Recipe: Appetizing Olive and Rosemary Focaccia

Olive and Rosemary Focaccia. This focaccia, topped with olives, rosemary, and pistachios, requires no kneading or stretching and results in a crisp, olive oil-scented crust and a puffy, moist, well-risen internal crumb with just the right amount of tender chew. The crux of it is a highly hydrated, no-knead, no-stretch dough. Rustic and romantic, this prized bread from northwestern Italy is the most perfect combination of crispy, fluffy, chewy and moist that I I'm going to make this focaccia using olives and rosemary but you can use the toppings of your choice.

Combine the bread flour, all-purpose flour, salt and the tablespoon rosemary in a large bowl. Add to the mixer along with the oil. Knead the dough on medium speed until it forms a smooth, supple ball that is not sticky to the touch. You can cook Olive and Rosemary Focaccia using 7 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Olive and Rosemary Focaccia

1. You need 800 grams of plain flour.
2. It's 1 envelope of instant dried yeast (7g).
3. Prepare 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt.
4. It's 500 ml of water.
5. It's 3 tbsp of olive oil.
6. It's 1 of few sprigs of fresh rosemary.
7. You need 2 tsp of coarse salt.

The Olive Rosemary Focaccia bread is one of my favorites. I learned this focaccia recipe from Italy and it is the best I know. This recipe is very simple to. This rosemary focaccia bread is so good that even though the recipe makes enough for a platoon, I'm pretty sure I could eat the whole thing.

Olive and Rosemary Focaccia step by step

1. Put flour in a big bowl and put the yeast on one side and the salt on the opposite side of the bowl (salt "kills" the yeast). Pour in the olive oil and water warmed to body temperature.
2. Tip the mixture on a well floured table and knead for 10 min, adding flour if the dough sticks (but keep in mind that adding too much flour will yield in a tough and chewy bread).
3. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and let it rise in a warm place for 1h30, covered with a kitchen towel.
4. Dough should have doubled in size by now. Punch back the dough and put it in a big greased baking pan (or two smaller pans), flatten it with your hands, cover with the towel and leave to rise for 30 min in a warm room.
5. Then, press the risen dough with your fingertips and add halved olives, coarse salt and fresh rosemary on top. Drizzle with additional olive oil.
6. Bake for 40 min in a 180°C oven. Then brush again with olive oil and leave to cool. Enjoy :).

Kneading the rosemary into the bread makes a huge difference. I tried a different recipe that only added the rosemary mixed in with the olive oil and it. Dip your fingertips in any remaining oil mixture and press dough to form dimples in focaccia. Pinch and pleat rim to finish edges. When we are in Umbria for our summer season, I generally bake a lovely big sheet of focaccia at least once a week, often sending over a plate of warm, crispy flatbread to our farmhouse guests.