Dough ingredients:
(for one loaf the size of a baking tray that goes with the oven)
500 g soft flour
15 g fresh yeast (about a third of a cube if you don’t have a digital scale)
15 g sugar (about 1 tablespoon)
15 g salt (about 1 tablespoon)
about 300 ml warm water You may need a few more tablespoons of water for this – means about 310 ml best)
Coating ingredients:
(the amount of ingredients is from the eye, ie as desired)
about 60 ml of olive oil
1.5 teaspoons of salt (for some this can be a lot, so put the best you think would suit you)
about 2 sprigs of freshly picked rosemary
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of pepper
if desired red pepper, dried garlic
Preparation:
In a small bowl, crush fresh yeast, add sugar and pour half of warm water, meaning 150 ml. Leave for 10-15 minutes to swell.
While the yeast is swelling, sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.
Make a hole in the dough, pour in the risen yeast, add the rest of the water and start kneading the dough with your hands. The dough needs to be kneaded for about 5-8 minutes to get a nice smooth ball. Halfway through the mixing, transfer the dough out of the bowl to a lightly floured surface and knead a little more.
In a clean bowl, pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place the dough. Cut the dough in half, cover with a cloth and leave to rise until doubled. About an hour and a half.
The coating is best prepared earlier so that all the flavors permeate nicely – clean and finely chop the garlic, pick and wash the rosemary.
Take one bowl, pour olive oil into it, add chopped garlic and washed rosemary. Stir and let stand.
When the dough has risen – transfer it to a lightly floured background and mix. Return to the bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise for another hour and a half or until doubled.
Of course, if it’s a very long wait for you, you don’t have to change your mind, you can immediately go to step number 8 – without waiting for an hour and a half. It’s just that it’s so much finer for me.
When the dough has risen, take a large baking tray and line it with greaseproof paper. Transfer the dough directly from the bowl to the baking tray and greaseproof paper and spread the dough on the baking tray with your hands while pushing the dough with your cheekbones – so that specific holes remain on the dough that characterize the focaccia. (pictured below)
Then coat the focaccia with olive oil, garlic and rosemary – you can also dip some rosemary into the dough. Salt it on top. Pepper, add a little red pepper and turn on the oven to 200C. While the oven is heating, let your bread rise in the pan for another 10 minutes. Place it in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
Eat it warm – because it’s really the best.