I didn’t really have high expectations for this bread. My son was grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s with me the other day and picked this Focaccia Cheddar, Garlic bread up because he thought it was cool that there was cheese in this bread. But wouldn’t you know we found a new favorite with my kids!
I think almost everyone that is reading this knows what Focaccia bread is. But, let me remind you. It’s a high hydration type of bread that is usually baked in sheets and not in loaf form. Most bakers use a sheet pan to bake it. From there the sky is the limit. The most traditional Focaccia is baked simply with salt and herbs sprinkled on top. The bread is used for a variety of things in its native Italy. Mostly for just eating but you can split it horizontally and make sandwiches out of it. Lots of bakers will put cheese or onions or garlic or olives or whatever they can think of pressed into the top of it before they bake it. It’s very good dipped in olive oil as an appetizer. Love it.
But this is not that. The difference between regular bread dough and Focaccia dough is minimal. So putting it into a loaf pan and calling it Focaccia would be like putting pizza dough into a loaf pan and calling it pizza. Let’s get this out there. This is just bread with cheddar cheese and garlic in it. Calling it Focaccia bread means nothing. But while I don’t like the name, it doesn’t mean I don’t like the flavors! You can see from the picture above that there is cheese and small pieces of garlic embedded in the bread. The crust has a nice crust of cheese on it too. On it’s own it was just ok, I could taste the cheddar and garlic but where it really shines is a toast. If you toast it and use it for making sandwiches it makes them magical!
I will give this 8 Bells but only if you toast the bread!
INGREDIENTS
unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, shredded cheddar cheese (cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, microbial enzyme, annatto extract { for color }], potato starch and cellulose [anti-caking]. natamycin [mold inhibitor]). roasted garlic (garlic, olive oil). skim milk powder, asiago cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, microbial enzyme, animal rennet), contains 2% or less of cane sugar, palm oil, yeast, sea salt, wheat gluten, whole wheat flour, enzyme, cultured wheat flour (to preserve).
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