Garlic & Rosemary Focaccia

Maddison Grant
Jan 6, 2021
3 min read

New Year, clean home.

This year I spent my Christmas break cleaning out the house, whether it be the wardrobe, the spare rooms or even the garage, nothing was off limits.

Mike had decided that he wanted to organise his tool section in the garage to make it more accessible and user friendly. This of course meant we had to pull everything out of that area and sort through it.

What does this have to do with making a Focaccia you may be asking.

Well while we were sorting through everything we discovered an instruction manual for a bread maker neither of us were sure if we still owned. So me being me, I rushed straight into the kitchen to look through all the cupboards, and there it was. Hiding at the very back of the cupboard behind all the huge soup pots, was a virtually brand new bread maker.

Jack pot!

I started reading through all the different setting and what I can make with this new found toy and found my favourite setting. Dough. This literally just mixes and rests the dough in a warm area. I have been dying to get a kitchen aid with a dough hook so this is my next best option.

Like a kid in a candy store I instantly started thinking about all the different things that I could bake. Top of my list a garlic and rosemary focaccia.

We had friends coming over for New Years Eve and of course 2 hours before they were due to arrive, I had the idea that I wanted to bake a fresh focaccia to have with some of the dips we had bought. Could I really get a better excuse to give my new toy a whirl.

It is seriously stupidly easy to make a delicious focaccia and it can be done relatively quickly.

First things first, you don't need a bread maker or even a stand mixer to make this recipe you can mix the dough by hand it just takes an extra few minutes to come together!

Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia Recipe

Prep Time: 1.5 hours

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

* 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil for the pan

For the Dough

3 1/2 Cups of Plain Flour (All Purpose) - Sieved

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Instant Yeast (Dry Active Yeast)

1 1/2 cups of Warm Water

Toppings

1-2 pinches of Sea Salt of Pink Rock Slat

2 Cloves of Minced Garlic (2.5cm squeeze tube of garlic)

1 Tablespoon of Rosemary finely cut

(See below for topping variations)

Instructions

Using a pastry brush, add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil into your pan and brush the base and sides making sure all edges are covered. I personally use a 20cm square cake tin but you can use any pan you like, just make sure it had relatively deep sides.
Combine all dough ingredients in either the bread maker or mixing bowl. If using the bread maker, select the dough options and start. If using a mixing bowl and electric mixer with the dough hook mix for 60 seconds. Alternatively combine in a mixing bowl by hand and turn out onto a well floured surface and kneed the dough. Keep in mind this is quite a sticky dough.

Scoop the sticky dough into the prepared pan and cover. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 190°C or 375°F
If you let the dough rise in the bread maker, transfer into the pan now. I like to flip my dough in the pan once so that it coats the dough entirely in olive oil
Gently poke the dough all over to make deep dimples. This allows for the flavour of your toppings to be absorbed right through the bread.
Drizzle olive oil lightly over the dough and sprinkle with salt, garlic and rosemary. I like to use the pastry brush to make sure there is an even distribution of all toppings
Bake the bread for 30 minutes or until golden brown. If like me you have a hot spot in your oven make sure you rotate the pan 1-2 times to ensure even cooking. Serve warm but is just as delicious the next day!