The Foccacia that travelled

Firstly, foccacia is no where near as difficult to make as you might believe, and in this recipe the dough is very forgiving, as I proved (haha) by breaking the usual bread making rules.

I proved the dough overnight, then it travelled up to Notting Hill, where I was assisting on a shoot for the day, I then knocked it back and cooked it...some of the bread made a delicious accompaniment to lunch. The rest was used for a dinner I was catering that night.

Ingredients:

For this bread, you will need: (Which will make 2 loaves)

700gm strong white flour

1/2 tsp salt

10gm sugar

50gm butter

1 packet fast acting yeast, or 15gm fresh yeast (better)

4 tbsp olive oil

350-400ml lukewarm water

For the surface: Some extra olive oil, rock salt, rosemary (optional)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 230 degrees celsius.

In a large mixing bowl sieve in the flour and add in the salt and sugar, rub in the butter and add the yeast. Mix thoroughly. 

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the oil and majority of lukewarm water, mix to a loose dough. Add more flour or water if necessary.

Turn the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface and leave to relax for 5 minutes. Then knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth and springy. Relax again for 10 minutes. On an oiled baking sheet, shape into two flat loaves of about an inch in height. Don't worry about making them round, give them some character!

Make dents fairly firmly with your fingers and brush generously with olive oil, poke in the sprigs of rosemary then sprinkle with rock salt. Allow to rise for about 30 minutes, pop into the oven for 5 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 200 degrees celsius for about 20 minutes.

And there you have it, impressive but easy foccacia!