Traditional Italian Focaccia
| Published: 27th March 2008 20:44 |
Focaccia has now become pretty common in most supermarkets, but you can't beat a homemade version with fresh rosemary and a good-quality olive oil. Foccacia is great fresh out of the oven, but if you do have some left over that goes a little stale, make it into fabulous bruschetta.
Servings: makes 1 loaf
Preparation Time: 30 minutes, plus 3 hours rising
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
500g plain strong flour
1 tbsp Salt
30g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
100ml Olive oil, plus drizzle to dress
300ml water
2 Large sprigs of Rosemary
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 tsp course sea salt
Method
1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, and pour in 50ml of the olive oil along with the water. Mix together until it comes together in a smooth dough. Knead in the crisp bacon lardons and rosemary.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 5 minutes - at this stage, the dough should be quite sticky.
3. Return the dough to the bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours, until doubled in size.
4. Lightly grease a baking tray and pat the dough out to an even thickness of 2.5cm. Brush the top with olive oil and make indentations in the top with your fingers. Leave to rise for a further hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 230C/gas 9. Brush the top of the dough once again with olive oil and a sprinkle with a little course sea salt.
6. Bake for 25 minutes until golden. While still hot drizzle with olive oil. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
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