It’s been a while since everything and among other things that I love and crave, bread is definitely the frontrunner and not finding any upon opening the refrigerator can be a bit surprising, agitating and often tends to send me on a downward spiral of domestic crisis which is why and when I ended up with this coppery slab of carb heaven.
The thing about focaccia apart from creating your very own custom flavour is the straightforwardness of the whole process because there isn’t any particular shape that we need fret over and it’s all too easy to begin tearing into one the moment it’s out of the oven, moreover I like slicing stale focaccia into slivers and toasting it in the oven to make crispy crouton like sticks.
As all breads go, focaccia also begins life with flour and yeast and so here we have bread flour, tepid water, olive oil, yeast, salt, rosemary and olives.
Begin by adding yeast into the water which is just warm to the touch and let it sit until it foams. You need good, fresh yeast for that or else the dough won’t rise.
Once the yeast has nicely bubbled up, add it to the flour
along with half the olive oil, reserving the rest for later
add salt and mix it with a spoon until it forms a shaggy dough
Transfer to the countertop and knead until smooth and pliable adding more water a little at a time without making it sticky.
Let it rest in a warm place for a couple of hours until doubled in size. You can even leave it in the fridge overnight.
Once risen it is ready to be formed into bread.
Punch it to deflate. Not only because it’s important but also because it’s fun.
Prepare the baking pan by oiling it generously
Sprinkle some semolina. This is an optional step but helps in the crisping of the bottom.
Scrape the dough into the tray
and brush the top with reserved olive oil. Be generous with the oil here. It’s crucial to this bread making process.
Push the dough with fingertips until evenly distributed in the baking tray, also giving it the typical focaccia dimpled look.
Stuff the dimpled surface with rosemary and olives and push them right into the dough.
Cover and let rise for another hour before baking at 200ºC for 25-30 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and the bottom is slightly crisped up
Brush the just baked bread with olive oil and let it rest at least ten minutes before serving.
Here’s a cross section of this delicious focaccia. It’s soft, spongy and moist and deliciously satisfying.
Ingredients
- Flour: 700g
- Yeast: 2 tsp
- Warm water: 300mls + more for kneading
- Salt: 2 tsp
- Olive oil: 50mls
- Olives: 100g
- Fresh rosemary: 10g
- Semolina: 2 tsp
Recipe instructions
Add the yeast to warm water and let it bloom. Make sure the yeast is fresh and not expired or it will inhibit the rising of the dough.
Add the water to the dough along with olive oil and salt and mix with spoon until just combined to form a shaggy dough.
Transfer to countertop and knead to a smooth pliable dough. Add more water if need be but a little at a time to keep the dough from getting sticky.
Let the kneaded dough rest in a warm place for a couple hours or until doubled in size. You can even let it rest in the fridge overnight.
Once the dough had doubled in size, deflate by punching and scrape into a well oiled baking tray sprinkled with semolina.
Push the dough to fit into the tray with fingertips giving it the typical dimpled look and stuff the surface with rosemary and olives.
Cover and let rest for an hour before finally baking in a preheated oven at 200ºc for 25-30 minutes or until the top has bronzed and the bottom lightly crisped.
Brush with olive oil and let rest for at least ten minutes before serving.
Driedredchillies 