Garlic butter focaccia
Another variation of one of my favourite recipes!
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Garlic Butter
- 2 bulbs garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 100 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 30 g chives finely sliced
- 50 g parmesan grated
- salt and pepper
Focaccia
- 700 g bread flour
- 680 g lukewarm water (100 degrees F / 34 degrees C) 95% hydration
- 7 g dry yeast
- 12 g fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon honey optional
- 60 g extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp garlic butter
Instructions
Garlic Butter
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius / 320 degrees Farenheit.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the top off the garlic bulbs, about 2 – 3 cm down from the top to expose the raw cloves. Place the bulbs of garlic into the centre of an oven proof dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour.
- Take the dish out of the oven and remove the garlic from the dish and set to the side. Allow to slightly cool until you are able to handle it. Using your fingers, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skin.
- Place the garlic cloves, butter, chives, parmesan and pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor and blend. Alternatively, everything can be mashed together with a fork in a large bowl.
Focaccia
- In a medium bowl, mix together the lukewarm water, yeast and honey with a whisk and leave to sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast has foamed. This will indicate that your yeast is active.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt and whisk together. Add the yeast water to the bowl with the flour and bring together with a wooden spoon or your hands until the flour and water is combined and there are no dry parts. The dough should be wet and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to sit for 10 minutes.
- Uncover the dough and begin to stretch and fold. To do this, wet your hands, then take a section of the dough and stretch it up and fold it onto itself on the opposite side. Rotate the bowl and repeat this step three more times until you have gone all the way around the bowl. Cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Repeat the stretch and fold method until a neat ball has formed.
- In a clean bowl, drizzle 20g of extra virgin olive oil all around the sides and into the bottom. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl and cover very well with plastic wrap. Leave to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 18 hours and maximum of 72 hours. This is proof 1.
- Prepare a baking tin (34cm x 23cm x 5cm) by greasing it with 20g of extra virgin olive oil. Transfer the proofed dough to the oiled baking tin. Using your fingers, stretch the dough out slightly into a rough rectangular shape. There is no need to stretch the dough out to the edges of the pan as the dough will rise and spread. Cover the tin with a damp tea towel and leave the dough to rise in a warm area of your house for 2 - 3 hours. If your dough is uncovered there is risk of too much air getting into the dough and creating a dry and crusty layer on top.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / 390 degrees F
- Melt 4tbsp of garlic butter in the microwave or on a low heat on the stovetop.
- Once the dough has risen, use your fingers to dimple the dough. Drizzle the dough with the garlic butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. This will help the crust of the dough get golden and crispy when baking. Finish off with a sprinkling of flakey sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes or until the dough has developed a golden crust on top.
- Let the bread slightly cool before removing it from the baking tray. Place onto a wire rack and leave to rest for 30 minutes before slicing into it.
