Expert Opinion

Recipe: Focaccia

20 Sep
Focaccia

6-8 vine-ripened tomatoes

6 garlic cloves, peeled, halved

1 x punnet bocconcini, strained

3 cups plain flour / strong flour

2 x 7g sachets of instant dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tbs olive oil

Rosemary sprigs, optional

 

Preheat oven to 200C.

place tomatoes and garlic on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place in oven for 20-25 minutes or until softened. Remove and set aside.

Place flour in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast to one side of the bowl, and salt and sugar to the other side. This eliminates the salt killing the yeast.

Using a stand mixer and dough hook attachment, mix ingredients together with 400ml lukewarm water and olive oil until combined and slightly sticky. Add tablespoons of water or flour if required. Mix on low setting for 10 minutes or until dough ball comes together. Remove dough and place onto a lightly floured workbench. Knead lightly to bring them together. Place in a lightly oiled clean bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for 50 minutes.

Oil a rectangular tray (25 x 35cm). Tip the dough onto a lightly floured bench again and punch dough down to remove excess gas. Gently stretch the dough to tray size. Cover and set aside for 40 minutes.

Press fingers into the top of the dough to form dimples. Miz together 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbs water, salt, and pepper. Evenly place tomatoes, garlic, and cheese onto focaccia. Drizzle with oil and water.

Bake for 10-20 minutes or until lightly golden and fluffy.

Serve warm with butter or soup.

Also a great lunchbox, daycare or day out with the kids’ snack.

About the author

A beautiful visual content creator, Amie is also an Author of two children’s recipe books, Baby Pip Eats & Little Pip Eats, and also holds a B.Sc. in Food Science and Nutrition. Amie has over 15 years of experience as a food technologist for some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and has also worked as a freelance food stylist and recipe writer for magazines, including the Australian Women’s Weekly, Gourmet Traveller and Good Taste
A career highlight for Amie was having the ability to use her varied talents internationally, working as a Food consultant in the USA with food retailers; WholeFoods, Trader Joes and Giant Eagle. On large scale labelling system implementation in accordance with the FDA and USDA regulation nutrition updates for 2020.
More recently, Amie has been involved in managing multiple small and large corporate food projects with more of an ethical purpose, including; Patagonia Provisions range, Cobram Estate, and a small Indigenous food based social enterprise start up.
Amie continues to use her Instagram feed as a means to inspire families to plate up healthy, economical and simple seasonal fare that everyone can enjoy.