foccacia with cheese

Looking more like pizza than foccacia, I actually used my usual pita bread recipe for this. I wanted to make some extra pita bread one night so I went ahead and made the dough. It was getting late and I knew I wouldn't be able to bake it that night, so I decided to store it in the fridge to continue it the next day. Since we were having pasta for dinner, I thought about just making some foccacia with the dough instead of pita bread. I was happy with the result and the quality of the foccacia. Slow overnight rising really made a difference. It gave the dough some time to develop the flavor as well. Before baking, I brushed the top generously with olive oil, sprinkled it with some pizza seasoning (great flavor - we got it from the Baker's Catalogue) and lots of grated cheese. There were just a few basic ingredients needed for this simple pita turned foccacia recipe, so here it is:

PITA BREAD / FOCCACIA

7.5 oz or 1 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cups unbleached bread flour (or combination whole wheat & bread flour)

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

Pour water and oil into the bread machine pan. Add the flour. Add the salt and sugar in separate corners. Make a shallow well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast. Set to the dough setting. When the dough cycle is done, remove the dough from the machine. Place it on a lightly floured surface and gently punch down. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container or bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, take it out of the refrigerator and allow the dough to rest at room temperature. The dough will rise a little bit more. After this resting period, turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface or board. Using a dough roller or rolling pin, roll out the dough, directly on a perforated pizza pan, to about a half inch to an inch thick. Make indentions on the surface using your fingers and generously brush the top with olive oil. Sprinkle with pizza seasoning and grated cheese. The dough may puff up during baking since it's intended for pita bread. To prevent this, a fork may be used to poke the dough evenly. I have no problem with the dough puffing up, so I just left it as is. Bake for about 20 minutes at 375F. Slice with a pizza wheel and serve warm with additional olive oil.