Olive and rosemary focaccia

I’ve had plenty of kitchen nightmares and disappointments, so when I find a really successful recipe, I tend to make it at every opportunity. This bread is a case in point. I’ve made it three times now, and each time I’m equally amazed that something rustled up in my kitchen can taste so damn good.

If you’ve never made bread before, this focaccia recipe is a great place to start. With minimum effort and after just 20 minutes, you retrieve from the oven a beautiful slab of crispy golden bread, dotted with olives and rosemary and glistening with flaked sea salt and olive oil. It looks and tastes so good, you’ll feel really quite proud of yourself.

The sea salt and olive oil are important to make the topping authentically Italian, but you can add pretty much anything else you like and I plan to try sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil next time.

With rosemary sautéed tomatoes and balsamic-infused olive oil, we polished off the lot with our housemates on Saturday night. As the recipes says, its great bread to share and will definitely impress your mates.

If you’re interested in baking and learning about bread, the River Cottage Handbook No. 3: Bread, by Daniel Stevens, is fantastic. This little book completely demystified the bread-making process for me, and has some delicious-looking recipes that I can’t wait to try out, including English muffins, crumpets and hot cross buns.

Adapted from River Cottage Handbook No.3: Bread by Daniel Stevens

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 5g powdered yeast
• 10g fine sea salt
• 325ml warm water
• About 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for coating

To finish

• A generous drizzle of olive oil
• A sprinkle of flaky sea salt
• A couple of rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped and finely chopped
• A couple of handfuls of pitted green or black olives

To knead by hand: mix the flour, yeast, salt and water in a bowl to form a sticky dough. Add the oil,  mix it in, then turn the dough out on to a clean work surface. Knead until smooth and silky, about 10 minutes.

Or, to use a food mixer: fit the dough hook and add the flour, yeast, salt and water to the mixer bowl. Mix on a low speed until evenly combined, then add the oil and leave to knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and silky.

Shape the dough into a round and coat with a little extra oil. Leave to rise in a clean bow, covered with a plastic bag. When it has doubled in size, tip it on to a clean work surface and press into a rough rectangle. Place in a lightly oiled shallow baking tray, measuring about 26 x 36cm. Press the dough in with your fingers, right into the corners. Now leave to rise, covered, for about half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 250°C/Gas Mark 10, or as high as it will go. When the bread looks puffed up and airy, use your finger tips to poke deep holes across the whole surface, almost to the bottom, and place an olive in every other hole. Drizzle the top generously (but not swimmingly), and sprinkle with salt and rosemary. Bake for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to about 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Focaccia is best eaten warm, but not hot; leave to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before serving, or leave to cool completely.

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