Whole Wheat Focaccia

I sit in our sitting space and I look outside through the window. There is a giant tree standing in front of it. It is huge and probably more than 50 years old. It was here when I first came to Abidjan. It is still here growing more everyday since then. The first thing that I see every morning is this tree. Standing like a giant person spreading its branches creating a canopy above our building and shielding us from the sun everyday. It is also the home for many birds. Crows, local swans and also go away birds. With luck sometimes I can also see woodpeckers, parrots and even other colourful birds. There is a large beehive in it. Much higher than the human reach and it too had been there for many many years. From below the tree looks very much like other smaller trees. Only when we look above it strikes us with its giant humongous size. Last year in a storm one part of the tree crashed to the building behind it, and created a crack on the wall. Even after loosing a huge part of it, the tree still looks big. 

I watch the tree moving in the wind everyday from the window. It asks me how my day was. What I had been doing. He asks me if I am sad. If I am happy. He smiles and nods. He says he understands. That it’s going to be alright in the end. I ask him if it is cold out there in this rain, and he smiles. I wonder how it feels to stay in the same place and not move an inch. How it feels to greet the sun every morning in the first hour of the day. How it feels to survive so long in silence?? How it feels when the birds sit on the branches and chirps along all day. The tree just moves, smiles and nods and moves again. 

There are no flowers on the trees. No fruits. So I still don’t know its name. But it’s a huge tree, spreading its branches in all directions and giving shelter to so many birds. Everyday I just sit in front of the window. Watch the tree move and feel better in a few minute. And the tree stays there, moving with the wind, with its vibrant green small leaves, numerous branches and birds nests, free…but still rooted to the earth to spend an eternity again.

 Whole Wheat Focaccia

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Ingredients:

350gm of whole wheat flour

200gm all purpose flour

280ml room temperature water

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

Method:

1. In a bowl mix the yeast and sugar. Let it bloom for 15 minutes and then add the olive oil, salt, whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. Mix the flour until it turns into a lump of dough. Transfer it to a flat surface and knead for 10-15 minutes or until it becomes soft and smooth. Give it a round shape.

2. Grease a big bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in it. Wrap it with a cling film. Let it rise inside the refrigerator for 8 hours or until doubled in size.

3. After 8 hours take it out of the refrigerator and punch it down. Let it stay covered and rest for 15 minutes.

4. Take a square baking tin and drizzle some olive oil in it. Place the dough in it and spread it all over the pan. If the dough does not stretch let it rest for 15 minutes again and the spread.

5. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven at 425F and just before putting the dough inside the oven make dimples on your focaccia and drizzle one or two tablespoon of the olive oil on top of it again.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown from the outside. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.