Easy Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
4 cups All-purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp Active dry yeast
2 ½ tbsp Sugar
Salt – 2 tsp
¼ cup Extra-virgin olive oil + extra for brushing & drizzling
1 ⅓ cup Water
10 Pitted black olives
1 Fresh tomato, large
1 Red onion, small
2 tsp Dried rosemary
½ tsp Sea salt
Directions
Take the water in a glass or bowl and warm it up to 100 F. The water should feel just hot when touched. If it feels too hot, wait till it cools down a bit. Best way to achieve the optimum temperature is to use a thermometer; ensure the temperature is not more than 105 F as that will kill the yeast.
Add sugar to the warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top of water and give a gentle mix using a fork or spoon. Let the water stand for 5 to 10 minutes or until the top of the water becomes frothy. Your yeast is now activated.
In a large bowl add flour and salt. Give a quick mix with a wooden spoon. Add the yeast-water mixture it to the flour along with olive oil.
Start mixing the dough using the wooden spoon until the water is almost absorbed by the flour. Now tip the flour out on a lightly floured work surface and start kneading with hand. Continue kneading the dough until it is smooth and stops sticking to your hand, about 10 minutes.
Drizzle a spoonful of olive oil on the same bowl in which you mixed the flour initially and place the dough in it lightly coating it with oil on all sides.
Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature until doubled in volume which would take about 90 minutes in a warm environment. Meanwhile prepare 2 pie plates by coating the bottom surface with a tablespoon of olive oil in each.
Once the dough has doubled in size, take it out on a lightly floured surface and deflate it. Then divide it in half using a bench scrapper or a sharp knife.
Take each half of dough at a time and place it in one of the greased pie plate. Then start flattening it out using your fingers trying to make it even in thickness all over. Flip it once so that both the sides get coated in oil. Now loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled again. Repeat the same with other portion.
Preheat your oven to 400 F and place the wire rack at the center of the oven. While the oven is preheating, prepare your toppings. Chop the tomato into small pieces, thinly slice the onion and slice each black olive into 3 pieces.
Once the dough has risen, carefully remove the plastic wrap from top making sure not to deflate the dough. Top each dough with tomato, onion, olive and dry rosemary. Sprinkle sea salt and drizzle little more olive oil on top.
Bake your focaccia in the preheated oven for around 20-25 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. Transfer them to cooling rack (essential to transfer them to cooling rack so that the bottom doesn’t turn soggy) and allow to cool slightly.
Slice up and serve your warm focaccia with some more drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil!
