The Two Day Grilled Cheese, Part 2

I laid awake a good part of the other night cringing about that tomato marmalade. I spent most of the next afternoon thinking about that tomato marmalade. I finally decided to remake that tomato marmalade. Lucky for me, the tomatoes I picked yesterday reappeared and brought friends. My suspicions about it were correct, although still good after being burned horribly, it's awesome when it's made correctly.

And thus, a grilled cheese was born... I'll try to make this short....er than the last post.

The focaccia bread... the half that was left by the time I got around to making the sandwich anyway (leave me alone, fiasco makes me hungry.)

Tomato marmalade made properly (I think) Isn't she purty?

Tomato marmalade, onion, and shredded cheap mozzarella. Simple. As much as I love fresh mozzarella, I think the saltiness of the cheaper stuff probably works a bit better here. The flavor of the marmalade is pretty intense, and would likely overpower the subtle flavor of the fresh cheese. Also, the cheap stuff is what I had on hand... No grocery shopping, remember? The onions aren't totally necessary, but went well with the balsamic in the tomatoes.

 

The long awaited finished product. It looks terrible, but I must admit, it was pretty tasty. I think I added a bit too much tomato goop though, a little of that goes a long way. I took the picture on my computer desk/dinner table, fancy eh? Nothing but high living around here.

So there you have it, the great Two Day Grilled Cheese. Was it worth it? Meh, not really. It was delicious, yes, but probably not worth the pain and suffering that it caused. That's not to say, however, that you shouldn't make it, just learn from my mistakes and plan ahead a bit (a lot) more than I did, and I guarantee that it won't take you two days to make. It will then be well worth the effort.

Even if you don't make the sandwich, make some focaccia bread. It's crazy versatile, you can top it with just about anything, and serve it with just about anything. The particular recipe I used tops it with rosemary and sea salt, but I put garlic, sea salt, and parmesan on mine. Tomato parm and basil, mushrooms and cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon cheesecake and bacon... all good ideas. Did I mention that you don't need to knead this puppy? A stand mixer does all of the dirty work for you.

Rosemary Focaccia Sheet (from The Bread Bible)

2 3/4 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

3/8 tsp. INSTANT yeast (remember, if you don't use instant yeast, you need to proof it in warm water and adjust the amount of liquid in the dough accordingly)

2 liquid C minus 2 tbsp room temperature water

3/4 tsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt (I added a bit more than that, but its up to you)

2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. (divided) extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

fleur de sel (can you afford it? Because I can't) or sea salt (more my speed)

Disclaimer: Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipes are extremely detailed, and therefore tend to yield incredible results. If you want the detailed version, I suggest you buy the book, you won't regret it. Here, you're getting a SLIGHTLY shorter version. Also, I believe she has a slightly different version of this recipe as well as corrections for the one in the book on her page Real Baking With Rose Levy Beranbaum. Also, I took pictures of this whole process but I lost them somewhere, oh well.

1) Combine flour and yeast in mixing bowl (we're using a stand mixer here, bless you Kitchen Aid) with paddle attachment on low speed. Gradually add water and mix until dough just comes together (3 min or so.) Yes, it is supposed to be that soupy. Increase speed to medium and beat until dough forms into a smooth ball (says 20 in the book, took mine a bit longer.)

2) Transfer dough into an oiled (I used Pam, worked just fine, she's a handy lady) 1 1/2 quart bowl. Lightly spray or oil top of dough, and wrap with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until it has doubled in size. She says about 4 hours, for some reason mine only took about 2.

3) Coat a sheet pan with a tablespoon of your olive oil and pour dough onto it. Coat hands with a bit of oil and spread the dough as thin as possible without tearing it. Bubbles are the name of the game here, they are your friends and you want them around, try to preserve as many of them as you can. Let dough relax for 10 minutes and then spread the dough until it covers the rest of the sheet pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until one and a half times its original size. It says an hour, I got impatient and let it rise for about 40 minutes.

4) While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. After this step there is some talk of sheet pans and baking stones in the oven and what not... It was 10:30PM and I didn't feel like doing any of it. I'm not actually sure I even have the equipment to do any of it. She talks a lot in the introduction to her book about how to get professional bakery results in a home oven, I've used some of the techniques and they work great, but come on, I was trying to make a grilled cheese here. Oh, put an oven shelf on the lowest level of the oven.

5) Uncover dough and drizzle remaining olive oil evenly over it. Sprinkle with rosemary and salt (or whatever delicious topping you've chosen to put on it.) Bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until top is golden. Remove from oven, drizzle on a little extra olive oil, if desired. Serve immediately (or make a grilled cheese out of it.)

Didn't I say this was going to be a shorter post? I think I maybe lied. Go make some focaccia bread!