Focaccia

Hi!
Welcome to my first Instructable, how to bake Focaccia.
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread similar in style and texture to pizza doughs and may be topped with herbs or other ingredients.

For this recipe I will top my bread with sundried tomatoes, olives, thyme, garlic and sea salt, but you can use anything you think would work.

Ingredients

Dough
Flour - 14 dl (6 cups)
Water (about 40°C, or 110°F)  - 6 dl (2.5 cups)
Yeast
Olive oil

Topping / Filling
Thyme
Olives
Garlic
Sundried Tomatoes
Sea salt
Olive oil

Equipment
1 Big bowl
1 Smaller bowl
Electric mixer
Roasting pan

Step 1
Pour some of the water in to the big bowl and stir in the yeast. The water needs to be about 40°C (110°F) for the yeast to wake up and start to work its magic. [Pic 1]
Add the rest of the water.

Step 2
Add 6dl (2.5c) of the flour and start mixing it with the electric mixer. Add another 6dl (2.5c) of flour and continue to mix the dough until it looks something like [Pic 3].

Step 3 (Optional)
Add a splash of olive oil to the dough and mix it in.

Step 4
Time to let the dough rest, so that the yeast can work. Put a towel over the bowl and leave it for about an hour. [Pic 5]

While the yeast makes the dough grow to about twice its original size we have time to prepare the filling and the toppings.

Step 1
Mix 1.5dl (about 0.6 cups) of olive oil with pressed garlic and finely chopped thyme.
I also added some black pepper. [Pic 1]

Step 2
Finely chop the olives and the sundried tomatoes. [Pic 2]

Now your dough should have doubled in size and look something like this. [Pic 1]

Pour some of the flour you didn't use before on your kitchen counter or breadboard.
Put some flour on your hands so that the dough doesn't stick to your fingers.

Get the dough out of the bowl, knead it and add flour until you have a dough that doesn't stick.
Flat it out a little like in [Pic 3] and add half of  the sundried tomatoes and olives [Pic 4].

Keep working the dough with your hands until you have something like [Pic 5].

Get your roasting pan and add some olive oil to the bottom of the pan. [Pic 1]

Push out the dough in the pan using your hands. [Pic 2]

Cover the dough with the olive oil mix you did before and add the rest of the olives and tomatoes. Use your hands to make sure the oil covers the entire dough. Also, use your fingers to make little dimples in the dough for the oil to sink in to. Sprinkle on some sea salt and go to the next step. [Pic 3]

Now, turn your oven on to about 220°C (about 430°F).

Why didn't we start the oven earlier you ask?
Because, we want the dough to rise a second time before we put it in to the oven, and the time it takes for the oven to get warm is just enough time for that. This will make the bread fluffier.

When the oven is warm, place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the bread looks like this [Pic 1].

After 25 minutes, take the bread out of the oven. And there you go, all done!

Cut in to squares, and enjoy the best bread ever. No butter, cheese or cold cuts needed.

Put whatever you don't use right away in the freezer and it will taste just as good when you take it out.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructible, please comment and add pictures of your result. I would love to see what you think is the ultimate focaccia topping.