An Italian flat bread traditionally flavoured with rosemary and sea salt. It can be served as a side to soups, stews and salads or sliced horizontally and used for tasty sandwiches. Although it's time consuming to make (mostly waiting around for the dough to rise!) this is an easy recipe and something you can experiment with once you've mastered the basics.
500g strong bread flour
7g sachet dried yeast
3-4 tbsp olive oil
250ml warm water + a tbsp of olive oil
Olive oil, sea salt and rosemary for topping
Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fan) and dust a large baking tray with flour.
Sieve the flour and mix in the dried yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the warm water and olive oil. Mix everything together to form a soft dough - I use a table knife to begin with and then my hands until I have a ball of dough. Turn this out onto a floured board and knead for about ten minutes, folding and stretching the dough as you go. If you have a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, then this will take about 5-7 minutes on a medium speed. Put it in an oiled bowl or onto an oiled baking sheet and leave to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
Now, put onto a floured board and knock the air out of it. If you want to add herbs, cheese or olives, now is the time to gently mix them in. Then, using a rolling pin, shape the dough into a rectangle and lift onto a floured baking tray. The easiest way to do this is to drape the shaped dough over the rolling pin and transfer it to the tray.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for another hour until it has doubled in size again.
Once it's risen, push your thumb (or the end of a wooden spoon) into the dough in a good few places to make dimples. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top and scatter with chopped rosemary and sea salt. Be generous especially if you haven't added any other flavours. Pop it into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until it is golden. Serve the focaccia warm to enjoy it at it best.
If you want to experiment, try roasted vegetables or cheese as a topping. Or you can get creative as my daughter did, and make Focaccia Art!
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