I Am The Bread Of Life

This is the focaccia I made to go with the roasted sweet peppers. They don't need much kneading and I only make one kind of focaccia, rosemary and cherry tomatoes. I like this flavor combination and rosemary is also my favorite herb.  I like the woody pine- like scent of rosemary and when the scent wafts out from the chopped rosemary, I feel my kitchen smells like "little Italy".  Benvenuti nella Mia cucina!

Rosemary and Cherry Tomatoes Focaccia
Adapted from happyhomebaking
One 8 inch loaf
Ingredients

250g bread flour

3.5g instant yeast

1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra for sprinkling(1 tablespoon)

4 cherry tomatoes, halves

1/2 tablespoon sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling

137.5 ml water

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

Method

• Combine flour, yeast, rosemary and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water and oil. Mix with hand to form a soft dough.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 ~ 10mins until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Shape into a ball and place in an oiled mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour or until double in bulk.
• Knock back the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to form a round. Press the dough into a 20cm (8") round pan. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour.
• Using your fingers, press indentations over the dough. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for a final 30mins until well risen.
• Sprinkle dough with a little sea salt, drizzle with a little oil and scatter over some rosemary. (arrange tomato halves round dough)
• Bake in a preheated over at 200degC for about 25mins until risen and golden.
• Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Bread symbolizes life. In bible times, bread was the primary nourishment that sustained life.
When the Israelites escaped Egypt and was led into wilderness, there was no food.  The Lord provided them with manna, a kind of unleavened bread to sustain and nourish them. This bread from Heaven gave life to the Israelites while they were in wilderness.

The manna fall was not just to meet their physical need. In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses said, "He(God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

Jesus is talking in John 6:35 about the "Life" that people need, which is a relationship with God and that he is the true Word of God, and in the same manner as the  fleeing Israelites,  bread sustains us physically but we cannot live on bread alone. Christ gave himself to become the life giving bread and anyone who believes in Him and come to Him will made righteous in the sight of God.  Jesus is the spiritual bread that brings eternal life.