This focaccia differs from the more well known type in that it is thinner and very crispy. Growing up we used to get a small piece of this for our mid morning snack and it is delicious.
This recipe makes two 30x40cm approx pieces
Ingredients:
- 600g Breadmaking flour
- 400ml warm water
- 25g Fresh yeast (or follow the pack if using dried)
- 40ml Olive oil (plus about 40 more for drizzling later)
- 15g Salt
- 2 tsp Sugar
Start by placing the sugar and crumbled yeast in the warm water, mix and then leave for 15 min in a warm place for the yeast to activate.
At this point I cheat and use my breadmaker and chuck in the flour, salt, 40ml olive oil and water with yeast and put it on a bread dough cycle.
If you're mixing by hand then mix the ingredients together and then start kneading. It will probably take about 10 min of kneading until the dough is nice and bouncy. Place it in an oiled bowl and cover with cling-film. Put this bowl in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, it will double in size so make sure the bowl is big enough. If you are using a bread-maker it will do the kneading and rising for you.
Take a large baking tray and line it with oven paper, then take half the dough and spread it out until it nearly covers the tray and is about 1-1.5cm deep. Cover the top with a little olive oil and place in a warm area to rise again for about 1/2 an hour.
Once it has risen again poke it in places with your finger to get the characteristic depressions and cover in olive oil (be quite generous with the oil at this stage). Sprinkle 1/2 a tsp of coarse salt over the top and place in a pre-heated oven at 230C for about half an hour. The Focaccia will be ready when it has gone golden brown on top. Take it out and place it on a cooling rack.
Take the other half of the mixture and leave it overnight in an oiled bowl covered in a little oil and cling-film, leave it overnight and make more focaccia the next day. In fact I find the dough that has been left overnight makes even better focaccia so if you have time and can wait that long you might want to do this with the whole lot!
