheers, pretty lady!
annie@ciaochowbambina
Okay…I think you need to re-write ‘the list’ and it needs to begin with this fantastic recipe…maybe it could end with catching fire-flies together?! Your guy is so lucky to have you and this delectable focaccia, my friend! Well done!!
Cheyanne Bany
Annie, I had to copy and paste your entire site onto my grocery shopping list. Because I want to make everything 🙂 While we won’t be catching any fire flies together any time soon, I think I am the lucky one to have him. I’m a royale pain in the tush! Wish I could always make things better for him, but least I can do is provide freshly baked bread! (especially when I cheat and it’s no knead!). Thanks for the kind words, as always, girlfriend! Cheers!
Joanne
I’m sorry to hear about the bad news, but it sounds like you guys are coping well…with CARBS. Is there any other way?!
Cheyanne Bany
You are so right, girlie – Carbs can fix everything. lol… or at least temporarily make you forget that life can be cruel. 🙂 Thanks, Joanne and Cheers!
Kathleen | HapaNom
Your hubby is lucky to have you 🙂 This would have cheered me up for sure! This is the most incredible focaccia I’ve ever seen! Just look at it – every square inch is covered! AND it’s no-knead!? Amazing! I am not a baker, but I’ve always enjoyed making focaccia – making yours next time for sure!
Cheyanne Bany
Aww, thanks Kathleen. But to be honest, I think I am the lucky one! 🙂 He puts up with me on a daily basis #ImmaPain lol. So glad you like that I jam-pony’d the focaccia… Some people like their toppings light, I am not one of those people! I hope you do try the no knead focaccia dough. It’s super-duper easy, perfect for anyone who does or doesn’t like to bake. 😉 Cheers, girl!
Kelly – Life Made Sweeter
No knead breads are my favorite! Love how simple they are to make and the goat cheese and pistachio combo sound perfect!
Cheyanne Bany
Kelly, Hard to not love a no knead bread… right!? The combination of goat cheese, pistachio and rosemary really is terrific! Thanks for the kind words and stopping by! Cheers, girlie!
Sam @ SugarSpunRun
This looks ridiculously good, the flavor must be amazing! Sorry to hear about your bad news, though.
Cheyanne Bany
Thank you, Sam! This was ridiculously good. My only problem was Boy ate 99.9999% of it… So I didn’t get to enjoy it all that much. But thats okay, I didn’t make it for myself anyways 😉 Thanks for the support, hopefully we can turn the sour lemons (bad news) into spiked lemonade. lol. Cheers!
Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts
This sounds sooooooo good.
I love goats cheese and rosemary so it is perfect 🙂
No knead bread is one of my favourites, so simple to just mix and then forget about it. Can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks, Claire. Its pretty impossible to go wrong with goat cheese in or on anything! Especially when paired with rosemary and bread. 🙂 If you do try it, hope you love this as much as Boy did! (I would say I did… but he ate most of it! lol) Cheers!
Adam
Yo! I am such a fan of no knead anything, it’s amazing and I’m lazy. Goat cheese, pistachio and rosemary? Yes please! Awesome work, macro is lookin spec-tac-u-lar:)
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks Adam, I can’t wait to see all your photography with your spiffy new camera! Might have to get myself one! But I could never sell my macro. I heart it too much! This bread is being no knead is pretty terrific. I’m lazy too, but I don’t want to sacrifice flavor to take a load off. Answer to problem = no knead bread 🙂 Cheers, buddy!
Ben Maclain@havocinthekitchen
It might be the really magical focaccia, Cheyanne! I haven’t tried even a morsel of it (guess why? Cause you didn’t sent it to me!), but it has cheered me up as well! What could be better than some carbs to improve ones mood? You still could’ve made some cake donuts, but honestly, I would easily ditch any donuts out to have some amazing bread! I used to bake focaccia quite often, and my favorite one was with olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary (rosemary is always the good company for a focaccia). And besides the rosemary you added some other my favorite things – pistachios and goat cheese. Such a scrumptious combo! Plus, no kneading?! It’s just a dream! I’m a very lazy boy, that’s why this approach sounds lovely to me as well. I’m sold. Nicely done, nicely!
Cheyanne Bany
Ben, I didn’t send you any because Boy was very unwilling to share this focaccia. Plus, he ate it all before anyone could have even tried to sneak a piece! 🙂 I have plans to make cake donuts very soon, actually! Trust me, when I do you will be the second to know (Boy being the first!) Simple sea salt and rosemary focaccia is always a winner in my book. This is focaccia just is very similar, just with a little bit more going on up top. I’m a lazy girl as well, so anything no knead is fantastic to me.. glad you agree! Thanks for the kind words my friend! Cheers!!
Rachelle @ Beer Girl Cooks
Oh no! I’m so sorry bad things happened to Boy. It’s a good thing he has you and this focaccia to cheer him up. I think this focaccia would cheer anyone up. I mean, hello? No knead, goat cheese, and pistacios? Yes please! Pinned!
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks Rachelle, he got screwed over pretty badly… I will post about it once things have settled down, I don’t want to jinx anything we have in the works! Keep your fingers crossed for us, we need all the positive vibes we can get! I’m glad you concur, that this bread is a great way to spread a little cheer. 🙂 Besides it you like bread and cheese, you can’t really go wrong with this focaccia! Thanks for pinning and for the kind words (as always). Cheers, girlie girl!
Gaila
How is this even possible? no knead?? omg, girl I love pistachios and goat cheese, this sounds like a great combination! love to try it myself! Hugs
Cheyanne Bany
Thanks Gaila! No knead bread is awesome, the only draw back is that the rise time is a lot longer. But really, it just means you have a lot more time to go do whatever it is you enjoy doing! Hope you do try it! Cheers and Hugs! 🙂