I'm about to go sink into my fluffy bed after my first ever booty-shakin' Zumba experience.
My worn-out yoga pants and bright blue t-shirt were soaked through by the end of our hour of cardio, fifteen minutes of which included using weights while we high-kicked, squatted, and square-stepped.
Lessons learned:
If I thought I had any rhythm, any rhythm at all, tonight's class taught me that I do not.
My face did not flush from embarrassment, though, as I half expected it to. I just laughed while my clumsy feet tried to lightly tap the floor (instead of stomp) and my arms tried to gracefully sway (instead of jerkily jabbing the air).
Zumba-ing at the front of a gym filled with women is not as humiliating as I expected it to be.
Having a friend next to me makes all the difference (love you, Em!).
Buckets of raindrops soaking my already sweaty body have never felt better than they did as we dashed through the parking lot to our car.
As I told my mother as a child, I love the way my body feels when I move it.
But moving my body sure makes me hungry!
My all-time favorite dinner is spaghetti with meat sauce (see my stab at homemade tomato sauce here), and the bread I'm about to share with you takes that old favorite up fifty notches on the delicious scale.
I've made this focaccia bread close to ten times now (and there aren't many recipes I make more than once).
It is fabulous.
Let me say this up front: There is a full stick of butter melted and poured over the bread before baking.
Healthy? Not really. Deliciously worth it? Absolutely it is.
Plus, it's just about completely whole wheat, which has to count for something!
Without further ado, the breadsticks that will have your guests enthusiastically raving and your heart melting along with that stick of butter.
Thank you, Marta, for the original recipe. I love having your name in my recipe box.
Focaccia Breadsticks
adapted from Marta's recipe
Takes two hours from start to finish.
2 cups warm water
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp agave nectar (feel free to use 1 T sugar instead)
1 tsp salt
2 T Italian seasonings
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Toppings:
1/2 cup butter, melted
garlic powder
Parmesan cheese
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in agave nectar, if using.
In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, mix Italian seasoning, salt, and sugar, if using, into one cup of the flour. Add flour mixture to yeast mixture in large bowl. Add remaining flour in one-cup increments. Combine well. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and let dough rise for an hour (or until it has doubled).
Grease a 9x13 pan. Scoop dough into prepared pan; dough will be very sticky. You'll be tempted, but don't add any extra flour. Wet your clean hands and coax the dough into all edges of the pan.
Let dough rise again for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400*F. Before baking, poke indents in the dough with your fingers. Drizzle melted butter over the top of the bread. Sprinkle some garlic salt over the top and add a generous amount of Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes. Cool in pan for at least ten minutes before slicing into breadsticks.
