Rosemary and Thyme Focaccia

Another recipe I wanted to try from the first edition of the Baked and Delicious was the rosemary and thyme focaccia, especially seeing that it ties in with my wanting to make more bread.  I really am enjoying working with yeast – it is very satisfying to see dough rise and to punch it down again.

I changed the recipe ever so slightly by not putting the herbs in the dough and only put them over the top of the bread which was great plus I halved the recipe.

Ingredients

450g strong white flour – I used all purpose, it’s all I had on hand
2tsp fast acting yeast
5ml sea salt plus extra for sprinkling
1tbsp fresh rosemary chopped plus extra sprigs
1tbsp fresh thyme chopped plus extra
4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
250 – 300ml warm water

Method

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in the yeast and salt.  Add the chopped herbs (if using) and using a wooden spoon or the dough hooks on your electric beater, beat in the olive oil and enough warm water to make a soft dough.
2. Place onto a board and knead for 10 minutes.
3. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and leave in a warm spot for approximately an hour until it has doubled in size.
4. Knock back the dough by punching it down to let the air escape and divide into two or  four portions.  Roll out into rough ovals approximately 1cm thick.  Place on an oiled baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap and leave to rise for a further 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
6. Sprinkle with thyme and poke the rosemary sprigs into the surface of the breads and scatter generously with sea salt flakes and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Wrap in a clean tea towel to cool.  Eat the same day.

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