Authentic Focaccia
Learn how to make the perfect homemade authentic focaccia – crisp on the outside, soft and airy inside, and bursting with olive oil flavour. This is an easy, foolproof recipe!
Ingredients
- 180 ml (⅞ cup) lukewarm (35C) water
- 7 g (0.2 oz) sachet dried yeast
- 320 g (2 ½ cups) plain flour
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tsp salt
- olive oil for greasing
- 2 tbsp sea salt flakes for the topping
For the glaze :
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Look out two large bowls (one for mixing and one for resting) and a baking tin or tray.
- Either heat a kettle and mix hot water with cold or use the hot water tap to get lukewarm water that sits around 35C (use a meat thermometer to check) - this temperature, when added to the dried yeast will “waken it up” for the fermentation process and give your bread the best chance.
- Place the dried yeast in a large bowl, mix in the warm water and leave to froth for a couple of minutes.
- Add the flour, oil and honey to the yeast and water mixture.
- Lightly grease your hands with some olive oil, then pull together the mixture with your hands and knead for 5 minutes.
- Lightly grease your hands with some olive oil, then pull together the mixture with your hands and knead for 5 minutes.
Rest the dough and bake:
- Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl lightly coated in olive oil. Cover with cling film coated with some more olive oil, and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and keep the cling film for later. Stretch the dough by hand to make a rectangle about the same size as your baking tin or tray and then fold it over on itself 3 to 4 times. This step should give the bread its familiar soft chewy texture.
- Put a thin coat of olive oil on your baking tray. Place the dough in the middle of the tray, and cover with the same cling film used earlier. Put it somewhere warm and leave to prove for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Stretch the dough to cover your baking tray, scatter over most of the sea salt flakes and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Use your fingertips to press down all over the dough to create small holes all over.
- Mix the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the bread filling in all the small holes and add the rest of the sea salt flakes.
- Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 and rest the dough for a further 20 minutes.Bake the bread for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.
- Bake the bread for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.
Notes
- David has stayed fairly closely to Silvia's method, however, he has picked up a couple of things while making the bread and has added the following notes to the instructions:
- Make sure the water is warm enough.
- Coat your hands with olive oil when working with the dough.
- Always add the water to the yeast and not the other way around.
- Toppings - try adding different toppings like rosemary, cherry tomatoes, roasted peppers, olives or caramelised onions.
- Try these flavour variations:
- Rosemary and sea salt for a classic Italian style.
- Tomato and basil for summer.
- Olive and herb for mediterranean flavour.
- Garlic and parmesan is a rich savoury option.
Nutrition
Calories: 1704kcal | Carbohydrates: 253g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 60g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 41g | Sodium: 18625mg | Potassium: 417mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 16mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Please consider Leaving a Review!