Food for gay men: Focaccia

This is a basic Focaccia recipe to which you can add whatever flavour variations you want to experiment with.

Ingredients

• 500g strong bread flour , plus extra for dusting
• 7g dried fast action yeast
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• Olive oil

Method

STEP 1

• Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl.
• Mix the yeast into one side of the flour, and the fine salt into the other side. Then mix everything together, this initial seperation prevents the salt from killing the yeast.

STEP 2

• Make a well in the middle of the flour and add 2 tbsp oil and 350-400ml lukewarm water, adding it gradually until you have a slightly sticky dough (you may not need all the water).
• Sprinkle the work surface with flour and tip the dough onto it, scraping around the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5-10 mins until your dough is soft and less sticky. If I'm feeling lazy, I just use the dough-hook on the stand-mixer to do this bit.
• Put the dough into a clean bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 1 hr until doubled in size.

STEP 3

• Oil a rectangle, shallow tin (25 x 35cm).
• Tip the dough onto the tin, then use your fingers to stretch it to fill the tin.
• Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for another 35-45 mins.

STEP 4

• Heat the oven to 200C.
• Press your fingers into the dough to make dimples.
• Mix together 1½ tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp water and a couple of pinches of sea-salt and drizzle over the bread.
• Then, add whatever flavours you want. For example, you could push some sprigs of rosemary into the dimples of the dough, or add olives and cherry tomatoes.

STEP 5

• Bake for 20 mins until golden. Whilst the bread is still hot, drizzle over 1-2 tbsp olive oil.