Focaccia With Pesto And Mozzarella
I think focaccia is a brilliant bread-pie. Firstly, it's amazingly simple and quick to prepare and, at the same time, you can easily combine it with various ingredients - classic or fancy ones - and the results will all be killer! Only the Italiens were capable of inventing such thing using basic ingredients, as this beautiful, savoury, soft and delicious bread.
I made focaccia before tasting it in its homeland in Italy, but there was this fluffiness and soft texture that went straight to my heart and was impossible to recreate at home. Well, this time in this focaccia recipe, I can say I managed to reproduce that impossible texture. All elements combined so well that the bread proved to be so dangerous that one just couldn't stop eating! So, take care, it's addictive!
Feel free to make any combination you like - with tomatoes, olives, onion, parmesan, garlic etc. But this particular one I find special and the pesto matches perfectly the flavour of melted mozzarella, so you should definitely try it. I think you know how to make pesto sauce, it would be such a pitty not to have some in the fridge in the season of aromatic and tasty tomatoes!
In a bowl or mug, mix the yeast and sugar into tepid water, let sit 10-15 minutes until foamy.
In a bigger bowl, put the 500g flour and 1 tbsp salt.
When the yeast mixture is ready, add it to the flour together with 2 tbsp olive oil.
At first, use a spoon to combine everything together.
Then, lightly dust the table with flour and tip the dough out onto it and work it with your hands.
Dust with flour as you go, but only to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and table while kneading. Work the dough for 5-10 minutes.
You can stop when the dough is soft, smooth and non-sticky.
Make sure you don't add too much flour though, better to leave it slightly stickier than too thick, otherwise focaccia won't be as fluffy and tender.
Return dough to the bowl and pour over a few tbsp olive oil.
Rub the dough everywhere with the oil, cover the bowl with cling film and let rise for 1-1.5 hours.
Meanwhile, it's growing triple in size, so we know we are on the right way!
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (mine is the baking sheet of the classic oven). Stretch the dough out onto the baking sheet, press with your hands and spread into an even layer.
Notice you don't have to knead or work it anymore, just lift the dough out as it is onto the baking sheet.
I bought small mozzarella balls but, if you have a big piece of mozzarella, just cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.
Scatter any herbs you have, pizza or pasta, Italian or Provence herbs.
Pour 3-4 more tbsp olive oil over the focaccia - yes, olive oil is the key ingredient here :)
Use your fingers to press the dough and make some holes (have no mercy!), sprinkle a little salt over the focaccia.
Push the mozzarella into the dough.
Bake for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven at 200 degrees C or until nice golden brown, but don't overcook it.
Remove from the oven and right away spread the pesto sauce on top.
Cover with a towel and let rest for 30-40 minutes for the flavours to blend.
Now you can slice it, look how fluffy and savoury it is. Haven't you noticed you can't stop tasting it :))?
We had focaccia with some salad and it tasted heavenly ...
Enjoy!
