Rosemary & Sea Salt Focaccia

Hello Bakers! Back again for another recipe to feast on!

Focaccia is seriously my favourite bread product out there. Sourdough might be tied with it, but both are superior in my opinion. Bread and butter is my bread and butter. Plop me down in my kitchen with a fresh loaf of focaccia and a block of salted butter and its sure to entertain me all day long!

Now I want you to feel the same way! This focaccia is so spongey and soft in texture, and I just know its going to easily become one of your favourite breads as well!

Throw your aprons on, pre heat your oven, and lets get down to business!

Rosemary & Sea Salt Focaccia

525g Warm Water

10g Active Dry Yeast

15g Salt

50g Olive Oil, plus extra for baking

750g All Purpose Flour

2 Rosemary Sprigs

Sea Salt here's a link to my favourite!

The How-To

1. Add your water and yeast to your stand mixer bowl. Mix with a whisk and let it sit for 5 minutes.

2. Add you salt, oil, and flour and mix on low speed with a dough hook attachment for 2 minutes. Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes. This allows the dough to go through the process of Autolyse. *see the note at the bottom of the recipe*

3. After 20 minutes of resting, mix for an additional 8-10 minutes at medium speed. Grease a metal bowl with olive oil, place the dough in the bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 1 hour.

4. Uncover the dough, punch it down to deflate, and proceed with pull and folds. With an oiled or slightly damp hand, begin to pull and stretch out one side of the dough. Fold the dough over and press into the center of the dough. Repeat this 3 times on the remaining sides of the dough. Flip the dough ball over in the bowl, cover it up, and allow to rest for 45 minutes. Repeat this step one more time and allow to rest for at least 45 minutes. If you can let it rest for an extra 20-30 minutes, thats even better!

5. Prepare your baking pan (I used a 12" square cake pan, here's a link to the one I used!) by drizzling in a couple of tablespoons of your favourite high quality olive oil. Spread the oil all along the bottom and sides of the pan to make sure its greased thoroughly. Turn out your dough on to the pan and gently dimple your dough with your fingertips so the dough reaches the edges of the pan without forcing the dough too hard. Cover the dough and allow to rest for 45-60 minutes.

6. Preheat your oven to 425C. In the meantime, uncover your dough and drizzle with more olive oil. Pick off all the rosemary needles and sprinkle them on top of the dough along with a healthy sprinkling of sea salt. Gently dimple your dough again 3-4 times. Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. The focaccia should be a really dark golden brown colour! Another way to test to see if its done is tap the top. If it sounds hollow, your focaccia is done! If its kind of dense sounding or doesn't have the right colour, keep it in the oven for another 7-10 minutes.

7. Allow the focaccia to cool slightly, then cut into it with a serrated knife and enjoy!

   
   

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Happy Baking Friends!

*Autolyse is the process of when the flour and water is mixed together at the beginning of the mixing process (in this case, you can add everything) just until combined and allowed to rest for 20-30 minutes. This allows the flour to hydrate fully before continuing to mix the dough and for the gluten strands to form better structure for your final product!*