Thread by @AlasdairStuart

Well I’ve just had a fantastic chat with some of the creative team behind @HearCircles and the chef soundtrack is playing so let’s make focaccia.

Add all these to a mixing bowl making sure that the yeast and sugar are as far apart as possible because if they got too close they’d discover the doomed romance between their children and wait that might actually be West Side Story.

Add everything else.

Knead it for five minutes with a mixer or much longer then you want to by hand (about ten minutes) and then leave it in an oiled pan for an hour or so until it doubles in size.i

One hour later hum Thus Sprach Zarathustra as you rise your phone like the sun over the perfect surface of your bread

Duuuuuuunnnnn DUUUUUUUN *DUUUUUUUUUN* DUN DUUUUUUUUN! BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM BONNNNNNGGGGG

All these breads
Are yours
Except Europa
Attempt no proofing there

ANYWAY. Oil the bejeesus out of two half sheet baking pans, drop the mixture in one and cut it with a board scraper. Half the dough in each and now things get squelchy.

If you’ve oiled them enough, the oil will mean your hands don’t stick to the dough. Maybe oil them a bit just in case because you are getting up to your elbows in this.

I push both palms down into the centre and out. That stretches the dough most of the way and you can work any thick sections individually. Which I know sounds FILTHY. Basically your job is to cover as much of the pan as evenly as possible. Then leave them,
covered, for an hour.

See?

Then pop them into a 220c oven for 20 minutes. HOLD YOUR NERVE. This is forgiving bread and it tastes better the crispier it is.

Oh before then dapple Wells into it. There’s a great episode of season 4 of The Chef Show at Tartine on Netflix that gives you a good indicator of how to do this. The Salt episode of Salt Fat Acid Heat too. Liberally scatter olive oil and salt. LIBERALLY. This is a good thing.

And then they come out like this! Leave them to cool, cut in the pan using a board scraper and you have yourself some foccacia.