Hairy Bikers focaccia bread has been published three times across their books, and the dough gets wetter each time. This is the Mediterranean Adventure version, made with 500g of strong white flour, 325ml of water and 10g of yeast, baked in a tin rather than on a tray.
They explain why there is a new version in the book itself, writing that they cooked focaccia by the Rialto Bridge in Venice years ago but keep trying to make their recipes better. Dave adds that he likes to eat focaccia with tuna mayo for breakfast.
The dimples go right down to the base of the tin. Press your fingertip through the risen dough until you touch metal, and the book promises you will not break it, because those holes are what hold the oil and salt.
Hairy Bikers Focaccia Bread
Description
The dough rests twice in the tin, ten minutes to relax and thirty more to rise again. It makes one loaf in a 30 x 20cm tin, cut into about eight pieces. A cloth goes over this Hairy Bikers focaccia as it cools to keep the crust soft.
Ingredients
For the dough
For the topping
Instructions
- Make the dough: Put the flour in a stand mixer bowl and add the yeast. Stir well, then add the salt and sugar. With the motor running, gradually add the water followed by the oil. The dough will be fairly wet and sticky at first. Knead for 5 minutes with the dough hook until smooth, glossy and still very soft.
- Or by hand: Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the water and oil gradually until it comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes.
- First rise: Leave the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with cling film or a damp tea towel, until doubled in size.
- Into the tin: Oil a roasting tin or brownie tin at least 30 x 20cm. Turn out the dough, knock it back and put it in the tin. Press it out with your fingertips, pushing into all the corners. Do not worry if it springs back, it will relax and spread.
- Rest and top: Leave for 10 minutes, then scatter over the olives and rosemary if using. Drizzle with the olive oil and add a few flakes of sea salt.
- Second rise: Preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Cover the dough again and leave for another half hour, until risen and springing back when pressed.
- Dimple and bake: Make indentations all over the surface with your fingertip, pressing right down to the base of the tin. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
- Cool under a cloth: Move it to a cooling rack and cover with a cloth while it cools, which keeps the crust soft.
FAQs
Why is the dough so sticky?
Because water is what makes the holes. All that moisture turns to steam in the oven and pushes open the airy pockets focaccia is known for, while a firmer dough bakes into something closer to a bread roll.
Resist adding flour when it clings to your hands. Oil your hands instead, or use a mixer with a dough hook for the five minutes of kneading, which is the method the recipe gives first.
How is this different from the Venice one?
The Venice version is their original, from the Bakeation series, and it is still on BBC Food. It uses 300ml of water to this one’s 325ml, a 7g sachet of yeast rather than 10g, and it bakes on a flat tray instead of in a tin.
The tin is the real change. A tray lets the dough spread thin, while a tin holds it in and forces it upwards, so you get a deeper, softer loaf. Their bacon scones come from that same Bakeation series and are the only other yeasted bread of theirs on this site, built on the same 500g of flour.
Is there a third version?
Yes, in Brilliant Bakes, and it goes further again. That one uses 400ml of water, half 00 flour, two teaspoons of honey and 75ml of olive oil in the dough, and it can rise overnight in the fridge.
The direction across all three is the same: more water, more oil, slower rising. That version is topped with cherry tomatoes each wrapped in a basil leaf, so it is a flavoured focaccia rather than a plain one.
What do I serve it with?
Anything with a sauce worth mopping. Their Italian meatballs in tomato sauce are the obvious match, since the sauce is chunky and made with red wine, and a slice of focaccia does the job a spoon cannot.
Soup works just as well. Their tomato soup with fresh tomatoes is built on a kilo of fresh tomatoes and wants bread beside it. And Dave’s own suggestion in the book is focaccia with tuna mayo for breakfast.
What can I put on top?
Olives and rosemary are what this version suggests, and both are marked optional. The Venice one uses rosemary, coarse salt and black pepper instead.
Their tip in Big Book of Baking is that chopped sundried tomatoes, dried chilli flakes and basil oil all work, and that you can flavour the dough itself rather than only the top.
