Rosemary and Onion Seed Foccacia!!

Last few weeks I have been travelling to London for work for major part of the week. Coming back home for a weekend becomes special in such cases :) There are a few things I associate with home. My concept of home has changed for a few years now since I keep moving after every 6 months for one reason or another :-) So our home is where our heart is :) Freshly brewed coffee, baking bread early morning, Sunday morning radio are all the things that remind me of home and I keep coming back to them :) This morning I got up to a crisp sunny morning with a very strong autumnal feel about it, I can see some leaves in the garden changing colour, so Autumn is definitely round the corner! It was a perfect day to bake a nice warm bread with a steaming cuppa :) I decided to make my regular loaf and when it was proving I noticed some lovely Rosemary on the window sill and changed my mind... result a lovely onion seed and Rosemary foccacia :) Here is what you need if you would like to try making one yourself.
Ingredients list:

1. Strong White Bread Flour - 500 gms
2. 5 gms Dry yeast
3. a tea spoon of onion seeds
4. 2-3 crushed black pepper corn
5. a healthy pinch of table salt
6. Rock salt to sprinkle over the dough
7. 2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
8. A fat clove of garlic
9. Lukewarm water - 300 ml

Dip:

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Garlic

Chilli flakes

Lets get baking :-)

1.  Mix the flour, onion seeds, table salt, yeast and water together and bring the dough together in a ball.
2. Knead it well for 5 mins and let it rest in a big size bowl for about 15-20 mins.
3. Cover the bowl with a cling film or a big plastic bag.. shower cap does the trick too, if its not been used :)
4. Covering with plastic creates a humid atmosphere that yeast like and thrives on, the dough will rise well if its kept in a nice warm place.
5. After 15 mins the dough should have risen a little and springy to touch.
6. Knock it back and knead it for at least 10 mins to work the east, the dough will be very elastic when you start working on it. Keep working on the dough and shape it in a tight ball. There are a lot of videos available that will show you the best ways of kneading dough.
7. Once the dough is shaped in a tight ball, oil the bowl lightly so that the dough doesn't stick to the bowl while proving.
8. Leave the bread to prove for 1 hr 30 min at least again in a nice warm place.
9. After the proving time is over you should have a dough that has risen double in size, knock it back and knock all the air out of the dough, knead again for 5 min.
10. Use a ceramic or non stick pan and spread the dough in the pan, the dough will be quite difficult to stretch but keep extending out. Thickness of the bread will depend on how big a pan or baking sheet you take.
11. Create dimples on the dough sprinkle Rosemary, crushed pepper and some rock slat over the dough.
12. If you like your foccacia a little oily drizzle some olive oil over the dough.
13. Bake the bread on the middle rack on 190 degrees Celsius - fan for 30 mins.
14. If you want the bread crusty keep it for another 10 mins.
15. Remove the bread out of the oven. Cut the garlic clove in halves and rub the bread with garlic on the surface, this will give a nice garlicy aroma. Drizzle with some more olive oil if you like.
16. Leave the bread to cool. Brush off all the excess rock salt and then cut the bread up in dipping size slices.
17.  There you have a lovely bread you can eat as is or with a simple dip mixing all the dipping ingredients I have listed.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did... have a happy weekend !!!