Black olive focaccia bread
When I lived in Italy, I fell in love with focaccia, being a student I did not have much money to spare, so I used to pass by the pannetaria (the bakery) buy a square slice of fresh focaccia then pass by the cheese shop and buy some fresh mozzarella and pesto. It was my favourite lunch, fresh focaccia, yummy mozzarella and fresh aromatic basil pesto. Fast forwarding several years to when I moved to the USA and worked in an Italian restaurant I really learned how to make this delicious and scrummy bread. I made trays of it with different fillings and toppings, rosemary or sundried tomato filling and toppings such as just salt or potato or caramelised onions. It is effortless to prepare, and I am sharing the recipe with you as in the Middle East it is sold at an unbelievable high price. Now you have no excuse for spending so much, so pull up the sleeves and start kneading..
If you have never had this bread before try it and experiment with the fillings and the toppings.
It works perfectly with grilled peppers, Tunisian mashwi salad and even hummus, not to forget yummy sandwiches
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 12 minutes
Start to finish: 1 hour 22 minutes
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour, all-purpose
2 teaspoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons Himalayan salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/4 cups black olive
Extra oil for drizzling on the surface
1 tablespoon flaked sea salt
Method:
* In a glass bowl mix the flour, salt, yeast, honey, olive oil and water and work with the hands until combined.
* Tip on the work surface and knead the dough for around 8 to 10 minutes until it is soft and elastic.
* Add the black olives and knead until combined.
* Place in an oiled glass bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and keep in a warm place until doubled in size.
* Heat the oven to 200 C fan setting.
* When the dough has doubled knead it again for 1 minute then spread it on 35 cm diameter oiled round baking pan to a thickness of 2 cm then cover with plastic and let it rise for 20 mins.
* Sprinkle with sea salt and with the tip of the fingers gently press to create pockets.
* Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
* Best served on the first day.
Tips:
* It is essential to follow the proofing steps precisely.
* It is best consumed the first-day ad it dried out quickly.
* Experiment with fillings and toppings as mentioned in the introduction.
* You can freeze for up to 3 months.
Per Serving : 291 Calories; 10g Fat (29.7% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 45g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1292mg Sodium.