Originally published in print, September 2021.

 

Imagine if you were to upgrade garlic bread to the point where it becomes more addictive than most class A drugs. Actually, you don’t need to imagine, because you’d just be thinking of a thing that already exists: focaccia. Focaccia is much more than glorified plain pizza dough. It is, in my opinion, the most underrated of all flour-based baking enterprises. Incredibly easy to make, absolutely terrible for you, and utterly uncomplicated to customize. Focaccia presents more of an adventure than a challenge to your average baker. 

 

If you’re anything like me, you’re a bit adverse to following recipes to a T. They tend to include exotic ingredients no one has that I therefore deem unnecessary (who owns coconut sugar?). Plus, I don’t want to have to read about Patricia’s traumatic divorce before I get to the part where she finally tells me how it helped her discover the perfect chocolate brownie recipe. That is why focaccia is  the perfect go-to for an avid, chaotic baker. So long as you have flour, water and yeast, the rest is unimportant. If you have enough time, even the yeast becomes obsolete – you can make your own by just putting some flour and water in a jar and letting it exist for a few days, sourdough style. 

 

Focaccia can be whatever your heart desires; it is bread without inhibitions. Although I will be including the basics of a recipe to get you started down below, where the basic proportions of flour to water should probably be considered, the rest is free reign. Whatever vegetables that are somewhat fresh in your fridge can suddenly become mediums for bread-based artworks. Tomatoes sliced into circles become suns. Peppers cut into strips become flower stems and trees. Mushrooms… can most likely remain as mushrooms. 

 

For the foundational dough, here’s a simple bedrock I like to stick to. It is a combination of a multitude of focaccia recipes I have found online, along with years of experience of semi-ruining focaccia by freestyling too much. Following this, even leaving leeway for random additions and subtractions, you should be left with a more than edible focaccia. In any case –  with flour, oil, and salt, you can never go wrong. 

 

INGREDIENTS

• 500g strong flour/ bread flour 
• 1 packet of instant yeast 
• 380-400 ml of water (Like I said! The recipe is adaptable! You’ve got to see how much water you think you need)
• A good amount of salt
• An ungodly amount of olive oil

 

THINGS I RECOMMEND BUT AREN’T REALLY NECESSITIES 

• A head of garlic
• Fresh rosemary (don’t worry, you won’t use a whole packet, but you can freeze what you don’t use!)
• Some of the following for decorative purposes: broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Get a larger bowl than you think you need. To this bowl add the yeast, flour, about a teaspoon of salt, and roughly 250ml of water. Using your hands, combine the ingredients in the bowl and knead it together until it starts to become cohesive. Then, slowly add up to 150 ml more water with one hand, while continuing to mix with the other. The dough will feel sticky, but that’s okay! Once you’ve kneaded it for a few minutes, it will become more elastic and all start to hold together. 
2. Stretch the dough from one side outward, then tuck that edge back into the centre and turn the bowl to repeat the process, pulling the dough out a bit and then pushing it all back together. Do this for about three minutes until the dough starts to form a little ball in the middle of the bowl. When this happens, pull the dough out of the bowl onto a well-oiled table and continue to push and stretch it for another few minutes.
3. Clean the bowl you used of excess dough, oil it up, and add the dough back in. Put a damp tea towel over the whole thing and leave it for about an hour.
4. Line a baking tray or dish with greaseproof paper and tip the dough out onto it. At this point I like to cut the top off a head of garlic, pour some olive oil on it, wrap it in tin foil and roast it for an hour at about 230 degrees Celsius. This preheats the oven, and also means you can use the garlic for the top of the focaccia. 
5. The garlic can then be taken out of the oven, and the cloves can be squeezed out into some olive oil. With the back of a fork, crush it all together to make a garlic paste. 
6. Once the focaccia has been left for the hour, use oiled hands to press into the dough with your fingertips to make little dimples. Liberally drizzle the whole thing in olive oil and garlic paste and sprinkle it all with salt. Put sprigs of rosemary into the little dimples, and then use whatever toppings you’ve chosen to live out your cottage-core dreams.
7. Leave the focaccia in the oven for about 20 minutes, and then when it comes out let it rest for another 20 minutes (this is the hardest part) so that the dough can set.

So that is my rough guide to making the easiest and best bread ever. It’s harder than you’d think to get wrong, and I have the utmost faith that anyone attempting this will inevitably end up with something delicious anyway – it’s impossible to foc(accia) up.