Focaccia

A thick slab of olive-oil-soaked wheat bread: dimpled deeply by pressing fingers into the dough before baking, sprinkled with flaky salt and fresh rosemary, baked until the bottom is golden-crisp and the interior is impossibly open and light. Focaccia is Liguria's bread, eaten at every hour of the day, the ur-flatbread of the Italian Riviera.

Origin: Liguria, Italy

From the journey of Wheat.

Focaccia descends directly from the ancient Roman panis focacius; flatbread baked in the ashes of the hearth (focus). The Ligurians claim the original: focaccia di Recco (filled with fresh cheese) and focaccia genovese (the classic dimpled slab). Ancient Etruscans, Greeks and Romans all made versions of this flat oiled bread before wheat spread across the Roman Empire. The technique of pressing fingers into risen dough to create dimples that hold olive oil was a practical invention to prevent the bread drying out in the oven; and created focaccia's defining character.

Ingredients

  • 500 g strong white bread flour
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • 375 ml water, lukewarm
  • 10 g fine salt
  • 80 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
  • generous amount Flaky sea salt
  • fresh rosemary sprigs

Method

  1. Combine flour, yeast and fine salt. Add water and 50ml of the olive oil. Mix until a shaggy dough forms. No need to knead; instead, perform 4 sets of stretch-and-folds every 30 minutes over 2 hours.
  2. Generously coat a 30×40cm baking tray with olive oil (at least 3 tbsp). Pour the dough in and gently stretch it toward the edges. Cover and refrigerate overnight (12–16 hours) for maximum flavour.
  3. Remove from the fridge 2 hours before baking. Allow to come to room temperature.
  4. Preheat oven to 230°C/450°F. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the dough. With oiled fingers, dimple the dough all over firmly; push all the way through to the tray. The oil will pool in the dimples.
  5. Scatter with flaky salt and press rosemary sprigs into the dimples.
  6. Bake for 22–25 minutes until the top is deep golden and the bottom (check by lifting an edge) is golden-brown and crisp. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before cutting.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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