The Watercress Company has collaborated with popular local Dorset baker and blogger, Lizzie Crow who has successfully, and mouth-wateringly, incorporated watercress into a range of bakes, both sweet and savoury, and always unexpectedly!
Find more of Lizzie’s Watercress recipes here.
Focaccia is a great bread to make at home. This one has watercress which adds a delicious tangy flavour that’s perfect served with hummus or dunked in soup. The ferment is best made the night before – it can be done about an hour before you want to make the bread, but you will have to leave it in a warm place, and the dough will take a bit longer to prove.
Preparation time: 30 minutes (excluding making ferment and proving – around an hour and a half) Cooking time: 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For the ferment:
- 340g water
- 10g fresh yeast, or 5g dried active yeast
- 250g strong plain white flour
For the loaf:
- 250g strong plain white flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for kneading and pouring
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 100g watercress, chopped finely
Method
- For the ferment, quickly whisk together the water, yeast and flour. Cover with cling film and leave until you are ready to make the bread.
- To make the loaf, combine the ferment and all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Mix with your hands to form a rough dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and knead for about 8 minutes (if you have a mixer, you can use this with a dough hook for about 4 minutes on a lowish speed). You want the dough to be smooth and pliable when it is ready – it will be sticky.
- Put it in a bowl covered with a tea towel and leave it in a warm, draught-free place for around an hour. When it has proved, you should be able to lift the dough and see the air bubbles in it.
- Grease a 20 x 30cm baking tin generously with olive oil (around 4-5 tablespoons) and lay a piece of parchment over the base to stop the focaccia sticking to the base of the tin.
- Turn the dough onto an oiled work surface and fold it into a rectangle. Lay it in the tray and leave it covered for a further 30 minutes, somewhere warm. Preheat the oven to Gas 7/ 220C (it is worth doing this well in advance as you get a great rise if you pop the bread in a hot oven).
- Once the bread has proved, dimple the surface with your fingers and drizzle it with more olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to Gas 6/200C and continue cooking for a further 20-25 minutes or until done. The bread will sound hollow when tapped on the base if it is cooked. If it is slightly undercooked you will get a dull sound, in which case return it to the oven for a few more minutes.
- When the focaccia is cooked, turn it out and brush with more olive oil as it cools.
