Fresh Rosemary Focaccia from a Zen Cookbook

Having a rosemary bush to hand is a luxury for any cooking enthusiast.

A few days ago I wrote here about a very curious book, "Zen cooking". I mentioned that it had some interesting recipes, and there's one I want to highlight because I'd like to keep it handy.

Fresh rosemary focaccia

Ingredients

• 2 cups of lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast, or 3 sachets (I hope they're like the ones here)
• 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil
• A little salt (2 teaspoons)
• 1 cup of unbleached white flour
• 1½ cups of wholemeal flour
• 3 cups of unbleached white flour
• Olive oil for brushing

Method

Add the yeast to the lukewarm (but not hot) water, then the rosemary, followed by the olive oil and the salt. Add the cup of white flour and the wholemeal flour. Beat very well (the book says 100 times).

Add two cups of white flour, half a cup at a time, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, using another cup of flour so the dough doesn't stick. Knead until smooth and very elastic.

Leave the dough to rise for 1 hour until it doubles in size. Punch it down and leave it to rise for another 40 minutes.

With these quantities you can make two focaccias: cut the dough in two and form two balls. Flatten the balls to make them thinner before baking.

Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Place them on an oiled metal tray, brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Leave to rest for 20 minutes, then bake for about 25–30 minutes until golden on top and underneath.

🌐 Llegeix aquesta recepta en català