Meringue the egg whites. Add water. Add shortening, salt, sugar and 3 C flour. Add instant yeast. Mix well. Mix in enough flour to form a mass then knead dough, either by hand or with Ka until medium stiff. Go through the regular process to proof the dough till doubled. The following procedure is my personal style; you just need a flat surface to deal with it. Place dough in half-sheet pan and spred out evenly. Brush with olive oil sprinkle chopped onions evenly, sprinkle rosemar, basil, garlic and garlic salt. Fold dough in thirds. With a dough scraper, chop the entire mass into medium size pieces 1/2"-1 1/2" being sure to spread the seasonings evenly as possible. Using a scale, use handfuls of the dough to weigh a 7 oz. Pile, then transfer to a half sheet pan. One half sheet pan will hold 6 piles of dough. With each pile of dough, generally shape like a bun. With each pile brush lightly with olive oil, vey lightly sprinkle corn meal (almost as though it was to be used as a garnish) and garlic salt. Let rise, then bake at 425 for approximately 25 minutes. The end product should be crispy and appealing to the nose and the eye. The procedure sounds complicated, but in reality, its not. You are just taking that dough, adding the seasonings, chopping it up, then making cow pies. The Focaccias that I have seen previously seem to have one solid piece of bread with some seasoning on top. In my style, the seasonings are much more integrated. You can eat it like a tear away bread. The key for the crisp crust is the egg whites that have been meringued.

>From: "Dan H. Erwin" <dherwin@prairienet.org>