Six Word Saturday: Focaccia

Six Word Saturday:

Focaccia is so easy to make.

We’ve recently started watching a new TV show called ‘Friends with Better Lives‘ and it is quite funny. In one episode the ladies have chosen their lunch location because it serves focaccia and are disappointed with another friend’s choice of lunch venue because it doesn’t serve focaccia, which is when I remembered how easy it is to make your own focaccia.

I haven’t baked in a long time. I started baking less when we decided to include less carbohydrates in our diet and when we moved countries I had not yet stocked my pantry with any baking ingredients until a couple of weeks ago when I friend was holding a lunch at her place and I decided to bake bread to take. I had forgotten the effort required in kneading the dough, my hands cramped up and ached for nearly a week afterwards.

Focaccia dough (and I use the same dough to make pizza) is much softer, so when another friend was holding a BBQ yesterday, and with the background ache still in my wrists, I offered to make focaccia instead of bread this time.

I used this recipe from the River Cottage Handbook and sprinkled it with rosemary dried from our garden.

Focaccia by River Cottage.

Ingredients:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 5g powdered dried yeast
• 10g fine salt
• 325ml warm water
• About 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for coating
• To finish
• A generous drizzle of olive oil
• A sprinkle of flaky sea salt
• A couple of rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped and finely chopped

Method:

Weigh the salt, flour and yeast into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the water and oil into a sticky dough. Knead on a clean work surface for about 10 minutes, until the dough becomes silky. Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

Knock back the risen dough and shape it to your baking tray by pressing it out flat with your fingertips. Cover and leave to rise again for about 30 minutes, until the dough looks puffed up and airy.

Preheat your oven to 250°C/Gas Mark 10, or as high as it will go. Use your fingers to poke divets in the dough at roughly even spacing. Drizzle the top generously (but not too much) with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and rosemary. Bake for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to about 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Focaccia is best eaten warm, but not hot; leave to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before serving, or leave to cool completely.

Happy Saturday everyone and happy baking!