An Italian flat bread, rich with olive oil and with a nice firm texture. The recipe below is based on the one given in Ursula Ferrigno's brilliant The New Family Bread Book, which goes into really helpful detail and has stacks of great recipes. It's her quantities we followed for the 'biga', which is a yeast starter added to improve the texture of the bread.It's one to be done over two days:
The evening before
'biga'
100g strong white bread flour
1/4 tsp dried yeast (or 1/2 tsp fresh) dissolved in 130g warm water
Mix thoroughly - it resembles a stiff pancake batter. Cover & leave for 12-24 hours at room temperature.
Main recipe
250g strong white bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried yeast (or 2 tsp fresh)
160g warm water
olive oil
4 tbsp biga
sea salt crystals
extra virgin olive oil
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
Dissolve the yeast in 2 tbsp of the water.
Add the dissolved yeast, olive oil & biga to the flour & then add the water, a little at a time, bringing it together into a soft, but not too sticky, dough.
Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface - at the end of this, the dough should stretch nicely when pulled, and not break. Oil a bowl, put the dough in it, brush a little more oil on the top, then cover with a damp tea towel or a polythene bag and leave it somewhere warm to rise for 1.5 hours.
Knock back and knead for 5 minutes, then cover again and leave somewhere warm to rise for 10 mins.
Roll out into a square or circle, about 1cm thick & transfer to a baking sheet. Tuck a polythene bag around the sheet like a tent over it and leave for 30 minutes to prove.
Pre-heat the oven to 200c (gas 6). Make little dimples in the top with wet fingertips, sprinkle with salt crystals and some fresh rosemary. Leave it to rest for another 10 minutes.
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
Dissolve the yeast in 2 tbsp of the water.
Add the dissolved yeast, olive oil & biga to the flour & then add the water, a little at a time, bringing it together into a soft, but not too sticky, dough.
Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface - at the end of this, the dough should stretch nicely when pulled, and not break. Oil a bowl, put the dough in it, brush a little more oil on the top, then cover with a damp tea towel or a polythene bag and leave it somewhere warm to rise for 1.5 hours.
Knock back and knead for 5 minutes, then cover again and leave somewhere warm to rise for 10 mins.
Roll out into a square or circle, about 1cm thick & transfer to a baking sheet. Tuck a polythene bag around the sheet like a tent over it and leave for 30 minutes to prove.
Pre-heat the oven to 200c (gas 6). Make little dimples in the top with wet fingertips, sprinkle with salt crystals and some fresh rosemary. Leave it to rest for another 10 minutes.
Bake for 30 minutes or until it's a nice golden colour.
Leave to cool and then sprinkle and spread the top with good extra virgin olive oil.
*****
What we like to do with focaccia is something we read Nigel Slater recommending once - which is to slice it in half across-ways, fill it with yummy stuff, wrap it in foil and return to the oven until everything's piping hot.
We did two fillings. The first was spread on both sides thinly with tomato puree then layered with sliced mozzarella, chopped black olives and parma ham. The second had tomato puree mixed with a touch of chilli powder spread on each side and was then filled with mozzarella and anchovy fillets.
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