Paul Hollywood’s ultimate focaccia recipe
I’ll often take one of these with me if I’m going to a dinner party – it always disappears very quickly! There’s a lot of water in the dough which you need, as otherwise you can end up with a cakey texture. Focaccia is simple to make though, because it’s in a tin, so there’s only one way for it to go. Make sure you push the olives, tomatoes and onions right down into the indentations and use plenty of olive oil on the bottom and drizzled over the top. And don’t over-bake this one; you want it to stay light and soft inside.
Note: Preparation Time does not include proving time.
Ingredients
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 8 g fine salt
- 10 g fast-action dried yeast
- 30 ml olive oil, plus extra for oiling
- 370 ml water
- 17.6 oz strong white bread flour
- 0.3 oz fine salt
- 0.4 oz fast-action dried yeast
- 1.1 fl oz olive oil, plus extra for oiling
- 13 fl oz water
- 17.6 oz strong white bread flour
- 0.3 oz fine salt
- 0.4 oz fast-action dried yeast
- 0.1 cup olive oil, plus extra for oiling
- 1.6 cups water
- 75 g pitted Kalamata black olives
- 1 small red onion
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 150 ml olive oil, to drizzle
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt
- 2.6 oz pitted Kalamata black olives
- 1 small red onion
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 5.3 fl oz olive oil, to drizzle
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt
- 2.6 oz pitted Kalamata black olives
- 1 small red onion
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 0.6 cup olive oil, to drizzle
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt
Details
- Cuisine: Italian-inspired
- Recipe Type: Bread
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Put all of the dough ingredients into a large bowl and stir together to combine and form a dough.
- Fold a corner of the dough into the middle and push firmly, then rotate the bowl 90° and repeat.
- Continue this folding and turning action for 2 minutes then tip the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for 10 minutes until soft and elastic. Alternatively, use a mixer fitted with the dough hook to mix and knead the dough, allowing 2 minutes on slow and 7 minutes on medium speed.
- Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a large plastic bag and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours until at least doubled in size.
- Liberally oil the base of a large, shallow baking tin, about 30cm x 20cm (12in x 8in).
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and stretch it to fit the dimensions of the prepared baking tray.
- Drizzle with lots of olive oil and make firm indentations all over the surface with your fingers.
- Put the tray into a roomy plastic bag and leave to prove for 16 hours.
- Remove the tin from the plastic bag and place the olives evenly on the dough, pressing them firmly in place.
- Cut the onion into slim wedges and distribute these over the dough, pushing them in too.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and press them evenly into the dough.
- Drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle with the dried oregano and a generous amount of flaky salt.
- Heat your oven to 210°C/410°F/gas mark 6. Bake the focaccia for 20 minutes or until golden brown. As you take the focaccia from the oven, drizzle more olive oil over the surface.
- Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
Extracted from BAKE by Paul Hollywood, published by Bloomsbury on 9 June 2022 (£26.00 RRP, Hardback). Photography © Haarala Hamilton
You might also like:
Paul Hollywood's best-ever chocolate chip cookies recipe
Comments
Be the first to comment
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature