Fabulous focaccia

There is nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread in the house. This focaccia is a great thing to cook on the weekend, as you need a bit of time to allow the dough to rise. The effort is well worth it.

FABULOUS FOCACCIA

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 120 mins
Serves: 10–12

Ingredients

• 14g of dried yeast / 2 sachets
• ¼ cup of honey
• 330ml of warm water
• 40ml of olive oil
• 500g of plain flour
• 1½ tsp of salt
• 60ml of olive oil
• 1 tsp of sea salt flakes

Method

1. Mix the yeast, honey, warm water and olive oil in a bowl to activate the yeast for 10 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and the salt.
3. If using a mixer with a dough hook, place both the flour and yeast mixtures in the mixing bowl and knead for 5 minutes.
4. If hand kneading, combine the flour and yeast mixtures and hand knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes.
5. In a clean bowl, place the dough and cover with plastic wrap in a warm place and allow to prove for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
6. Knock back the dough (punch it) and then roll into a rectangular shape of about 2cm thick (1 inch) using a rolling pin.
7. Place on a baking tray lined with [baking|parchment] paper.
8. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for a further 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
9. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 375ºF / Gas mark 4–5.
10. After second proving, use your fingers to make indents into the bread, then pour the additional olive oil on top and sprinkle with salt flakes. Allow the oil to pool in the indents.
11. Place the baking tray in the oven and cook for 15–20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and let it sit for 10 minutes to cool. Cut and serve warm or cold.

TIP
Also great with rosemary and pitted olives sprinkled on the surface before baking.