The herb trick most home bakers skip

Hey -,

Last week I told you about the dimple window.

This is the second one.

When do you press the herbs into the dough?

Get it wrong and you get one of two failures:

→ Press too early: The herbs get buried under the rising dough and come out pale, soggy, anonymous.

→ Press too late: The dough has already set, so the herbs sit on top like a topping. First cut, they fall off.

The window opens right after you dimple. The dough is wet, accepting, still relaxed. You press fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano, and your decorative produce. Tomato petals, olive halves, herb stems into the same dimples your fingertips just made. The dough closes around them. They bake INTO the crust, not on top of it.

That's the herb-layering technique. That's why focaccia at a bakery looks like edible art and yours at home looks like seasoned bread.

Once you've nailed dimpling and herb-layering, the olive-oil crackle is the easy part. Pour the right oil over the dough at the right time and the surface forms a glossy, snappy crust that shatters when you cut into it.

Garden Focaccia ships July 1–7. Orders close June 29.

→ Semester Pass (most popular) — $159.95 for 3 kits, free tote with #1

→ Full Enrollment (best value) — $298.92 for 6 kits + $109 in bonuses

→ Drop-In — $54.95 for June only

Paula

P.S. The herbs you press in matter. The kit comes with rosemary, thyme, and oregano measured to the gram so nothing burns. Your kitchen will smell like an Italian grandmother's kitchen on a Sunday. That's the promise.