Tomato, Avocado, and Boiled Egg salad with Black Tapenade dressing
Stuck indoors with a tub of our Nocellara Olives and nothing else to do? Get in on the bread making that everyone’s been doing on social media and make some super delicious foccacia!
If you’re not familiar, Foccacia is an Italian flat bread baked in the oven that is kind of almost like pizza dough. You can cut it in half and use it for sandwiches or simply serve as a side. Or just eat it all up on its own, maybe with a small plate of olive oil for dipping. We like to make sandwiches with ours.
Instead of the usual coating of olive oil and flakes of sea salt for “plain” foccacia (though there’s nothing plain about it, other than its surface, joke for the geography folks!) we use our olives. Topping the foccacia with the brined olives mixed with our Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil adds another dimension of flavour to the bread. Then there’s all these holes and bumps on the surface that soak up all that flavour, it is indescribable.
Our Nocellara olives we sell from our shop are not pitted. To pit them for this dish, simply place the olive on a stable surface, then press down on them with a flay surface, like the side of your knife, the bottom of a bowl, glass, or mug. It will split open, you pick the pit out, eat half of the olive then repeat.
Note 1
The recipe calls for 00 Flour, which is a finely ground flour (finer than regular flour), if you don’t have it at home then just use the same amount in all purpose flour.
Note 2
The recipe calls for Dry yeast which needs to be bloomed. If you are using instant yeast then you can add it straight to the dry ingredients. Also reduce proofing time by 10 to 15 minutes.
Recipe
Serves 8 (or 1 if you’re me)
Prep time: 2 hours. Cooking time: 1 hour.
Ingredients
375g Strong bread flour
375g 00 Flour (can be found at most supermarkets)
8g of Dry yeast
220ml Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Semolina to dust
400ml Water
2tbsp Salt
30ml of brine from the Nocellara olives
Steps
- Pit olives til you have enough (instructions above) then give them a rough chop.
- Mix yeast and warm water in a bowl (see note 2 if you’re using Instant yeast).
- In a separate bowl mix both types of flour together (see note 1 if you do not have 00 flour).
- In the bowl of flour create a well and slowly add the yeast and water mix and 100ml of the Olive oil. Bring together with a wooden spoon until the dough has a custard like texture. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- With about 40ml of Olive Oil, grease the deep tray that you will cook the focaccia in. Then knead the dough for ten minutes and place it in the oiled tray. Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for 60-90 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the baking tray and oil the baking tray again with 40ml Olive Oil, then dust the tray with semolina.
- Place the dough back in the tray and push the olives deep into the dough making holes with your fingers. Stretch and push the dough into the corners of the tray and cover and leave to prove for a further 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size.
- About 20 minutes before you are ready to cook heat the oven to 190C.
- Mix the Nocellara brine with the remaining Olive Oil until emulsified. Before you bake the dough use your fingers to make a few fresh holes in the dough and drizzle over the brine mixture.
- Place in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden and crisp. Remove and allow to cool a little, best served warm.
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