The traditional Italian yeast bread – focaccia – is good on its own, but adding tomatoes and rosemary makes it a real decoration of your table. Most often, focaccia dough is made with yeast and good olive oil, which gives the bread its unique flavor.
There are recipes that require a long overnight fermentation of the dough in the refrigerator, our version is faster – fermentation takes only one or two hours. Be guided by the amount of dough: the speed at which it rises will depend on the activity of the yeast you will be using and the ambient temperature. But do not rush and add more yeast to the dough than the recipe calls for, or put it on the radiator or in the oven – too rapid a rise can spoil the taste of the finished bread and affect its texture not in the best way. Take out the finished bread and cool it on a rack, covering it with paper towels.
Ingredients
- coarse sea salt – to taste
- olive oil to grease
- zest of 1 orange
- flour – 600 grams
- olive oil – 4 tablespoons.
- rosemary sprig – 1 pc
- cherry tomatoes – 250 g
- dry yeast – 7 g
Step by step recipe
Step 1
Dissolve the yeast in 250 ml of warm boiling water in a large bowl. Add 2 tsp salt and olive oil. Stir until yeast is completely dissolved.
Step 2
Sift the flour into a bowl with the yeast. Knead into a soft dough. Transfer to a lightly floured table. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until it no longer sticks to your hands. Grease a clean bowl with butter and place the dough in it. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour (the dough should double in volume).
Step 3
Lightly knead the dough. Grease your hands with vegetable oil and place the dough on an oiled baking sheet. Shape the dough into a regular rectangle.
Step 4
Wash and dry the rosemary and separate into leaves. Remove the zest from the orange with a coarse grater. Wash and dry the tomatoes and lightly press them into the dough, spacing them at regular intervals.
Step 5
Sprinkle dough with rosemary leaves, zest and coarse salt. Leave for another 30 minutes. Drizzle the focaccia lightly with oil and place in a preheated 200°C oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with a towel and leave to serve. Serve in portions.