A glistening summer loaf

Okay, you got me. My original mission in starting this blog with Lydia was to discuss my experience at a mile high in a 6x5 kitchen. You and I both know, this hasn't really been happening. Lately, I've pretty much been baking/cooking whatever tickles my fancy and posting it on here for all of you to enjoy. But no more! I will now go back to my original mission: my life (both baking and personal) at 5,389 feet.

Colin and I got our first taste of this different life when we went to the pool the other day. For some reason, neither of us did the math that being higher up in the air means less atmosphere between your pasty white, winter skin and the blazing surface of the sun. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep for four days and my poor husband has been walking around without a shirt on groaning because his stomach is the shade of a late summer cherry. Poor kid. Did I mention this was the second time we were blazed out in the sun? Yeah, the Joneses don't learn very quickly, I suppose.

Anyways, today's challenge is a cherry tomato and mozzarella focaccia bread. I was going to make this the other day with my roasted tomatoes, but I got distracted with an extreme hankering for boiled peanuts, which turned into a 5 hour ordeal. I did learn one fun fact while making my peanuts, however. At this altitude water boils and evaporates faster; my poor peanuts burned their shells because I hadn't quite learned this yet. Also, don't buy cheap pasta at this altitude, spring for the good stuff or make your own. Cheap pasta cooks entirely too quickly up here and turns to mush. Luckily, my homemade alfredo sauce was enough to make up for the noodle disaster. It's the little things.

Anyways, back to the bread. I pretty much loved it and I have an olive spread that I haven't used from my visit to Italy (it's probably bad by now, but I haven't opened it so I'm pretending it's not happening) that I've been dying to use. This bread was a challenge. Making an airy flat bread up this high is strange with the yeast - flour combination needed for (most) breads. But I would say it faired fairly well.

Also, this is a small disclaimer about the horrible yellow hue in all of the photos that come out of this mile high kitchen: I have no natural light, and by that I mean not even a slight sliver that comes in at the same time every day. Nothing. And since I only have a point and shoot and little to no knowledge of photography, I am working on my photos but they are still not very good. I apologize for this. Now, without further ado, the delicious recipe.

Cherry tomato and mozzarella focaccia bread:

2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. highly active yeast

3/4 cup tepid water

2 tbsp. olive oil (be sure to use a richly flavored olive oil or the bread will taste like pizza crust)

sliced cherry tomatoes

a handful of fresh mozzarella

1. Mix salt and flour in a large bowl. Add yeast then mix in water and olive oil to form a soft dough. Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
2. Place back in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until the dough has doubled.
3. Take dough out mix in sliced cherry tomatoes (I added the tomatoes at the end and the bread ended up not being as airy). Form into an oval shape and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise for one more hour.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, press finger in dough to make dimples, cover with cheese, oregano and garlic powder (or whatever seasoning you prefer) and bake for 30 minutes. If you do add cheese, make sure to cover with tin foil. Remove from oven when it's golden brown, slice and enjoy.