Homemade Focaccia Bread

I am a huge fan of baking, from baking cakes to breads to puddings you name it, so I thought why not do a post on of my favourite recipes! Seeing as this post is non-beauty related, unlike our previous blogposts, we thought it would be nice to have a little change once in a while.

There's nothing better than having a nice loaf of fresh homemade bread straight from the oven. As there are so many different types of bread out there I thought I would have a go at making a classic focaccia bread. The recipe which I used was inspired by Lorraine Pascale, as those of you may know her from her TV show, 'Baking made easy' - so yes this recipe is pretty easy and stress free! I thought I would change it up a little and add a few of my own ingredients, so you guys can do the same too - literally add whatever you like, go wild! This bread tastes great warm and also cold (well I think so anyway) and I find it great to make for any family occasion as it's great to share, or if you're really hungry you could just have it all to your self!

This recipe seriously does not require a lot of ingredients and it is pretty simple to make, so heres the details on how to make it.

For one bread you will need:

Ingredients
80ml Extra virgin olive oil
500g Strong white bread flour
2 tsp Salt
150-250ml Warm water
1 x 7g Sachet of dry yeast

Toppings: these are just the toppings I used but you can add what you like.

Cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese
Extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling)


Method;

1. In a bowl sift in your bread flour, salt and yeast. Give that a good stir, then add in your extra virgin olive oil. You can use normal olive oil if you want but I just personally like to use extra virgin olive oil as it is has a stronger smell and taste.

2. Next add in your warm water. Start by adding in 150ml initially and then gradually adding small amounts until you get a nice soft dough. You don't need to add in all the water, but just enough to get that nice pillowy consistency. Also an important note to point out is to make sure you don't add too much water or your dough may end up very sticky and things will get very messy and out of control!

3. Now for this next step, its going to require some muscle power. So once you've got your dough ready, flour a work surface and start kneading your dough for around 10 minutes. I know your arms must be aching right now! But like me, just think of it as a mini workout for the arms! - But if you want to cheat you can always use an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment which is pretty genius. Now unfortunately I don't own an electric mixer and so for me it was down to using my hands. A neat trick to see whether your dough is properly kneaded is by making it into a ball and by using your finger, make a small indent into the dough by lightly pressing it. If the dough springs back, then its ready - and yes that means no more kneading yay!

4. Then its time to shape the dough into an oval shape onto a lightly oiled baking tray. Cover the dough with cling film - make sure you lightly brush the cling film beforehand to make sure it doesn't stick to the dough once you cover it. Now you can leave the dough in a warm place for an hour. In that hour you can relax or get other things done that need doing.

5. After about an hour your dough should have doubled in size. I've always been so amazed at how dough can miraculously inflate within a few hours, I get a little too excited sometimes haha. I know I need to calm down, its only dough! Now using a floured finger, prod holes into the dough at irregular intervals, pressing down right to the bottom.

6. Now the fun part, adding the toppings. A classic idea for a focaccia is rosemary and sea salt which you can give a go. However I went with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese because I think they are a great combination. I even spinkled a few chives on top. Once your toppings are done, bake your bread in the oven at 200C for around 25-30 minutes, just until it is golden brown and hollow when you tap it.

7. Remove the bread from the oven and drizzle with some olive oil and leave to cool for a little and then you're ready to dig in.

I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe and if you do have a go making it then comment down below and let us know what you thought and also tweet us a picture with the hashtag #thebeautyspotrecipes because we would love to see how yours turned out! :) xx

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