Focaccia Bread
Basic Focaccia Loaf
The ultimate Italian loaf. I got this staple recipe from an old friend from college and have since tried out a multitude of toppings. My favourites are simple, rosemary & sea salt or roasted garlic & red pepper (pictured above). It’s moist and delicious on its own, or as an accompaniment for mopping up any leftover pasta sauce. Dried yeast can be purchased in any local supermarket (I get mine in Lidl). The key is that the water is lukewarm and not hot & the yeast is in date (I made the mistake of a flat focaccia because the yeast in my house expired in 2014!!!). Typically this bread is best served on the day it’s made but it does keep for up to 4 days.
This is the standard bread recipe but you can add almost any toppings you like to this bread and it should taste delicious if you stick to classic Italian flavours and herbs. I’ve listed some of my favourites down below.
Ingredients
7g sachet of dried yeast
380ml of lukewarm water
600g plain flour (or strong white flour)
50ml olive oil
Course sea salt (to taste)
Method
Mix yeast into the warm water and leave to sit for 10mins
Weigh out all other ingredients into a mixing bowl (except oil)
Add yeast mixture to bowl slowly and form into a ball using electric mixer (or by hand putting dty ingredients on table and making a well in the centre and slowly adding your liquid to the well & incorporating it into the flour mix)
If you have any flavours you wish to add you can add during this step (eg. chopped rosemary, crushed garlic, sundried tomatoes. olives etc)
Cover the bowl with cling film (or a damp tea towel) and leave to prove for 2 hrs in a warm room (hotpress etc.)
After 2 hrs place the dough on a floured surface and knock the air out of the dough for a minute or 2
Grease the dish you will be cooking the bread in (I use an 8 inch square pyrex or round cake dish) with some of the olive oil (about 20ml)
Leave dough to prove for another hour covered with damp tea towel
Without taking your bread out of the dish, flatten the dough with your fingertips leaving indents
Top with whatever toppings you like (I usually add more of whatever flavours I added into my dough mix & always add extra sea salt)
Drizzle with the remaining olive oil so that some of the indents fill with oil
Bake at 180 for 40mins
Once out of oven, drizzle with a little more olive oil (optional) so that it seeps into the bread
Some nice topping ideas
Truffle & Garlic – Sometimes instead of using regular olive oil I add 50ml of Truffle oil instead and 2 crushed garlic cloves into the initial dough mix. Before baking in the oven just season with good amount of sea salt.
Rosemary, roasted pepper & garlic – In my initial dough mix before any proving finely chop 2 sprigs fresh rosemary and 2 cloves garlic/ Before baking in oven add some fresh rosemary, some thinly sliced red pepper & sea salt
Sundried tomato & oregano – In my dough mix before any proving finely chop 3-4 sundried tomatoes and some dried oregano to taste. Before baking in the oven chop another 1-2 sundried tomato and sprinkle some oregano.
Roughly 120 calories per slice if cut into 20
