Focaccia With Garlic Confit & Rosemary

Focaccia with Garlic Confit and Rosemary

Ingredients

Garlic Confit

• 3 heads of garlic
• 100g extra virgin olive oil*

Focaccia Dough

• 600g bread flour
• 450ml warm water
• 6g salt
• 20g extra virgin olive oil*
• 5g yeast
• Extra olive oil for greasing the bowl

For Topping

• Garlic confit** (see above)
• Flaky salt
• Fresh rosemary

Note:
*This can be replaced with any vegetable oil, but extra virgin olive oil will give the focaccia more intense flavors.
**You can infuse chili flakes into the garlic confit to add some heat to your focaccia.

Directions

Focaccia Dough

1. In a bowl, combine and stir yeast with 450g of warm water and let it bloom for about 5 minutes. This step is to make sure your yeast is active and alive. if it is, it should be foaming and bubbling by the first couple of minutes. While optional, instant yeast can benefit from this process too.
   
2. In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, add the bread flour and salt, and whisk the dry ingredients together to distribute evenly.
3. Add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix using the dough hook attachment on low speed for around 5 minutes or until the liquid is well-incorporated with the dry ingredients.
4. Once everything is well combined, increase the speed to medium and gradually add in the olive oil. Keep mixing for another 5 minutes or until the dough is not sticking to the side of your bowl. 
5. Prepare a large bowl and generously grease it with olive oil.
6. As the dough will be very sticky and slightly wet, grease your hand with oil before handling the dough, and transfer your dough into the greased bowl. Cover it with cling wrap or a damp towel and let it rest at room temperature for at least an hour or until doubled in size.
7. Remove the plastic wrap and gently fold the dough from the corners to the inside by grabbing the sides of the dough. Rotate the bowl 180 degrees and repeat until you fold all sides of the dough.
8. Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the pan — If you find the dough resisting, let it rest for 10-15 minutes before continuing. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it proof for 1 more hour.***

Baking

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C ~20 minutes before it’s ready to bake.
2. Prepare your baking pan and heavily grease it with olive oil. 
3. Dimple your dough — at this step, you are going to create dimples in your dough by gently pushing your fingers into the dough. Make sure not to poke all the way through.
4. Gently drizzle the garlic confit and the oil, and sprinkle some fresh rosemary and flaky sea salt on top of your focaccia.
5. Bake in the middle rack of your oven for 20 - 25 minutes, or until it’s golden brown.
6. Take the focaccia out of the oven and let it sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes. Transfer the baked focaccia to a cooling rack to prevent the bottom from getting soggy.

Storage/Serving notes: Lasts up to three days. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature. Can be served on its own or dipped in an olive oil and parmesan combo. This is also a great substitute to your regular sandwich bread.

Addtional notes***: At Step 8 of making the focaccia, you can let the dough rest up to 24 hours.

Instructions:  In the same greased bowl as before, shape your dough into a ball and cover your bowl using plastic wrap. Let your dough slowly rise in the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours; this will give your dough more time to ferment and, therefore, develop more structure and flavors. Make sure you grease your plastic wrap to prevent it from sticking to the dough. If doing this, store garlic confit in the fridge in an airtight container.

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