Layered Foccacia with Parma Ham, Herbs and Cheese

I finally made a bread where the yeast action kicked in! Hah! Bread making is so much more exciting when the dough cooperates. I used a new package instead of the old jar I had (which I later found out I had been storing incorrectly which probably contributed to its lack of fizzy action).

With the snow keeping us in, D and I decided to do some lunch time baking. We made this layered foccacia from a "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" by Jamie Oliver, and it filled the apartment with yummy smells that warded off the winter chill. I don't think it's a 'real' foccacia (it certainly didn't look much like the foccacia I've seen in stores), but it was tasty and it rose, so I'm happy. After you make the dough, you roll it out and fill half of it with olive oil, parmesan, cheddar, parma ham, arugula (I used spinach) and herbs, and then you fold over the other half of dough, kind of like a giant pizza pocket. It was really tasty. Next time I would put less salt in though, if I use salty things like parma ham and cheese.

I am going to make another attempt at baguette-making now that I am equipped with a new recipe, courtesy of Devonshire, a talented knitter and pastry chef who makes the most delicious-looking sweets ... mmm, I'm hungry again. Check out her blog here.