You will need a baking tin measuring about 13" x 9", at least 2" high
Ingredients
Poolish
200gbread flour
250mlwater
¼tspdry active yeast
Focaccia Dough
4Tbspwater
1tspdry active yeast
130gbread flour
½Tbspsalt
4TbspEV olive oil
Topping
5TbspEV olive oil
1tspsalt flakespreferably Maldon
1sprigrosemary leavespicked
Instructions
The night before, make the Poolish (12 hours before you plan to start the next day)
Mix the flour, water and yeast in a roomy bowl and whisk with a wooden spoon to mix well.
Cover with clingfilm and leave in the kitchen overnight. If you are not starting about 12 hours after mixing the poolish, place the poolish in the fridge until you need it, but no more than 4 hours.
The Next Day, mixing and kneading the Focaccia dough
Dissolve the yeast in the water in your mixing bowl, a wooden spoon is best for this, it'll only take 20 seconds or so.
Add the poolish, flour, followed by the salt, in that order.
Using a dough hook, mix the ingredients on low until the flour is no longer "flying". Then increase to high (5 on my Titanium Chef) and mix for 8 minutes, until the dough is beginning to pull away from the sides. That means that it is stretching slightly, all around, while sticking to the sides. Scrape down the sides in the for couple of minutes, if you have to.
Lower the speed to low and drizzle in the 4 Tbsp of oil, while the dough hook is still moving.
Increase the speed back up to high and mix for 3-5 minutes. At around the 3 minute mark, you will hear loud slapping sounds coming from your food mixer. Go take a look. If the dough is moving around in practically a ball shape, it is done. You can proceed with the next step.
First Rest
Tip the dough into a large, lightly greased bowl. Use a spatula to help it away from the mixing bowl, it should just come away easily.
Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 1 hour.
Line your baking tin with baking paper if it's not non stick. Just in case!
Second Rest
When the hour is up, tip the wet, risen dough into the middle of the tin. Lightly cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Final Rest
At the end of 30 minutes, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil all over, and push the focaccia dough, starting from the middle, to fit the tin. It should already be almost covering it anyway. Let the dough rest for another 20 minutes. Don't be tempted to pop those bubbles, apart from the ones you naturally touch as you are spreading the dough. We want those bubbles in our bread dough.
Preheat the oven to 240˚C/475˚F.
Topping and Baking the Focaccia Dough
At the end of those 20 minutes, using the tip of your fingers, poke your dough all over to create dimples. Don't worry too much if you don't get pronounced dips.
Drizzle another 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and scatter the rosemary all over. Finish off with a sprinkle of the salt flakes.
Bake on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes, until the top is a beautiful golden brown and crispy.
Take it out of the oven, leave it to rest for 10 minutes, before cutting into squares. Before cutting, you can drizzle the final 2 tablespoons of oil all over, if you like, which will give a wet feel to some part of the focaccia. I do it, but its a matter of taste.
Notes
PLEASE NOTE: Prep time here is only the hands on time. It does not take into account the overnight wait for the poolish, nor the rest times of 1 hour 50 minutes.