The best thing about making foccacia are that toppings are only limited by your imagination. Apples and cinnamon? Sure. Pesto? Yep. Fried mushroom and garlic? Why not?

It's also very tactile - squishing the dough with your fingers and pressing holes in the bubble dough is fun.

This week I had to use up some flour because, well, yet again I panic bought too much flour in whatever the last crisis was. We get a lot of our bread for free, day old sourdough from a local food charity, but I fancied something fresh and homemade.

I don't measure much with sourdough - four cups of flour, a good dollop of olive oil, about a tbsp of dried yeast, a large spoonful of honey, and some warm water to mix into a dough. I then knead it til it's nice and smooth (about five minutes) and pop in a bowl covered with olive oil and a teatowel for half an hour or so, come back and fold it eight times, then rest for half an hour, then knead, then again - around four times in total, not worrying if I've missed the alarm by half an hour as I got distracted.

Then it's into a tray lined with baking paper, and I wait til it rises again and then squish holes with my fingers, having fun with the bubbles. That's when I sprinkle with whatever I fancy - this time zaatar and spring onions - and wait til it rises one more time. I then press a few more holes in it, and drizzle olive oil and salt on the top and pop in the oven at 180, covered with baking paper, for around 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the oven.

I like to have mine toasted with butter the next day.

I did ask Jamie if he thought I should share some with the neighbour (he's renovating his house) but Jamie locked all the doors and wouldn't let me out, saying something like 'it's mine, all mine'.

The Main Tricks for Good Foccacia

I've been making it for a while, so reckon I've got it down pat, but if you grab any foccacia recipe off the internet you should be fine. It's a very forgiveable bread. Here's some tricks I've learnt over the years:

💧 Make the dough fairly wet - it'll be pretty sticky, but that's what will give you the air pockts and the soft crumb. It's annoyingly sticky on your fingers but it'll get less so as it proves.

🕰️ Give it a long, slow ferment - that's why I let it go all day. Some people do an overnight fridge ferment (18–72 hours) for more flavour and texture - and the dough gets stronger too.

🫒 Don't skimp on the olive oil — in fact I probably shouldn't use baking paper as oiling the pan makes it nice and crispy underneath too.

🫧 The final proof is where people fuck it up. Once it's in the pan, wait until it's REALLY puffy and visibly full of bubbles — like, that's the fun, marshmellowly bit - and then chuck some oil on your fingers and press em nearly all the way down - like you're a toddler touching it for the first time - I mean - woo hoo! - you keep the bubbes but you get the wells for toppings and olive oil.

Do you make foccacia? What are your tricks?