Tomato, Rosemary and Red Onion focaccia recipe

So the lovely Helen over at The Crazy Kitchen and Jenny over at Mummy Mishaps had this brain wave of hosting The Great Blogger Bake Off. Every week bloggers go head to head in the same theme of the Great British Bake Off and try to produce some yummy recipes.

Now I’ve been watching the show and last week I watched the entries come in and thought, I could do this.

Then this week it was bread.

I can not make bread at all, never has a loaf of bread come out of the oven edible, let alone something that looks so complicated like the focaccia.

However, I wasn’t going to back down and decided to go for it. I decided to make focaccia as I thought this was pretty easy looking (haha!) then I saw a couple of other bloggers had made some and they looked delicious and the pressure started to ramp up. So I changed my mind and sat yesterday looking for a new recipe. Then Lorraine Pascale popped onto my screen making her Rosemary and sea salt focaccia whilst making it look so easy!

So that was that I went back to my focaccia idea. I couldn’t find a recipe I liked so I combined several to get to what I wanted (That was the smart move obviously considering I can’t bake bread!).

My first attempt was awful, after kneading for what felt like a lifetime I realised I had forgotten the oil…Doh! So that one went in the bin and I had to start again.

Here is our tomato, Rosemary and Red Onion Focaccia:

Ingredients –

• 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 x 7g/⅛oz sachet fast-action dried yeast
• 80ml olive oil,
• 150-250ml warm water
• 1 bunch fresh rosemary
• 1/2 red onion
• A handful of cherry tomatoes

Method –

1. Place the flour, salt, yeast in a bowl and then add the oil. From here add the water, the more you add the lighter the bread becomes but you don’t want to add too much and then need to add more flour. Ideally, try to get all the water added. Once this is done bring the dough together enough that you can put it on the side to knead.
2. Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes. You will see if the dough is ready by lightly poking it, then it should bounce back. If not knead for a few more minutes.
3. Once this is done place the dough on a baking sheet that has some greaseproof paper on there. Shape into an oval shape and roll out. Cover and place in a warm place to prove for an hour. I covered mine with oiled cling film and placed it in an oven that was cooling down after being used that morning.
4. When it is proved simply add your toppings, I went for cherry tomatoes cut in half, thin slices of red onion and sprigs of rosemary finish with a sprinkling of salt. To pop the cherry tomatoes in simple poke little holes in the top of the dough and push them in, same for the rosemary.
5. Put the dough in the oven for 25-30 minutes until it is cooked. It should be a light golden brown on top and when you tap the bottom it should sound hollow.
6. Enjoy!

I had this for lunch and it was yummy! What do you think of my first edible bread creation? I am pretty pleased with how it came out, though I might not be in a rush to create this again, I think I’ll stick with the shop brought version..