Spelt Focaccia with Rosemary and Garlic

Made this garlicky focaccia for tea-time. This is simply wonderful when eaten while still warm, with a cup of warm tea. 

Recipe calls for Italian '00' flour, which I have replaced with bread flour. And same amount of spelt flour is used. Snipped some rosemary leaves from the garden pot and some garlic cloves from the pantry, and I'm ready to knead! 

Make the dough as per instructions in the recipe below, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. When the dough has risen, knead gently and placed dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet, pulling the dough to the size of A4 sheet of paper, about 1cm thick. Make indentations with your fingers all over the dough, place the whole garlic cloves in some of the indentations, scatter rosemary leaves all over. Some salt may be sprinkled over if desired, but it does not need it. I've used  3/4 teaspoon of sea salt for the dough, did not sprinkle any on the dough, and I still find it a little salty. I have however used some garlic powder to sprinkle over the dough, I love garlic powder! And drizzle some olive oil all over. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 

Freshly baked! It smells so garlicky nice while it is baking. There's crushed garlic in the dough, whole garlic cloves and garlic powder on the crust. Garlic overload? Yes, please!

Very nice focaccia, the crust is chewy with soft crumbs inside. This focaccia is very good when eaten while still warm, we ate it by just pinching chunks of it off the tray. It gets stale rather quickly when it has completely cooled down, and gets very chewy. In this case, best eaten dipped in hot soup.

Spelt Focaccia with Rosemary and Garlic
(adapted from "Healthy Appetite", Gordon Ramsay)
Serves 6
15gm fresh yeast or 7g fast-action dried yeast
250ml lukewarm water
200gm spelt flour
200gm Italian "00" grade flour, plus extra to dust (I use bread flour)
1 tsp fine sea salt, plus extra to sprinkle (optional) (3/4 tsp)
2 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves, plus extra whole leaves for sprinkling
6-7 garlic cloves, 2 peeled and finely crushed, the rest in their skins
about 50ml extra virgin oil , plus extra to drizzle
some garlic powder (my addition, to sprinkle)

If using fresh yeast, put 2-3 tbsp of the lukewarm water in a small bowl and crumble in the yeast. Stir to dissolve and leave for about 10-15 minutes to foam.

Sift the flours and salt together into a large bowl, tipping in the bran left in the sieve. If using fast-action dried yeast, add it at this stage. Stir in the chopped rosemary.

Make a well in the centre. Add the crushed garlic, then pour in the yeast liquid (if using fresh yeast), olive oil and most of the remaining water. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together. Add the rest of the water as necessary, a little at a time, to form a soft but not sticky dough.

Press the dough together then top it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes to for a smooth, elastic dough. Place in a lightly oiled large mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and leave to rise in a warm spot for about 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Place on a well-oiled baking sheet and gently flatten with the palms of your hands. Pull and shape it towards the edges of the baking sheet to form a 1cm thick rectangle, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Press with your fingertips to create indentations in the dough.

Stud the dough randomly with rosemary leaves and whole garlic cloves and drizzle over a little olive oil. If you wish, sprinkle over a little sea salt. (I omitted the salt and sprinkled with some garlic powder, it does not need anymore salt!) Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool slightly. Slice and serve while still warm, with barbecued fish or meat.

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I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star (Gordon Ramsay) hosted by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Yen of Eat Your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake.

Little Thumbs Up : Ingredient - Flour event, organized by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Doreen of My Little Favourite D.I.Y, and hosted by Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

and

Cook-Your-Books #15 @ kitchen flavours