Focaccia with garlic, rosemary and cherry tomatoes
This focaccia is so delicious, with a chewy, moist crumb and crispy top, everything a focaccia should be. It’s also very simple, as it only no fussy shaping. As the dough is quite wet, a longer rise is better and if you have enough time a slow overnight rise in the fridge will do a brilliant job.
The topping can be anything you want or have in the fridge. Rosemary, tomato and garlic is a classic, but feel free to try any combination you like; tomatoes, red onion, pesto, zucchini, olives pine nuts or parmesan. A particular seasonal favourite of mine is fresh figs with goats cheese, I've added the topping recipe below.
Makes 1 baking tray: 20x25cm
INGREDIENTS
400g strong white bread flour
100g fine semolina
300ml warm water
10g dried yeast
10g salt
60ml olive oil
For the topping:
20ml olive oil
10g malden salt
200g cherry vine tomatoes, halved
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
METHOD
Place the flour and salt in a free-standing mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment.
In a small bowl, mix the yeast with a splash of the warm water and leave for a few minutes. When it starts to foam, pour into the bowl with flour, scraping out everything from the bowl as you go.
Add the olive oil and the water and mix for 5 minutes on a slow setting scraping down the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Then turn up the speed to medium/high for 6-8 minutes. If making by hand, knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. It will be very wet and sticky to start, so wet hands and a dough scraper would be useful for this but don’t be tempted to add more flour.
Scrape the dough into an oiled baking tray. Cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1.5-2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 210C/190C fan/gas 4 and prepare the topping.
When the dough has risen, gently make indents into the dough with your fingers, being careful not to knock the air out.
Arrange the tomatoes, rosemary and garlic over the top of the focaccia, drizzle with the olive oil and sea salt. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Give the focaccia an extra drizzle of olive oil and scatter over the sea salt flakes.
Place the baking tray in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and crispy all over. Leave the focaccia to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Fig, Rosemary & Goats Cheese:
20ml olive oil
10g malden salt
2 sprigs rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
75g goats cheese
4 figs, quartered
Place the olive oil, rosemary and garlic in a bowl to infuse. After indenting the dough, drizzle the rosemary oil with the leaves all over. Place the fig halves over the top, gently pressing them into the indentations. Crumble over the goats cheese and sprinkle over the sea salt flakes. Leave to prove for 20 mins then bake as above.
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