Rosemary Focaccia

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white flour
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 10 g salt
• 400 ml warm water
• 100 ml olive oil
• leaves from 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes

Method

1. Mix a wet dough

   Stir the flour, yeast, salt and water to a very wet, sticky dough — closer to a batter than a bread dough. That water content is where focaccia's open, custardy crumb comes from, so do not be tempted to firm it up.

2. Stretch and fold

   Every 30 minutes for two hours, wet your hand, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over. Four rounds of this builds the same structure kneading would, without a workable dough.

   2 h

3. Into the tin

   Pour half the oil into a deep roasting tin, tip the dough in and turn it to coat, then leave it to spread and relax for an hour. Forcing it into the corners while it is tight just tears it.

   1 h

4. Dimple

   Pour the remaining oil over and press your fingers straight down to the base all over, right to the corners. The dimples are wells for the oil; without them it runs off and burns at the edge.

5. Top and bake

   Scatter with rosemary and sea salt flakes, and bake at 220°C until the top is golden and the base has fried crisp in the oil beneath it.

   25 min

6. Lift it out

   Slide it out of the tin onto a rack straight away. Left in, the base sits in cooling oil and turns greasy rather than crisp.