Back in November, after our success in October with chocolate caramel rolls and chocolate cake, we tried something a little different — vegetable and cheese focaccia. The recipe sounded good and the pictures looked promising in the book. Oregano, bread flour, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and a few spices in both the base and the topping.

We used the bread machine, and when we pulled the dough out to start rolling, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

We did the rolling, and added all the toppings, looked good. Maybe a little heavier on toppings than required, but why not?

And when it came out, we were hopeful.

The toppings were good. Nice cheese combo with the veggies. But the focaccia bread? Terrible. Very dense, very heavy, very dry. It was edible for one round of meals, and then we eventually threw it out.

Not quite sure where we went wrong — wrong amount of yeast, not enough water? Something. Way too dense, as I said. But I guess they can’t all be winners. I’m intending to play with the bread machine in the next year and see what we can get it to do well, but until then, still experimenting. Needless to say though, I won’t be adding this recipe to the website for sharing.