This deliciously light sea salt and rosemary focaccia is a wonderful sharing bread that can be enjoyed with friends with a simple balsamic dipping oil or any summer spread of your choosing.
Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside – it’s a great place to start if you want to try your hand at breadmaking and requires very little hands-on work. You simply mix the ingredients, give it a few folds and then leave it to prove in the fridge overnight where the yeast does the hard work for you – encouraging the focaccia to rise, ready for baking the next day.
For an extra crispy base don’t forget the drizzle of Mellow Yellow in the bottom of the pan – it creates a focaccia with a wow factor every single time! Focaccia bread works well with many dishes, take a look at some of our recipes here.
• 550g high protein strong white bread flour
• 8g Instant Yeast
• 450ml water (heated to 36C)
• 30g Mellow Yellow Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil (plus extra for drizzling)
• 12g fine sea salt (plus extra to top)
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
1) Warm the water to 36C and tip into a bowl with the flour, yeast and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon until no dry bits of flour remain. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.
2) Drizzle in 15g of Mellow Yellow Cold Pressed Rapeseed oil and use your hands to combine – moving the dough around to activate the gluten. Cover with the tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.
3) Wet your hands and perform a set of folds by stretching the dough up and over itself – turning the bowl ¼ turn as you go, until you’ve performed 4 folds. Repeat this again, 30 minutes later.
4) Line a baking dish with parchment and oil generously with Mellow Yellow (this will help to give the base of the focaccia a beautiful golden crispiness). Lift the dough into the dish and cover with clingfilm. Place in the fridge overnight.
5) The next morning, preheat the oven to 220C. remove the dough from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
6) Preheat the oven to 220C. Drizzle the focaccia with the remaining 15g Mellow Yellow Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil, then wet your hands and use your fingers to gently create dimples in the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with sea salt, nestle in the rosemary and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
7) Remove from the oven, allow to cool and enjoy with your favourite dips and spreads