Focaccia/佛卡夏 義式薄餅

 

You can find many focaccia recipes on the internet. They are
basically flour, yeast, and oil. Some are more complicated than the others. Here
is one I made up without getting my hands dirty (I use the bread machine). Although the whole process takes two hours, the time I spent on it is less than 10 minutes if not five.

Ingredients:

206ml warm water

1 tsp active dry yeast

7g sugar

300g all-purpose flour

7g salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

40g olive oil, and 20g for oiling the pan and bread

Some rosemary leaves

First, put yeast and sugar into water, let it wake up (5~10
min). Pour it and olive oil, flour, salt into bread machine. Set dough mode and
let it work.

About one hour later, the dough is done. No need to wait for the cycle to finish completely. Let’s grease the cast iron skillet. Place
the dough into the skillet, wet your fingers to dimple the dough flat and
evenly on the pan. Brush more oil on the bread, also with sprinkling sea salt
and rosemary leaves. Cover with a wet towel for at least an hour before baking
at 400F/200C for 25~30 minutes.

There are also recipes claiming "No Kneading". So I am not the first one skipping steps. If you don't like bread machine, you can certainly use the stand mixer to prepare the dough, or by hands by all means. Skillet is not a must either. I saw video showing the dough laid flat on the baking sheet. So not to be limited by the gears.

I've tried reduced the amount of oil. Not a good idea. It needs to be a bit oily and salty too. A lot of rosemary get you the flavor. Afterall, the rosemary is just too big now.

No fresh herb is ok. Dried herbs, Italian seasoning, and garlic is good too. When adding garlic, cut into small pieces and put them at the bottom layer.