Under the Tuscan sun: Make this easy, no-knead focaccia to ring in the summer
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Even if the hours of full sun are getting rarer with the seasonal rains, every moment of midday warmth brings to mind a long ago summer spent under the Tuscan sun.
Long ago enough that the Diane Lane starring film wouldn’t come out for another year.
Perhaps it was serendipity: when I watched Under the Tuscan Sun (based on the book of the same name by Frances Mayes), with Lane’s divorcée character flirting with the handsome Marcello (played by Raoul Bova) and eating all the amazing Italian food, it brought me back to Florence and Siena, to Lucca and Cortona.
Summer feasts with no hurry to be anywhere else — that is the life!
Which is why this weekend I am inspired to make some focaccia, possibly my favourite bread ever. Perfect for snacking on its own, dipped in a saucer of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Double the amount of ingredients and bake a thicker loaf (though square or slab might be a more accurate description) that you can slice crosswise to make sandwiches.
Ready for dipping.
Possibly my favourite thing about focaccia is that, unlike most other breads, there is no kneading involved. Just easy patience to allow the dough to rest.
Then you can have fun creating its iconic dimples by pressing your fingers into the oiled dough. There is no better therapy, really.
Half an hour of baking later, your kitchen (and indeed your entire home) will be perfumed with the aroma of fresh focaccia. How divine!
FOCACCIA WITH ROSEMARY
Focaccia is truly one of the simplest breads you can make: you only need flour, salt, yeast and water. A little bit of sugar or honey to help activate the yeast, and that’s about it.
Which means this Italian bread provides an incredible opportunity for you to jazz it up however you like — with sun-dried tomatoes or sliced eggplant. Shallots and garlic. Mushrooms, even.
For this recipe I am employing only a straightforward scattering of rosemary. The spear-shaped leaves are deeply fragrant so every bite of focaccia will be more flavourful and savoury, without the fuss of too many extra ingredients.
Ingredients
500ml lukewarm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons honey
500g all-purpose flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons fine salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Fresh rosemary leaves, for sprinkling
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Method
Fill a mixing bowl with the lukewarm water. Add the active dry yeast and honey. Gently stir until the honey has dissolved, then set it aside.
After 5 minutes, check if the mixture has become foamy. If it isn’t, chances are the yeast has expired and you should discard the mixture and start again with new yeast.
Add the flour and salt to the yeast mixture. Using a rubber spatula, mix until a sticky, shaggy dough forms.
Fold the risen dough onto itself.
Pour enough olive oil to cover the surface of the dough so it remains moist, making sure to rub the oil into the edges of the dough too. (This prevents a crust from forming.)
Cover the mixing bowl with two layers of cling wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator and allow to chill overnight or at least 8-10 hours. The dough should have doubled in size at the end of this resting period.
Alternatively, you can allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 3-4 hours; again, until it has doubled in size.
To prepare the baking tray (preferably one that is 9x13-inch), first grease the entire tray with unsalted butter then pour a little olive oil to further grease it.
Remove the cling wrap from the bowl and use your hands to fold the risen dough onto itself, turning the bowl a quarter way for four folds in total. Transfer the folded dough, now shaped like a ball, from the bowl onto the baking tray.
Sprinkle the dough with the fresh rosemary leaves and pour enough olive oil to coat the surface.
Press your fingers into the dough to make the focaccia’s signature ‘dimples’ or deep indentations.
Using your fingers, spread the dough to fit the pan. Allow it to rise again, uncovered this time, until it has doubled in size in a warm area of the kitchen. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this might take 2-3 hours.
Half an hour before the dough has finished rising, preheat your oven to 220°C. Once the dough has finished rising, sprinkle it with the fresh rosemary leaves and pour enough olive oil to coat the surface.
Pour a little extra olive oil into your hands to coat them, then press your fingers into the dough to make the focaccia’s signature "dimples” or deep indentations.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt before placing the tray in the oven.
Lastly, sprinkle with coarse sea salt before placing the tray on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until the focaccia has a golden brown crust.
Remove the tray from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Slice and serve immediately whilst warm.
