Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Italian Focaccia with Onions and Olives


This is one of the first few breads i baked and till date this stands first in my bread baking list. My husband says its the "King" of all breads in my bakery, with its wonderful combination of olive oil and red onions giving it a nice flavour!! 
Now, coming to the recipe...

Ingredients
All purpose flour -350 gms (use WeißenMehl Type 550 in Germany)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Dry yeast - 1 Pkt
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Lukewarm water - 250 ml
Green or black olives(seedless and cut into half) - 100 gm

For  garnishing
Red onions - 2 (cut in rings)
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Oregano- 1 tbsp (optional, but gives a very rich flavor to the bread if used)

Method
1. Sift the flour in a large bowl and add all the ingredients except olives.
2. Knead it for about 5 min. to a very soft dough. If the dough is still sticky, rub your hands with a little olive oil and then knead.
3. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and place it in a warm place for about 1.5 hrs until the volume gets doubled.
4. Knead the dough again for 2 min.
5. Gently stuff in half the quantity of cut-olives into the dough and enclose it.
6. Carefully divide it into 4 parts and roll them into 4 balls (with olives hiding inside).

7. Place them in a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Enough spacing between each ball should be taken care of. Otherwise they stick together on baking !
8. With your index finger, gently press the balls as shown in the pic. thereby flattening them a little.
  
9. Place the remaining cut-olives and red onions over each ball. Sprinkle olive oil and oregano over the toppings (you could be more generous with the olive oil to get a rich taste).
10. Cover it again with a tea towel and allow it to rise in a warm place for another 30-60 min.(The more time it rises the more fluffy the bread gets).
11. Preheat the oven to 190 °C and bake it for 30- 35 min. until golden brown.

The result :

After your first bite :-)

5 comments:

  1. You are a pretty good baker.As much I love olives ,the bread is equally relishing :D

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  2. Focaccia looks perfectly baked Reshmi, looking forward to your other yummy recipes too:-)

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  3. Ayeesha and Yasmeen, Iam greatly inspired by ur comments...Thank you so much for this motivational kick :-)

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  4. WOw It looks fabulous!! I could not take my eyes off it!Lovely blog you have.Do visit mine when time permits.. http://padhuskitchen.blogspot.com/

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  5. the blog looks really interesting and yummy :-) .... i am already in love with your baking skills so this blog can help me steal some of your mastery ;) .... do share that simolina cake recipe as well :)

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