Pizza-style focaccia

AS IT’S National Pizza Day on Saturday (February 9) I thought I would once again share this lovely focaccia recipe, which is perfect if you find yourself wondering what to do this half term with the children/grandchildren.

Ingredients:

500g strong white bread flour 7g sachet yeast

2tsp salt

50ml extra virgin olive oil + extra for greasing & drizzling

Bunch of rosemary

200g cherry tomatoes

You will need a baking tray – 31cm x 26cm x 2cm deep is perfect.

Method:

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other so it does not kill the yeast, add 50ml olive oil and 225ml lukewarm water. With your hands stir the ingredients together to mix, then either attach a dough hook to your mixer or continue mixing by hand to start to form a rough dough.

Gradually add a further 75ml warm water, the dough may look wet at this stage, this gives the focaccia the irregular holes.

Oil your worktop and tip out the dough, knead by hand for a further 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and stretchy without breaking up.

Oil your mixing bowl and replace the dough, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise until doubled in size, this may take a few hours.

Generously grease your baking tray and carefully turn your dough out onto it, try not to over-handle but gently stretch the dough out to all corners of the tray making a few indentations across the surface.

Cover loosely with cling film, leave the dough to further rise for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200°C.

When the dough looks fluffy remove the cling film and spike the rosemary into the dough, scatter small bunches of tomatoes, pressing firmly on the dough’s surface. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and further drizzle a little olive oil, allow to cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Making your own focaccia this way means you are in control of what goes into it, so no added sugar and just the right amount of salt for your palate. Tomatoes are an excellent source of carotene and lycopene and rosemary is surprisingly high in calcium.

Lesley is studying nutrition & health at Edge Hill University, she and husband Roberto own Roberto’s Italian on Southport’s Ocean Plaza.

For more of Lesley’s recipes go to: Twitter: @LYatesNutrition and Roberto’s: Facebook.com/ robertossouthport