Foccacia with cherry tomatoes and rosemary

Foccacia is a fantastic bread to have in your repertoire. Here we make our foccacia with cherry tomatoes and rosemary, which is one of my absolute favourites.

Mix the water and yeast in a bowl. Add 500 g of flour and stir well with a whisk until there are no lumps. Cover the bowl with film and leave in a warm place for 3-4 hours. The dough will begin to rise and bubble. When the dough starts to collapse, you’re ready for the next stage.

Add the remaining 500 g of flour and salt. Knead the dough in a mixer for 10-12 minutes until it’s smooth.

Pour a little olive oil over the dough. Put your hand under the dough. Lift it up and stretch it without tearing it.

Let it rise to twice its size. Pour some more olive oil over the dough, lift it up and stretch it.

Let the dough rise to double its size. Pour oil on the dough and stretch it again.

Put baking paper on a baking tray and pour a little oil on it. Lay out the dough on the baking sheet and squeeze ‘holes’ in the dough while gently stretching it. Let the dough rest for half an hour and repeat this process twice.

Fire up your Forno or set the oven at 210 degrees.

Halve your tomatoes and press them into the dough. Make sure the cut side faces up; otherwise the tomato juice will run into the bread.

Let the tomatoes rest for 15 minutes. Press the tomatoes down again. Sprinkle with rosemary and salt, and drizzle olive oil over the bread.

If you’re baking in a Forno, push the embers out to one side and put the focaccia on the opposite side. Rotate the bread every 5 minutes.

Bake the bread for 20-25 minutes until it’s  golden and crispy.