We all know pizza is just about the best pre-run dinner around. But when you’ve got a nighttime training run and your office’s kitchenette doesn’t have a toaster oven, your leftover deliciousness can become a soggy, unsatisfying lunch.
I offer this easy focaccia bread recipe as a base for a sort of pizza sandwich, an alternative to the leftover as a stomach-friendly, tasty pre-run lunch. Anything you’d put on a pizza tastes great between two pieces of this bread. Recipe adapted from Fleischmann’s Yeast.
Bake this to go with dinner one night, then use the leftovers for pre-run lunches all week.
Easy foccacia bread
- 3 cups flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast, proofed (Scared of yeast, and bread-baking in general? Read this!)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 2/3 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
- Rosemary, other herbs, to taste
- Mix flour, proofed yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoons olive oil and water, stirring until well mixed. Spread dough into greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Cover.
- Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Poke holes into the dough using the handle of a wooden spoon. Drizzle (or spray, if you’ve got an oil mister) olive oil over dough; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and herbs. Cover.
- Let rise an additional 15 minutes while oven preheats to 375 degrees F.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes until lightly browned.
In other news, I finally saw my marathon-running, former Navy SEAL, rock star of a sports orthopedist about my possibly broken toe. A month after the initial injury, I confirmed that if it was broken, it isn’t broken now—I’m free to run my little heart out (in four-ish mile spurts, every other day)! In the “why it’s great to have a marathoning doctor” department: I confessed that I jogged the Marine Corps 10K on Sunday as one of my first runs back. He asked my time, and after a few seconds of mental calculations, raised an eyebrow and said: “8:30-minute miles isn’t really jogging, you know.” You got me, doc!
Amy Reinink 
Great idea! I love focaccia. Thanks for the recipe. And ditto Dr. P. on your “jog”. 🙂
And this is why we love us some Dr. P!
haha you can’t fool him. I’m going to take this as a doctor recommendation if my foot still hurts next week – his bio looks great.
hooray for running again!! lol about those 8:30 jogs. if that’s jogging i think i’ve just been walking!