rosemary and sea salt focaccia

This is one of my favourite baking tricks. It's so easy, always tastes great, and while it takes a-g-e-s, this is mostly because you have to keep leaving it to rise. In fact, the longer you can give it between kneads, the better the end result. And oil - lots and lots of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Don't try to make this without the right quantity of oil, or you'll just get a dry, powdery bread. Ick.

You will need:

2 sachets of dried yeast (14g)
600g strong white bread flower (type "00")
1 1/4 cups tepid water
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
3 tbs good sea salt (I use Maldon)
1/2 tsp cooking salt3 sprigs of rosemary

What to do:

Put the flour, yeast and cooking salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. Pour in all of the olive oil except 2 tablespoons, and the tepid water. Combine first with a spoon and then knead, in the bowl, with your hands.

Sprinkle some flour onto a work surface and knead the dough until it is elastic (about 10 minutes). Sprinkle the reserved olive oil into the mixing bowl and return the dough. Cover with glad wrap and leave to rise for an hour, or until the dough is twice its original size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it to remove the air. Lightly oil a rectangular baking tray. Roll the dough out to roughly the size and then ease it into the tin. Use your fingers to push it into the corners.

Preheat the oven to 180'c (fan forced). You don't want the temp to be too hot so this may take a bit of experimenting to get it right. You don't want it to get too brown on top.

Make indents in the top surface with your finger tips. Sprinkle a little more olive oil and the maldon sea salt over the top, and add rosemary sprigs into each divet.

Bake for around 40 minutes. It should be lightly golden and soft and springy to the touch. Leave it to sit for 10 minutes and then serve with good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!