Sea Salt & Rosemary Focaccia

Cover the bowl with cling film, or pop inside something airtight and leave for 1 hour. Tip the olive oil and salt over your dough and use your hands to squash into the dough. Keep mixing until the dough is together.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and give it a brief knead, it will be sticky but don’t worry. Use a bench scraper to scoop the dough back up and into a clean bowl. Let it hang out for half an hour then give it a fold. Dunk your hands into cold water, grab the top of the dough and lift it up and over the main body of the dough. Turn the dough 90° and repeat the fold again. Complete four folds, this is one turn. Leave the dough for another half an hour and fold again.

Let it rest once more, then fold again and lob the whole lot into the fridge overnight for a long slow proof. You can let the dough hang out at room temp, and it will be ready to shape and bake in roughly 2-3 hours.

When ready to bake, line a roughly 20x35cm baking tray with parchment and a glug of olive oil. Shape the dough into the lined tray and carefully encourage to fill the tray. Try not to knock much air out of the dough.

Cover and leave to proof until the dough is super puffy again. If shaping straight after the folds, this will take 2 hours. If after time in the fridge, this will take roughly 20-30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 230°C.

Strip the rosemary leaves from the stems and sprinkle all over the dough with a generous shower of flakey salt. Drizzle with olive oil and lightly wet your hands. Use your fingers to dimple the dough all over, being careful not to overpress the dough.

Slide into the oven for 20-25 mins until golden brown and baked through. For an extra crispy crust, remove from the tin and slide back into the oven directly onto the shelf for 7-10 mins, until golden all over.

Serve warm with dips, make sarnies, do whatever you like.