Bread Ahead’s lazy focaccia
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Easy - March 2022
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Serves 8-10 -
Hands-on time 20 min, plus 2 hours 10 min resting
Discover how to make London bakery Bread Ahead’s lazy focaccia. The recipe admittedly starts as a slightly sloppy mix, but with a bit of folding and care ,it becomes a beautifully springy, elastic, pillowy dough.
The dough base can be used with various toppings – fresh herbs, chopped onions, artichoke hearts, tomatoes… Let your imagination run wild.
Recipe from Bread Ahead: The Expert Home Baker by Matthew Jones (Hardie Grant £26).
- Calories
- 257kcals
- Fat
- 8.7g fat (1.4g saturated)
- Protein
- 5.1g
- Carbohydrates
- 38.5g (0.3g sugars)
- Fibre
- 2g
- Salt
- 1g
delicious. tips
How to add toppings
The focaccia is superb topped just with salt or added rosemary sprigs, but it’s easy to add flavourings such as fresh or sun-blush cherry tomatoes and green and black olives. Push some of the ingredients into the dough and leave others on top. And don’t stop there: try charred artichokes, anchovies, goat’s cheese, pickled jalapeños and prosciutto… Whatever combination takes your fancy.
You can ‘hold’ this focaccia for up to 4 hours in the fridge after step 7, which is useful if you want to serve it for an evening meal.
Folding is a technique often used for sourdough, but it’s equally useful with any high hydration (wet) doughs where kneading is difficult. Don’t skip the resting between folds as this is crucial for letting the gluten develop.