Spiced Focaccia
- Jul 27, 2021
- 2 min read
Turkish Bazaar, Spice Blend
Making bread has long been a pleasure! Putting aside some time throughout the day to focus on just one thing, coaxing the yeast into life, developing the perfect texture hold those all important bubbles. Then patience ... time to develop flavour ... time to let the tiny pockets of gas swell to become bubbles ... time to proof! There is a real therapy to making bread and I couldn't be without it!
Focaccia is traditionally a flat bread make without the usual 'loaf' shaping, very little attention is given to shape other than allowing the dough to naturally find its level and swell unevenly. Focaccia gets it name from how it was made, on a flat tray in the 'hearth' of the fire. Lots of bottom heat injecting the dough with energy to swell the all important bubbles. Focaccia is very similar to Pizza with the only real difference being that pizza is not left to rise before baking, other than that the dough is very similar so why not give this recipe a try for a pizza base.
500g strong white flour
50g fine polenta
60ml extra virgin olive oil
5g salt
15g fresh yeast
320g water
15g Turkish Bazaar spice blend
Begin by making the dough.
Simply combine all the ingredients in a large bowl or mixer and work to a smooth elastic and uniform dough.
Generously grease a 30cm x 23cm (or similar) roasting tray with olive oil.
Pour the dough into the greased tray and, using your fingers, ease the dough into the corners.
Leave to rise until just under doubled in size. In the meantime preheat the oven to 200°C (if you have a baking stone or similar pre-heat this now too).
Once the dough is nicely risen grease your finger tips with more olive oil and randomly push them into the dough down to the tray. Sprinkle more olive oil over the surface and leave to briefly rise again allowing bubbles to show on the surface.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and hollow sounding when the base is tapped.
Leave to cool out of the tray on a wire rack covered with a tea towel.
Adding some personal flair and character to the bread is easy and lots of fun. Try pushing in some cherry tomatoes, hard herbs such as rosemary, tinned artichokes or courgette chunks. Let your creative juices flow and experiment.
Enjoy!
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