Hello and welcome, dear reader. First of all, an even-longer-than-usual hiatus in the fun and games here at PDKTC requires a little explanation: I've been in Venice. It being my parents' Silver Wedding year this sunny 2011 (congrats guys!), my Dad decided to whisk my Mum off to Venezia for a mini-break and, as he put it, 'I know she won't really enjoy it unless you lot come too'. Cue surprise family holiday, and the inspiration behind today's recipe, my favourite Italian invention (well, a tie with pasta and risotto, anyway), focaccia. It's pronounced 'fok-CATCH-ya', by the way - as a child I caused much hilarity by perisitently calling it 'foccercheeya'.
It's a type of bread flavoured with olive oil and sea salt, made flat instead of loaf-shaped, and dimpled to allow the flavours to penetrate when it's sprinkled with salt, rosemary, olives and all sorts of other delicious things before cooking. Like many breads, the thought of tackling it from scratch scares a lot of people, but its really a whole lot simpler than you think. Furthermore, thumping a basket of homemade focaccia on the table before a meal will pretty much impress anyone. The recipe may look complicated and time-consuming, but in fact a lot of it is waiting and a bit of kneading (genuinely the most theraputic activity in the world, by the way). The actual combining of ingredients takes about 30 seconds.
Ok gang. Here we go.
Ingredients
(Makes one baking-tray-sized 'loaf')
700g strong white flour ('bread' flour)
10g dried yeast, or 20g live yeast
4 tbsp good quality olive oil, plus a bit extra
10g sugar
2 tsp salt
Water
Plenty of sea salt
Chopped rosemary - a generous sprinkling
Method
First of all, pre-heat your oven to gas mark 8, about 230 degrees, and liberally oil a high-sided baking tray with olive oil. Next, you're going to want some lukewarm water - 150ml to start with. For dried yeast, whisk the yeast into the water until it's all dissolved, then leave in a warm place - but not hot - for around 15 minutes until bubbles have begun to form. This means that the yeast is activated. For live yeast, just mix straight in to the same amount of water until dissolved, then you can use it straight away.
Whenever you're dealing with yeast, remember that it's a living thing. If the water is too hot for you, it'll kill it; if it's too cold for you, it's too cold for it. Treat it with love - it's what makes your bread rise.
While the yeast is activating, measure out 150ml of very hot water and mix in the salt, sugar and 4tbsp of olive oil, then add 150ml cold water and check that the resulting liquid is lukewarm. Combine this with the yeast mixture.Then sieve the flour into a large bowl, make a dip in it, and pour most of the liquid in. Make your hand into a claw shape and gently stir the liquid, drawing in the flour slowly until it all comes together into a gooey dough. Add more flour or liquid if you need to.
Sit back and be proud of yourself, because that is genuinely the hardest bit over with. It's just a waiting game from now on, and the occasional brief bicep workout.
When your dough is formed, flour the table and leave the dough on the floured surface to rest for five minutes or so. Then it's kneading time! The best therapy around. pummel and stretch and work the dough for ten minutes or so, until it's smooth and elastic like a big stress-ball. Then pop it back in the bowl, cover tigtly with clingfilm, and leave in a warm place to rise until it's more than doubled in size. This can take a few hours, so have a nice cup of tea and put your feet up.
Once the dough is all risen, you need to do what's called 'knocking back' - grab the dough out of the pan and knead it again for a couple of minutes until you've knocked all the air out of it. Then leave to rest again for ten minures before shaping the dough to your roasting tin. Press your fingers into the dough to make little dimples in the top, then sprinkle over the sea salt and rosemary and and leave to rise again, this time only for around 20-30 minutes. Bake in the oven for five minutes, then turn down to 200 degrees or gas mark 6 for another 15-20 minutes until it's risen and golden brown. Sprinkle over a little more olive oil and eat your first slice while it's still warm, dipped in a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Perfetto!
