One time I was listening to a podcast and they brought up the fact that a nice thing about journalling is you can flip back through what you wrote, planned, and worried about to see how far you've come. According to my journal wanting to leave my job was a pretty consistent theme, pretty quickly after I started there. 

So yeah I updated my resume, and set aside time every week to apply to jobs. Within about a year I had two phone interviews and that was it. I couldn't just leave my job because of money, health insurance, and plus what if I never got another job again. I was a year into that role, pretty good at it, and was gearing up to ask for a raise when the president informed the entire marketing/sales team they'd be essentially receiving a pay cut, despite record sales. When you're staying at job for the theoretical stability and a blow like that comes, well I saw it as my opportunity to get the fuck out. At this point it felt like I could have my lil paycheck or I could have my self worth. 

I have two bags of flour about to expire that I bought to make pies last fall SO I'm making Focaccia. Not that I've ever made it before, but it's simple enough, plus I get to incorporate a lot of my favorite EVOO. I found the recipe flipping through Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food, I didn't have any rye flour on hand so only used unbleached all purpose white flour. 

Directions

1. Combine yeast, warm water, and 1/2 cup of flour in a large mixing bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2. In another bowl mix the rest of the flour (3 1/4 cup) with 1 teaspoon of salt. 

3. Add flour + salt mixture to the yeast mixture. Add in 1/4 cup of olive oil and 3/4 cup cold water. Mix/Knead until stick ball forms. Add more flour as needed if it's too sticky (but it shouldn't be) 

4. Place Dough in bowl, cover, let rise for 2 hours. 

5. Oil baking sheet (or parchment on baking sheet) GENTLY place dough onto the sheet and press from center out to fill sheet pan. You don't want to totally flatten the dough, because we want the air bubbles to be intact. If it starts to bounce back, let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes before continuing to press it out. 

6. Poke the dough with your finger to make dotted indentations. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the top of the dough and disperse (rub in with your hands) cover the dough and let rise for another 2 hours. 

7. Preheat oven to 450. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 tablespoon chopped sage to the dough. Bake until golden brown (20-25 minutes) 

Ingredients

• 1 packet dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage
• Your Self Worth

Tools

• Baking sheet
• parchment paper
• 2 mixing bowls
• knife
• cutting board
• measuring cups

Time

• Make a day of it (total combined rising/resting time will be 4-5 hours)