Foccacia Bread Recipe
This focaccia recipe is really easy to make. I came across it in Lorraine Pascale's book Baking Made Easy.
Focaccia is an Italian flatbread and you can vary the topping to suit your taste - for example, Caramelised red onion or cheese would be good.
As you're probably already aware, I don't do baking, so if you're the same as me, I highly recommend the cookbook Baking Made Easy.
But this certainly turned out rather nice indeed. Of course, a good baking tray is vital and the Eazistore I reviewed a while back is still looking like new.
Ingredients in this recipe
- strong white bread flour
- water and salt
- fast-action dried yeast
- olive oil
- fresh rosemary
- sea salt
Cut 3cm sprigs of the rosemary and push them into the holes. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt over the dough.
Bake in the top third of your preheated oven for about 25–30 minutes, or until the bread is well risen, pale golden-brown and feels hollow when tapped underneath.
Remove from the oven, drizzle with a little more olive oil and leave to cool on the baking tray.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour - plus extra for dusting
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
- 80 ml olive oil - plus extra for drizzling
- 250ml warm water
- 1 bunch of fresh rosemary
- a large pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Dust a large flat baking tray with flour. Put the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and yeast, then add the olive oil, plus enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough.
- The dough should feel quite loose and not tight and difficult to knead.
- If the whole amount is added it may appear that the dough is beyond repair, but gently kneading by way of scooping up the dough, scraping any sticky bits on the surface and slapping it back down again for a few minutes will see the dough begin to become ‘pillowy’ and more manageable.
- The more water that can be added (the full 250ml would be good) then the lighter the bread will be. But it can take some perseverance. Also, resist the temptation to add more flour as it will make the dough too heavy.
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand on a lightly floured work surface or for five minutes if using an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- The dough will feel stretchy when pulled. To test if it is ready, make a ball with the dough then, using a well-floured finger, prod a shallow indent in the side (no more than ¾cm).
- If the indent disappears by way of the dough springing back then it is ready to shape. If the indent stays, knead for a few minutes longer.
- Shape the dough into an oval and place it on the prepared baking tray. Flatten it out to about 30cm/12in long and 20cm/8in wide.
- Cover the dough loosely with oiled cling film, making sure it is airtight.
- Leave the dough in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has almost doubled in size.
- With a floured index finger press holes in the dough at regular intervals, about 4 cm apart in rows across the dough, pressing right down to the bottom.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
- Cut 3cm sprigs of the rosemary and push them into the holes. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt over the dough.
- Bake in the top third of your pre-heated oven for about 25–30 minutes, or until the bread is well risen, pale golden-brown and feels hollow when tapped underneath.
- Remove from the oven, drizzle with a little more olive oil and leave to cool on the baking tray.
I do like focaccia, yours looks well risen and extremely tasty Jan.
ReplyDeleteI love making bread but haven't tried focaccia yet - I must do as we've got loads of rosemary in the garden just asking to be eaten :-)
ReplyDeleteI've just published a post on wonderful ways to cook with rosemary and have included this - thanks so much for sharing, Alice @ Mums Make Lists