Gorgeous Grape Focaccia
I've been doing a lot of bread-baking recently, partly because my supermarket only sells fresh yeast in fairly large quantities and it needs to be used quickly and partly because it provides the perfect break in my revision - bit of mixing, wait an hour, bit of kneading, wait an hour, put it in the oven and enjoy the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the house...
Anyways as a bit of variation, I had a go an experimenting with focaccia, which is a doughy Italian bread similar in style and texture to pizza, and ultimately decided to add some grapes and a good sprinkling of salt and I have to say the results were marvellous! This is a great as a pre-starter to a meal with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping but it's equally as good just for snacking on mid-afternoon.
Gorgeous Grape Focaccia
300g strong white bread flour, plus extra for sprinkling
200g strong wholemeal flour
5g salt
4g dried yeast (or 20g fresh yeast)
375g cold water
6 tbsp olive oil
20 or so seedless black grapes
generous pinch of sea salt
Put the flour, salt and yeast into a big mixing bowl. Add the water then, using a large metal spoon, give the ingredients a vigorous mixing to combine. After a minute or so of mixing, the dough should be cohesive and pulling away from the sides of the bowl in a big ball. It will feel wet. It should do: don’t be tempted to add more flour. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rest on the worktop for an hour or more (if needed) you want the dough to approximately double in size.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to grease a 44 x 30cm baking tray, then tip the proven dough out on to the greased tray. With a rolling pin, roll once to the left and once to the right from the centre of your dough. You don’t want to squash all the air out of the proven dough; you just want to shape it outwards and along the tin and for it to be approximately 2cm thick. Cover with the tea towel and rest again for 40 minutes.
Coat your hands with oil then, with firm claw-like fingers, press the surface of the dough down (taking care not to go through the dough to the bottom of the tin). Push the grapes deep into the fingermark holes. With another tablespoon of olive oil rubbed into your hands, gently coat the entire surface of your loaf.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn it down to 190°/gas mark 5 and bake for a further 20 minutes or so, until crusted and golden brown. On exit from the oven, immediately pour the remaining olive oil over the focaccia – the hot dough will suck the oil up. This will give your focaccia its characteristic chewy crust. Leave to cool slightly in the tin before sprinkling over the salt cutting.
Anyways as a bit of variation, I had a go an experimenting with focaccia, which is a doughy Italian bread similar in style and texture to pizza, and ultimately decided to add some grapes and a good sprinkling of salt and I have to say the results were marvellous! This is a great as a pre-starter to a meal with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping but it's equally as good just for snacking on mid-afternoon.
Gorgeous Grape Focaccia
300g strong white bread flour, plus extra for sprinkling
200g strong wholemeal flour
5g salt
4g dried yeast (or 20g fresh yeast)
375g cold water
6 tbsp olive oil
20 or so seedless black grapes
generous pinch of sea salt
Put the flour, salt and yeast into a big mixing bowl. Add the water then, using a large metal spoon, give the ingredients a vigorous mixing to combine. After a minute or so of mixing, the dough should be cohesive and pulling away from the sides of the bowl in a big ball. It will feel wet. It should do: don’t be tempted to add more flour. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rest on the worktop for an hour or more (if needed) you want the dough to approximately double in size.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to grease a 44 x 30cm baking tray, then tip the proven dough out on to the greased tray. With a rolling pin, roll once to the left and once to the right from the centre of your dough. You don’t want to squash all the air out of the proven dough; you just want to shape it outwards and along the tin and for it to be approximately 2cm thick. Cover with the tea towel and rest again for 40 minutes.
Coat your hands with oil then, with firm claw-like fingers, press the surface of the dough down (taking care not to go through the dough to the bottom of the tin). Push the grapes deep into the fingermark holes. With another tablespoon of olive oil rubbed into your hands, gently coat the entire surface of your loaf.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn it down to 190°/gas mark 5 and bake for a further 20 minutes or so, until crusted and golden brown. On exit from the oven, immediately pour the remaining olive oil over the focaccia – the hot dough will suck the oil up. This will give your focaccia its characteristic chewy crust. Leave to cool slightly in the tin before sprinkling over the salt cutting.
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