Focaccia Recipe

Lockdown made all of us bakers. Everyone is baking their bread at home. I do understand the feeling because we are at home, bored, we want to eat healthily, do not want anyone touching our bread, etc. 

Today, I, Anıl Uzun, will give you a recipe for my favourite bread: Focaccia. I am very fond of Italian-style breads, but focaccia with rosemary is the one that I like to eat very much. 

Herbs in the Mediterranean Cuisine are taste-definers. My favourite herb in my favourite bread is rosemary. If you have the fresh ones, you are lucky, but if you don’t have rosemary springs, no worries, dried rosemary will give the perfect taste in your bread as well. I personally put fresh in the bread and marinate some extra virgin olive oil for salad and the focaccia. 

The ingredients for focaccia are

• 650g bread flour
• 300g Italian flour (if you do not have it, use any flour you have) 
• 500ml water
• 15 g fresh yeast or you can use 7g sachet of dried yeast
• extra virgin olive oil
• olive oil
• 1 small handful of rosemary springs
• balsamic vinegar

How to make Italian Focaccia bread at home?

Baking is fun because you get to play with the dough, and I love kneading. To start, you need to pour the bread flour into a large bowl and combine it with the Italian flour. Put the salt and the yeast mix. Then slowly add the water and knead. Continue with the kneading for about 10 minutes. When you are done, find a warm spot in your kitchen, put the bowl in there, and cover the top with a kitchen towel. Leave the dough for about 50 minutes. The dough should be doubled in size when 50 minutes ends. If not leave the dough resting for more.

When the dough is resting, take your baking tray out and oil the base and sides moderately. Turn your oven on at 180 degrees. Take the dough out of the bowl and transfer it to the baking tray. Spread the dough gently to expel the air out of it. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the surface of the dough using your fingertips. Now it is time to leave the dough on its own again. Cover it with the kitchen towel and let it rest in the same warm spot for about half an hour. The dough shall rise again and double its size. When it’s ready, put it in the oven. You know your oven, the bread is usually cooked for 20 minutes but keep an eye on the bread; it must be lightly golden, not darker. When the bread is baking mix two tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of water and whisk it. When you take your bread out of the oven, brush the mix on the bread to make the surface moist. 

Wait for about 5 minutes and then stud the bread with fresh sprigs of rosemary and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. 

I serve the bread warm, sided with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Buon appetito!