GRAPE AND ROSEMARY FOCACCIA SANDWICH

Serves 4

You cannot beat an old classic! And this focaccia recipe is everything. Forget about the quick versions you can find on the internet, here is the slow way. And trust me, it is worth the wait.

I love to serve my focaccia bread as a sandwich with grilled mushrooms and a side of salad. You can play around, and do with what you have on hand. Keep it simple, keep it delicious - any leftover veggies will do the job. Happy cooking!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

500g plain flour
2 tsp sea salt
12 g fresh yeast
350ml luke warm water
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

For the flavouring:

200g red grapes
1 sprig of rosemary
1 tbsp sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil

For the stuffing:

200g chestnut mushrooms
1 tbsp herbes de Provence
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

For the salad:

2 endives
Juice of ½ lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

Method:

1- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and fresh yeast. Use your fingers to break and crumble the yeast into the flour.

2- Pour the lukewarm water and olive oil into the flour mixture. Combine with a wooden spoon. The dough should be quite wet. Cover and let it rest in the fridge overnight, about 14 hours. The dough should have doubled in size.

3- Grease a baking tray with olive oil. Use a fork to unstick the dough from the bowl and place into the baking tray. Use your fingers and the fork to spread the dough out as much as possible. But don’t worry if the dough doesn’t yet cover the full tray - it will once it relaxes and rises. Leave uncovered to prove at room temperature for 3 hours, until risen, fluffy and bubbly.

4- Heat the oven to 210C - 410F. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and using your fingertips, dimple the entire dough. Add grapes in the holes, sprinkle all over with rosemary and sea salt. Bake for 22 minutes (if needed rotate once front to back to cook evenly the focaccia) and finish with an extra 3 minutes on grill mode. Take out from the oven and immediately drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.

5- To make the mushroom stuffing: Chop the mushrooms and pan fry in hot olive oil for about 5 minutes until nicely colored. Season with herbes de Provence, salt and pepper. Cut the focaccia slices in half and stuff with the mushrooms. Serve with a simple salad made from chopped endives, seasoned with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Note: Focaccia is best eaten the same day and will deteriorate in quality after the first day. If there is some left over, wrap it in a clean tea towel and store at room temperature for another day. Day-old focaccia makes lovely croutons for soups.