Friends for lunch and an amazing, quick and simple Focaccia recipe I had already tried for Viola’s Frozen Party.
Focaccia is a different kind of Italian pizza. It is thicker, more crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, usually eaten plain – with olive oil and salt – or topped with yummy ingredients.
This time I decided to make it with black olives, cherry tomatoes and rosemary. It is similar to the Focaccia Barese (from the city of Bari, South of Italy) and sooo yummy! Also, it is super easy to make, and quite quick compared to other bread/pizzas. Here is the recipe for you.
The original recipe comes from Viva la Focaccia, but I adapted it in order to have a quicker execution. As usual, I only post easy and tested recipes so just try to make it and you’ll see… it will be a success! Also, bread/pizza/focaccia making is SO rewarding. It will look like you just bought it in some Italian Deli.
EASY AND QUICK FOCACCIA with Olives and Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 400 g of flour (or 70% normal flour and 30% strong flour)
- 350 g water
- one bag (7 g.) of dried bread yeast – I used the brewer’s yeast
- 4 g salt
- 4 g sugar
- EVO (Extra Virgin Olive) oli
- salt
- cherry tomatoes
- black pitted olives
Execution
In a bowl, mix the flour, the yeast, the salt and the sugar. Slowly add the water, slightly warmed up. Since the dough will be quite soft I recommend to use a spoon to mix everything up. Once everything is well mixed, put the dough in a bigger bowl you have previously carefully oiled with with the EVO oil. Cover it with some plastic wrap and leave it in a dry, warm place for at least 2 hours, until the dough has doubled its size or more. If it’s winter time I usually put the bowl near a heater or in the kitchen if I’m cooking.
After a couple of hours you’ll see the dough has become soft, has doubled its size and you can see some ‘bubbles’ on its surface. Now comes the tricky part: wet your table and cover it with a layer of plastic wrap. On top of the plastic wrap, put some olive oil, then the dough. This allows the dough not to stick on your table. Fold the dought first right to left, then left to right, then top to bottom, then bottom to top (see here, 8th-11th picture). Do this for four times. In the meantime, turn on the oven at 220 degrees.
Put some greased paper onto an oven tray, then place the dough and spread some more olive oil on its surface. With your hands, gently spread the dough until you make the rectangular focaccia shape. Let it rise for another hour, sometimes half an hour is ok too. It should be rise a bit more.
With your fingertips do some little ‘holes’ on the surface, be careful not to break the dough. Place the olives and the tomatoes, previously cut in half, on top of the dough. Sprinkle some salt and rosemary all over the surface, then cook for 5 minutes at 220 degrees, then 10 minutes at 200 until the surface is golden.
You can do a simple focaccia just with olive oil and salt, as well as top it with the ingredients you like the most. Here some suggestions:
– mushrooms and mozzarella
– ham and artichokes
– mixed grilled veggies
– pesto and tomatoes
If you try this recipe please leave a comment and let me know if you liked it! And please, post a pic on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #mcdfood 🙂
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