A fantastic idea for movie nights, aperitifs or every good time with your friends. You can enjoy it with a cold lager beer, a good white wine or a refreshing fruit juice.
Ingredients for the
focaccia
400 g
|
Plain flour
|
100 g
|
Strong white bread flour
|
20 g
|
Fresh yeast
|
65 g
|
Extra virgin olive oil
|
10 g
|
Salt
|
10 g
|
Caster sugar
|
230 g
|
Water
|
1 handful
|
Coarse salt
|
1 handful
|
Sesame or poppy seeds
|
Ingredients for the filling
2
|
Ripe tomatoes
|
2
|
Eggplants
|
100 g
|
Pitted green olives
|
100 g
|
Tuna chunks in olive oil
|
30 gr
|
Almond flakes or pine nut
|
1 to 3 tbsp
|
Mayonnaise
|
Method
Put flour, oil, sugar
and salt in the food processor with the spiral dough hook and start the machine
at medium speed. Slowly add the water and, when the flour is wet, add the
crumbled yeast. Continue adding the water until the dough appear well combined:
it must be soft and slightly sticky.
Then transfer it on a
floured surface and knead using the heel
of your working hand gently push the dough away from you. At the same time, use
your other hand to rotate the dough slightly towards you, guiding it slowly
around in a circle. Continue for about 5 minutes until the dough achieve a firm
touch, smooth surface and elastic texture. Roll it into a ball and put it in a
floured bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put the ball in a warm place for
about 30 minutes or until the dough is doubled. Then transfer the dough again
on the floured surface, knead it a little to deflate it and roll it out with a
rolling pin. Place it into a baking sheet lightly brushed with olive oil and
replace in the warm place, covered.
When the focaccia will
be puffed up press into its surface with your fingertips to gently form dimples
about 1 cm deep.
Brush with egg wash,
cover again and set aside for 10 minutes.
Passed the time, mix
50 gr of lukewarm water with 50 gr of extra virgin olive oil, brush on the
focaccia and sprinkle it with the coarse salt and the seeds.
Bake at 200°/230° C
until golden.
While the focaccia is
in the oven prepare the filling.
Cut the eggplants into
thin slices (about 0,5 mm) using a serrated knife. You can grill them on a
non-stick pan and season them after with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper
and pieces of garlic or you can put the slices on a baking tray (covered with
baking parchment), season them in the same way and put them into the oven at
200°C until scorched and crunchy.
For the tapenade:
mince the olives, tuna and almond flakes (or pine nuts if you're using them)
for few mins then add the mayo, one spoon at time until creamy. It should be
necessary only one spoon of mayo or three sometimes, it depends on the
ingredients' moisture.
When the focaccia is
cooled, cut it in halves and spread them with a little bit of mayo.
Spread the tapenade on
the bottom half, top it with thin slices of tomatoes (seasoned with oil, salt
and pepper) and with the eggplants slices. Cover with the other half and cut
into triangle shapes.
You can garnish the
triangles with olives using small skewers.
One additional tip: the focaccia could also be enjoyed without any filling, simply accompanying a rich platter of Italian Parma ham, cheeses and other cold cut meats (in that case my personal choice of drink would be a red wine). Enjoy!
 |
| The focaccia fresh from the oven - waiting for a tasty filling |
