I absolutely love to bake bread. It tastes amazing and makes the house smell delicious, so I thought I would share my favourite recipes over the coming months. The first is my Olive Focaccia. It is a fool proof recipe, and so so tasty. I usually team it with Charlie & Ivy’s amazing bread dippers.
Ingredients:
450g Bread Flour
2 tsp Golden Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
60g Olives, Chopped
1 ¼ tsp Dried Yeast
2 tbsp Olive Oil
275ml Warm Water
Method:
- Put flour, salt, sugar, olives and yeast in a bowl
- Add oil and water sporadically and mix
- Turn on to a floured service and kneed for 10 minutes
- Press the dough on to a flat surface and stretch in to your preferred shape
- Dimple the top
- Leave to prove for 1 hour
- Preheat the oven at 200°c
- Glaze the top of the dough with a little olive oil and add herbs if you wish
- Put in the oven and immediately turn the temperate down to 180°c
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden
- Stuff it in your face as quickly as possible!
Yum, focaccia! And it looks really well risen. I have trouble getting bread to rise because my kitchen is so cool. Putting the bowl with dough on the radiator gets . . . interesting . . . results. You must have a lovely warm kitchen there in Notts!
My whole house is so cold! I had to put the heating on and pre heat the oven for ages haha. I once put it in the airing cupboard and forgot about it for a few hours. I was cleaning the shelf in there for ages as it rose majestically out of the bowl and exploded everywhere!
It’s not just me! I’ve done the pre-heating the oven and letting the dough-bowl sit on the counter next to the stove trick, but it seems so wasteful to have the stove on and nothing in, so now I only make bread when I’m roasting a chicken. You’ve inspired me, though. I love homemade focaccia, so I’ll get a chicken to roast and look forward to that olive-y heaven!
Let me know how it goes! I hope you enjoy it.
Not a fan of olives, but this looks so simple and tasty that I shall give it a go with some small lumps of cheese instead. What could possibly go wrong?