I developed this recipe while I was working as a pastry chef and it’s still one of my favourites! It’s so simple yet the result is spectacular. The sesame seeds and oil add an incredible nutty flavour to the focaccia and leave you wanting more! The edges get super crispy and the center is unbelievably soft.
I love using this focaccia for my sandwich meal preps (click here to see the full recipe). It cuts into 6 perfect squares for whatever sandwich your heart desires.
Yield: 1 33x23x6cm Rectangular Loaf of Focaccia
INGREDIENTS:
- 550ml Water, lukewarm
- 1tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 packet of Instant Dry Yeast (7g)
- 600g Bread Flour
- 2tsp Salt
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Sesame Oil
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Flakey Salt
STEPS:
DAY 1:
- In a bowl, combine water, maple syrup, and yeast. Whisk gently to distribute the yeast then leave it for 10-15min so it can activate.
- When the mixture is slightly bubbly, add the bread flour and salt.
- Mix with a spatula then go in with your hands and mix well to remove any clumps of flour. The dough should be very wet and sticky, and come together very quickly.
- Cover the bowl with a wet teatowel or clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight to proof.
DAY 2:
- Line a 33x23x6cm rectangular baking tin with parchment and pour a generous amount of olive oil into the bottom.
- The mixture should have doubled in size and become very bubbly. Pour the dough into the middle of the baking tin, onto the olive oil.
- Stretch the dough into the corners and try to get it evenly distributed across the tin.
- Cover and leave to rest for 2hrs.
- Preheat oven to 175°C
- When the dough is super jiggly and risen significantly, generously pour equal amounts of olive oil and sesame oil across the top.
- Cover your fingers with a bit of sesame oil and begin to dimple the focaccia. To do this, poke your fingers into different parts of the dough to create different pickets of oil and pockets of air.
- Sprinkle a generous layer of toasted sesame seeds across the top of the dough. This should cover the entire loaf.
- Sprinkle a little flakey sea salt onto the loaf as well.
- Bake this in the oven at 175°C for 25-30min. Or until the top gets super golden.
- Transfer it onto a wire rack to cool completely and enjoy!
TIPS:
DON’T WANT TO WAIT OVERNIGHT:
- This was the first recipe I developed for the bakery I used to work at and we would make every loaf on the day due to the limited fridge space. So it is possible! But there are a few adjustments that must be made.
- First, add an extra 10g of bread flour to the mixture. Without the time to rest, the dough will need a bit more flour to get the same texture.
- Second, the focaccia overnight proofing can be replaced with a sped-up version but it does require a temperature-specific environment. You want the environment to be around 27-30°C (you could go up to 35°C to speed it up even more) so leaving it at room temperature may be sufficient if you live in a hot place. If not, you may have to leave it in an oven with the lights turned on for extra heat. Or leave it in your oven/microwave with two glasses of hot water so the steam can help keep the inside of the oven/microwave warm.
- Leave the dough to proof until it doubles in size, 2-3 hours of warm proofing should be enough.
WORKING WITH YEAST-
- When working with yeast, always be careful of temperature. Yeast is a living organism so when the temperature gets too hot, it will die, and your bread will not rise. A common mistake people make is using water that is too hot to activate the yeast. To check if your water is at the right temperature, place some on your wrist, if it is hot, the water is too hot for the yeast. If it feels like nothing, it is likely close to your body temp, which is the ideal temperature for the yeast to grow!
