Focaccia lovers everywhere, behold!
This week my lovely sous-chef/ partner made the most cracking focaccia by adapting a recipe by the bread overlord himself, sir Hollywood. It was fluffy and crispy around the sides, packed with flavour… Just perfect. Anton found that the original recipe was way too wet, so he adjusted the amount of flour and salt (as with any P.H. recipe is always salty as hell). We also decided to top it with a ton of different things, to pack a punch in terms of flavour, and it payed off: I recommend that no matter your toppings, you load them on as focaccia can be fairly plain on its own!
Ingredients (1 large focaccia)
- 600g of strong bread flour (“special” flour in sweden)
- 1.5tsp of salt
- 14g of dry yeast
- 2 tbsp of olive oil (+ more later, about 100-150 ml)
- 400ml of cold water
- recommended toppings: sliced garlic, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, chili flakes, salt flakes, rosemary… get creative!
Method
- In a large bowl, mix 550g of the flour with the yeast, olive oil and 300ml of water. Once incorporated add the rest of the water and add the last 50g of flour if needed. The dough should be fairly sticky so resist the temptation to add more than 600g of flour in total!
- Knead the dough in the bowl for 5 minutes, then tip onto an oiled surface and knead for another 5 minutes until smooth yest slightly sticky.
- Oil the bowl then tip the dough back in, making sure you flip the dough once inside so that it itself is coated in oil. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size (about 20-30 min) TIP: use your oven with just the light on as a proving space, that creates the optimum proving temperature and speeds up the process!
- Line a deep baking tray with baking paper and tip the risen dough onto the tray. Push the dough out to the corners with your fingers, cover and prove for another hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan.
- Now here’s the fun part: use the tip of your fingers to create dents in your dough by positioning your hand like a claw and pushing all five fingers into the dough at once. If that’s confusing, just make rows of holes with your index finger. You should let your fingers go quite far into the dough, just don’t go all the way through!
- Take the 100-150ml of olive oil or so that you had reserved and cover your dough in oil – yes it should fill all the holes and have at least a thin film on the smooth parts! This is not a diet friendly recipe I know, but it’s worth it.
- Cover the focaccia with your toppings, spreading them evenly (or not, if that’s your jam).
- Stick in the oven for about 20 min or until crisp and golden on the edges. If you have fresh garlic or sun-dried tomatoes on there keep a watchful eye as they might start to burn fairly easily.
- If you have the self control wait ten minutes before serving, otherwise dig in!
This is how ours turned out: as you can see the dough sucks up all the oil, creating the lovely crust and keeping it moist! The corners are a real treat.
I hope you will try and enjoy this recipe as much as we did, it’s truly a good comfort food.
Toodles!
Lola's Food Adventures 