Focaccia

INGREDIENTS

454 g strong bakers flour
14g or two sachets of dry yeast
30ml of extra virgin olive oil
400ml of cold water
2 teaspoons of salt
Rosemary
Olives
Sundried tomatoes
10 g sea salt
More extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

METHOD

Weigh out all your ingredients in advance. In a large bowl or Kenwood add flour, yeast, olive oil and salt. If making by hand, make a well in the centre and stir in all the water. After about a minute it should form a ball.

If you would like to do it by hand, continue kneading for 5 mins, take a minute break and then continue for another 5. If you are making it in a mixer, simply add everything bar the water to the bowl. Use the dough hook attachment, start slowly incorporating water, when water is added, turn to a low setting and knead for 10 mins.

Take your ball of dough and put back in the bowl and cover with cling film and place in an ambient place, ideally around room temperature and allow to prove for 45 mins. After 45 mins the dough will have grown almost twice its size. Remove cling film and “Knock Back” the dough - this means tap the middle of the dough and it should collapse, this is ok! 

Brush some olive oil on parchment, Line a baking tray. On a lightly floured surface, shape your dough into a rectangle with similar dimensions to your tray. Move the dough to the tray, intentionally try to leave finger marks in the focaccia. Now place olives and rosemary into these, sprinkle with Sea salt flakes. Give this a good splash of olive oil and prove or allow to rise again for 30-40 mins.

Preheat a fan oven to 200C Bake for around 20 minutes trying to achieve a beautiful golden-brown top. Take out of oven and drizzle more olive oil on top. Enjoy