When You Don’t Have Time For Sourdough…

Focaccia never fails.

The whole entire world is making sourdough but Stephanie Audino from THE ICONIC’s Social team does not have time for that. Instead, she’s all about the focaccia. Hear her out...

“So, I decided to put the damn phone down and make some focaccia. Focaccia is something I really enjoy eating AND the recipe only had about six ingredients in it so seemed simple enough.

Spoiler alert! Something I want to address while you are only five sentences into reading this is that I'm about to get really deep and emotional about focaccia … a tad #isosad (I just made that hashtag up) but something so true.

Baking focaccia is SO rewarding. Because it is a bit of a process that takes two days, you really bond with the focaccia and become the focaccia … yep, I've gone #isomad (another hashtag I made up) but i'm not mad about it. But seriously keep reading and MAKE THIS AT HOME BECAUSE I SAID SO IN CAPS LOCK.”

Here is what you need:

1 kg of flour
1 teaspoon of dried yeast
700ml water
4 tablespoons of salt
1 bunch of rosemary
10 garlic cloves thinly sliced
3 tablespoons of oil

Now make it:

1. Place the flour, yeast and water into a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for about 3 mins. (A dough hook is ideal as the single hook plus the power behind the machine's motor can let you more easily knead heavier doughs, but if you don't have a dough hook I would recommend mixing by hand.)

2. Cover and put aside for 30 mins.

3. After 30 mins of just staring at the time and then the dough … and then back again, get the mixture back out and add your salt. Mix on high speed with your electric mixer, or if doing it by hand, get working those fingers. By mixer – mix for about 5-10 mins and by hand give it 15-20 mins. The aim is for your dough to be nice and smooth and no longer sticky.

4. Tip the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it doubles in size. AKA. THE MAGIC HAPPENS.

5. After an hour passes and you’re blown away by the fact that it's actually doubled in size before your eyes, and you are legit a proud mum seeing your child grow up, get it out of its bowl and prepare its new home – a large baking tray.

6. Oil the tray. Take the dough out and onto a lightly floured benchtop and form it into a rectangle so it fits nicely into the tray.

7. Transfer your dough / baby into the oiled tray and then dimple the dough with your fingers so the dough covers the whole tray. Why do you need to give your dough / baby dimples?

Well a) because this is a really happy moment and every happy dough has dimples

b) the dimples soak up the oil which is really what you want.

8. Now say goodbye to your soon-to-be focaccia and leave it to rest in the fridge overnight.

9. After an uneasy night's sleep for you, open your fridge and see how she's done it again, she's proved and doubled in size. TOGETHER YOU ARE MAGIC.

10. Lightly dimple the dough again. Mix together your rosemary, garlic and olive oil and spread evenly over the dough, then sprinkle a little extra salt.

11. Leave to rest like that for 30 mins.

12. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees.

13. Bake your magic focaccia for about 20 mins or until golden. Allow it to cool and then transfer to a board.