Focaccia with Parmesan and Rosemary

This weekend, Mauro and I invited our dear friend Stephanie and her mum Diana for dinner. Diana herself is famous for her fabulous dinner partys and she really is one of the best cooks I know. So I have to admit, I was a little nervous. But I had a lot of fun putting together a menu for our two friends. Inspired from our holidays in Sicily, I decided to have an Italian evening. Mauro and I spent practically the whole sunday in the kitchen preparing our antipasti.

The focaccia was one of my favourites in the end. I have never made focaccia before and I was very happy with the outcome. You don't need many ingredients and baking utensils, it doesn't take long to make and it is really easy. The addition of parmesan and rosemary gives it an aromatic taste.


Recipe:
(from: Betty Bossi - Wähen Pizzas Flammkuchen)

500g flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of rosemary, coarsely chopped
20g fresh yeast
4.5dl water, lukewarm
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add parmesan and rosemary. Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water. Mix water and olive oil with the flour and stir with a ladle until you got a viscous dough. Pour the dough onto a baking tray lined with a baking sheet and spread until you got a rectangle of about 30x40 cm. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes (I gave it about 60 minutes). Press your fingers into the dough to make dimples. Put the baking tray into the cold oven and then heat the oven to 220°C. Bake the focaccia for about 30 minutes.

When you take the focaccia out of the oven, brush it with a little olive oil and pour some sea salt onto it. Serve warm or cold.