Olive Focaccia

Delightful, and mouth-watering. Let this focaccia, packed full of flavours, take you to Italy!

This focaccia is amazing! I found the recipe a few years ago, and it was the first focaccia I ever made. The soft, springy texture, and the bread full of flavours made me stick to this recipe. It's perfect. Italians do know well how to do their breads.

I am thinking back to the time I was roaming around the roads in Milan, riding the gondole in Venezia and grasping the beauty of Lake Como. Biting my teeth into the delicious thin-crusted Margarita, and having the most delicious fresh figs ever in my life! I couldn't help myself cry over the honey laden, sweetest, juicy figs that were creating a symphony in my mouth. I could go back to Venezia only for the figs alone! It's strange to realize that it was just a few months before the corona virus entered Italy, and rest of the Europe. It's sad, and heart breaking. It has costed Italy a lot of human lives.

This mouth-watering Italian beauty is so easy to make. It's a favourite in our home, and I would recommend you to try it out. This time I flavoured it with sun dried tomatoes kneaded lovingly into the dough, and topped it with black and green olives, and feta cheese. You can use a machine to make the dough, but I prefer to do it by hand. There's nothing like adding loads of love in a yeast dough through your touch. Moreover, this dough doesn't require a lot of kneading.

Let's pray for Italy, and for the rest of the world.

Olive Focaccia

Recipe adapted from Franciskas Vakre Verden

Makes about 15 slices

...........................................................  INGREDIENTS  ...........................................................

Focaccia dough

500 g / 4 cups flour
25 g / 3 tbsp / 0.18 cup  fresh yeast or (7 g dry yeast)
1 tbsp honey 

1 tsp salt

aprox. 3,2 dl / 320 ml / 1.35 cups lukewarm water
1 handful sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped


Oil topping

0,75 dl / 75 ml / 0.32 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh or dry dill
1 tsp fresh or dry timian
1,5 tsp pizza spice
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

Topping

6 - 8 black olives, cut in halves
6 - 8 green olives, cut in halves
feta cheese
sun dried tomatoes
salt / salt flakes

Equipments

Pan approx. 30 x 20 cm / 12 x 8 inches
Waxed paper

...........................................................  PREPARATION  ...........................................................

Focaccia dough

1 Add flour in a big bowl and crumble in the fresh yeast

2 Add honey, salt and most of the water (add little at a time to check if more is needed)

3 Mix together using a wooden spoon (the dough is supposed to be a bit sticky, add more flour if it is too loose)

4 Add in the sun dried tomatoes and knead the dough lightly with your hand giving it a few turns (don't need to be worked with too much) 

5 Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll them out to two lengths

Cover with plastic and let raise for 40 minutes

Meanwhile, prepare the oil topping and grease or cover a pan 30 x 20 cm / 12 x 8 inches with waxed paper

6 Punch the dough and press out all air (the dough will be sticky)
7 Spread the dough on the pan using your hands (easier if you coat fingers with oil) and poke holes all over the dough with your fingers or using the back of a wooden spoon (oiled)

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let raise for another 40 minutes

8 Punch holes again in the dough, and pour the oil mixture all over the dough making sure the holes are being filled

9 Sprinkle salt on the dough, and add the olives, feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes

Bake in the middle of the oven at 200 C / 400 F for about 25 minutes or until the bread turns golden

Let the focaccia bread rest a little before serving

Oil topping

1 Have olive oil in a small bowl

2 Add chopped garlic and the spices

3 Mix well, cover and set aside until the dough is raised 

Let sit on the tray until cool and then transfer them to a wire rack.

*Note! Coat your fingers with oil while spreading out the dough in the pan, and while poking holes.