Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary | Bake Off Box #9

Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary | Bake Off Box #9

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Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary

The October Bake Off Box is here and this month’s box came with a recipe for Focaccia with Olives, Garlic and Rosemary! Like the September Bake Off Box, this box was inspired by the 2021 season of the Great British Bake Off. Week 3 of Bake Off, which is notoriously known for being Bread Week, saw the bakers making a Focaccia bread for their signature challenge. Hence, this month’s Bake Off Box came with the recipe for a Focaccia with Olives, Garlic and Rosemary.

Since I am currently trying to complete all of this year’s Bake Off Technical Challenge, I also made the one from bread week! These Olive & Cheese Ciabatta Bread Sticks are truly delicious and really quite easy to make! I loved making these and you should definitely give them a try! Whilst making this, I also made a second Focaccia with Roasted Grapes and Feta Cheese which Crystelle inspired me to try. You can find the recipe for that here.

If I am completely honest, despite the bread being extremely tasty, I was quite disappointed with the content and “special equipment” provided in this month’s Bake Off Box. We’ll focus on the recipe here, but make sure to read my full review on the October Bake Off Box here.

Check out the Unboxing & Baking Video here:

Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary

The Focaccia Recipe

I love baking bread, and Focaccia bread is a go-to choice in the summer when we have a barbecue! I actually have other Focaccia recipes on my blog already and made another one while making this (see video), so make sure to check out my Rosemary Focaccia, Tomato and Mozzarella Focaccia, and Roasted Grape and Feta Cheese Focaccia recipes as well!

This recipe was very easy to follow and the method used by the Bake Off Box didn’t require the bread to be kneaded! Instead, gluten build-up was encouraged but a number of stretch and folds, which also incorporated air and helped the dough rise. Before baking, the Focaccia was studded with pitted mixed olives and garlic cloves that had been slowly cooked in oil (known as ‘to confit’), as well as sprigs of fresh rosemary and flaked sea salt.

The oil used for cooking the garlic takes on its flavour and is used for drizzling the focaccia, as well as dipping the bread into once baked – delicious!

As you will have seen from my Bake Off Box review here, I was extremely disappointed that this month’s box did not contain a traybake tin. So instead, I would suggest you use this tin here, which I have been using for years and can thoroughly recommend!

Focaccia before Baking

More Bake Off Box Recipes

This is already the 9th Bake Off Box I have received – I cannot quite believe it! I have created reviews of all boxes, as well as shared the recipes and a baking video for all of them! So make sure to check out the contents from previous boxes below.

Olive Focaccia Bread

Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary | Bake Off Box #9

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE DOUGH:

  • 500g strong white bread flour
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
  • 400ml lukewarm water
  • ½ tsp flaked sea salt
  • 40ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing

TO FINISH:

  • 15 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 140ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 100g mixed pitted olives
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary
  • Flaked sea salt

YOU WILL ALSO NEED:

  • Wooden spoon
  • Glass bowl
  • 20x30cm traybake tin (I would recommend this one here)
  • Baking paper
  • Patience 🤣

Method:

  1. To make the dough, mix the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl until combined. Then dissolve the salt in the lukewarm water and pour onto the flour mix, followed by 40ml of olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients together until the they form a loose, sticky dough. The dough is meant to be sticky, so don’t be tempted to add any additional flour. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
  2. After 20 minutes, lightly oil a glass bowl with some olive oil and transfer the dough to that bowl. Lightly oil your hands, then pick up one side of the dough and fold it back over itself, then lightly press down. Rotate the bowl by 90° and repeat. Turn again and repeat twice more until you have folded four times in total.
  3. Once you have completed the four turns, turn the dough over so that the seams are facing down. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for 30 minutes.
  4. In the meantime, peel 15 cloves of garlic and add them to a small saucepan with 140ml of extra-virgin olive oil. Make sure the pan is small enough that the garlic cloves are fully submerged. Set the pan over a very low heat and gently warm the garlic in the oil for 15-20 minutes until the gloves soften and turn a light golden colour. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
  5. After the first 30 minutes, repeat the folds and turn as in steps 2 and 3 and leave for a further 30 minutes. Then do this for a third time and leave it he dough to rise for another 30 minutes, so that you have folded and left it to rise a total of three times.
  6. Lightly grease a 20x30cm baking tin with olive oil and line it with some baking paper. With oiled hands, transfer the proved though into the prepared tin. Then gently stretch the dough using the palms of your hand to pull it towards the edges and corners of the tin. Be careful not to know out too much of the air, and don’t worry if it doesn’t quite reach the corners. The dough will spread into the corners during its next prove. Cover the dough and leave to rise for 15 minutes.
  7. After 15 minutes, oil your fingertips and use them to push dimples into the dough, making sure to push down all the way to the bottom of the tin. Leave the dough, uncovered, to rise for a final 15 minutes.
  8. Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C fan.
  9. Drizzle two tablespoons of the garlic oil (reserve the rest for later) over the surface of the dough and gently spread it out with your fingertips. Then press the olives and garlic cloves into the dimples of the dough (you might have to break some of the garlic cloves in half), followed by the small sprigs of rosemary. Sprinkle the dough with some flaked sea salt as generously as you desire.
  10. Bake the Focaccia in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes until risen and golden brown (cover it with tinfoil if the top is getting too dark but the dough isn’t baked). Then place the tin on a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes, and drizzle over another tablespoon of the garlic oil.
  11. Remove the Focaccia from the tin before slicing, and serve with the remaining garlic oil for dipping. The Focaccia is best served when it is still warm! Enjoy!
  • Crusty Focaccia with Olives and Garlic
  • Focaccia with Olives, Garlic & Rosemary
  • Olive Focaccia Bread
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