Focaccia

Name: Focaccia
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: ¾ teaspoon dried yeast (about 2g); Pinch sugar; ⅔ cup warm water (160ml); 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (1⅔ cups/9oz); Salt flakes, to taste; ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing (80ml)

I love authentic focaccia made with a generous amount of olive oil and had such fun working on focaccia recipes inspired by Lucio Galletto for my Ligurian online cooking class. Lucio uses more water and oil in his recipe than many I’ve seen and I think that’s what makes his focaccia so good. Enjoy it as a starter with some olives, a little extra olive oil for dipping and a glass of Chalmers Montevecchio Bianco, a delicious field blend of lesser seen Italian varietals including ribolla gialla and falanghina. I also love how versatile focaccia is – Lucio calls it ‘Liguria’s answer to pizza’ and I see what he means as once you’ve mastered this basic focaccia recipe, you can start to have fun with toppings such as potato, onion, olives and rosemary.

Serves 4 as a starter, side dish or snack

Ingredients

¾ teaspoon dried yeast (about 2g)
Pinch sugar
⅔ cup warm water (160ml)
250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (1⅔ cups/9oz)
Salt flakes, to taste
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing (80ml)

Method

Combine yeast, sugar and half the warm water (⅓ cup/80ml) in a small bowl and set aside for 10–15 minutes, until it starts to froth.
Place flour and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Add yeast mixture, remaining water and half of the oil (2 tablespoons/40ml) and mix on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl until everything is combined.
Mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Shape into a ball, coat in oil and place in a clean bowl. Cover and set aside in a warm spot for at least 2 hours, until doubled in size.
Generously grease the base and sides of a baking dish about 26 x 20cm (10″ x 8″) or 25cm (10″) diameter.
Roll or stretch out the dough to roughly the size of the dish.
Put it in the dish and stretch it out to cover the base evenly.
Dimple the top with your fingertips, cover and set aside for another 30 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
Drizzle remaining oil over the dough and brush it across the surface evenly; sprinkle generously with salt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until dark golden.
Cut into slices and serve warm.