World Recipe: Focaccia

21 Jul World Recipe: Focaccia

Focaccia is an Italian bread known for its fluffy texture and delicious olive oil flavour. Here’s the recipe to make it at home.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

– 470g strong white bread flour or pizza flour

– 380g water

– 3g dried yeast (or 9g fresh yeast)

– 9g salt

– 20g olive oil

For the topping:

– Plenty of olive oil

– 100g cherry tomatoes

– 50g black olives

– Dried oregano, to taste

– Flakey sea salt

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, water, yeast, salt, and olive oil until you have a uniform dough. You can do this by hand or using a stand mixer.
2. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.
3. Perform folds on the dough. Dampen your hands and fold the dough like an envelope, lifting one end and folding it over itself, then repeat with the opposite end. Let the dough rest again for 20 minutes. Repeat this process at least three or four more times.
4. Transfer the dough to a greased container and cover it. Store the dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
5. After 24 hours, preheat the oven to 230°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper, then generously brush the paper with olive oil.
6. Pour the dough onto the tray, being careful not to degas it, and use oiled hands to spread it out to cover the entire tray. Press your fingers into the dough to create dimples.
7. Let the dough ferment for at least 30 minutes.
8. While the dough is fermenting, halve the cherry tomatoes and prepare the olives.
9. After fermentation, poke your fingers into the dough again at the points where dimples were created before, then decorate with cherry tomatoes, olives, and sprinkle with oregano and flakey sea salt.
10. Bake the focaccia on the lower rack of the oven at 230°C for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. If necessary, you can turn on the oven fan during the last few minutes for additional browning.
11. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.