Focaccia Bread for Rainy Weekends

It's about this time of year that I get really impatient to start harvesting. The weather has been so warm this week, it felt like summer, but summer without the vegetable harvest. Most of the seeds are either still underground or in their packets waiting until all chance of frost has passed. The only things ready to eat in the garden at the moment are spinach and good old rosemary. 



It's been raining all day today, good for the peas and parsnips seeds I planted this week, but not much good for anything else that needs to be done in the garden (like picking the spinach) Luckily I can lean out of the back door and pick rosemary while still keeping in the dry, so I made rosemary focaccia today. I am definitely a fair weather gardener.










Makes one focaccia
500g strong white bread flour
5g powdered dry yeast
10g fine salt
325ml warm water
1 tablespoon of olive oil plus a little more for coating.
A few chopped rosemary leaves
flaky sea salt
Fit the dough hook into a food mixer and add the flour, yeast, salt and water into the mixer bowl. Mix until combined then add the oil and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and silky.  Tip out from the mixer bowl and shape into a round on a floured surface. Put it in an oiled bowl and cover (I have a plastic bin bag I use for this job, plastic bags seem to create the perfect conditions for the yeast to rise) Leave to rise somewhere warm for about an hour or however long it takes to double in size (the time will depend on the warmth of your room). When it's twice the size take it out of the bowl and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Press the dough into a flat rectangle. Press the dough lightly with your fingers all over. Cover it, and leave it to rise again for about an hour. Pre-heat your oven as high as it will go (about 250° C/Gas mark 10 usually) When the dough is ready it will have puffed up again. Poke your fingers (gently) into the dough, almost to the bottom, to make the characteristic dimples all over the bread. Drizzle the top with a little more olive oil, and sprinkle with a little sea salt and the chopped rosemary.

Bake for 10 minutes at the high temperature you'd set the oven to, then turn it down to 200° C/Gas mark 6 and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.