Rosemary Focaccia

As a bread lover I have tried my fair share of breads and love them all but focaccia has to be my all time favourite. Not only does it come from my favourite cuisine, Italian, the bread is salty and moist. Yummmm. So, I thought that I would attempt to make a loaf of rosemary focaccia, and might I say it did not turn out half bad at all. You can use different toppings if you like such as potatoes, red onions or a really scrummy one is sun dried tomatoes. Whatever you pick it is sure to taste goooood.

One thing that is vitally important which could make or brake your loaf is to make sure you leave the dough WET, yes very wet. You must fight the urge to add a bit more flour as this could affect the texture of your focaccia loaf. Now, if you want to make this loaf the Italian way you must not make it too thick like you may see it in the shops, this is not the traditional Italian way of making focaccia. However, if the thick way of making focaccia floats your boat by all means make it thicker than I have.

Rosemary Focaccia:

*Disclaimer, this recipe has been adapted from Paul Hollywood's recipe*

Ingredients:

500g Strong White Bread Flour

400ml Cold Water

2 tsp Salt plus extra for sprinkling

2 tbsp Olive Oil plus extra for sprinkling

14g Dried Yeast

A Handful of Rosemary 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7. Put the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and 300ml of the water in a bowl. Gently mix with your hands to form a dough, knead in the bowl for 5 minutes gradually adding the rest of the water.

2. Continue to knead the dough on a lightly oiled surface by stretching the dough and tucking it into the center of the dough, turn the dough 80 degrees and repeat for 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and leave to rise until doubled in size- about an hour. (DON'T ADD MORE FLOUR TO THE DOUGH LEAVE IT WET)

3. Line 1 large baking tray with baking paper or two small baking trays. Tip the dough out of the bowl and flatten onto the baking tray, pushing the dough into the corners. Then leave to rise for another hour.

4. Push holes into the dough with you fingers and drizzle the loaf/s with olive oil. Season with salt and then add on the rosemary or your desired topping. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. When cooked drizzle with a little more olive oil. It is sooo good served warm.

Voilaaaaa! There you have it, a super tasty homemade focaccia loaf. I would love to her any topping suggestions you have and also what your favourite toppings are!

P.S sorry for the shadow in the last photo!