Focaccia with Basil and Garlic

Focaccia with Basil and Garlic

I love making my own focaccia bread or flat breads, I must have inherited this from my grandfather as he was a baker. I usually double this recipe and let the kids have half of the dough to make their own creations. Oliver my eldest son decided to turn his portion into a focaccia loaf it turned out surprisingly well.

Basil and Garlic Focaccia



Oliver's Focaccia Loaf

Ingredients

14g dried yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
200ml warm water
500g bread flour or all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Topping
1 cup basil
2 cloves garlic
4 tbs olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Method

Place the yeast in a small bowl add the sugar and half of the water stir until dissolved, set aside until it is creamy and bubbles appear about 10 minutes.
Place the flour and salt in a large bowl.
Add the yeast and the remaining water to form a firm dough.
Place the dough on a work surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until it is smoooth and elastic and doesn't stick to the surface, this will develop the gluten.
Place the dough in a large oiled bowl cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place to rise and double in size, this should take about 1 hour.
To test that the dough is ready, gently poke your finger into the dough if the impression remains its ready.
Oil a large rectangular pan ( swiss roll pan is fine ).
Roll out the dough, place in the pan and use your fingers to spread out the dough, this also make those characteristic holes and allows the topping to penetrate.
Allow to prove for a further 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 200c.
For the topping place the basil, garlic, salt and oil in a pestle or food processor and combine.
Place the topping on top of the focaccia, make sure its evenly spread.
Bake until golden about 20 - 25 minutes.

For Oliver,s bread we simply put his half of the dough into a loaf pan and baked it for the same time.