Tomato and Caramelised Onion Focaccia

Tomato and Caramelised Onion Focaccia

I think focaccia is one of the most forgiving doughs – it’s meant to be really soft and stretchy. I like it the bread to be quite light and slight chewy. You can pretty much put any toppings on a focaccia but I like the combination of tomato and cheese. If you can handle the heat, I would recommend finishing this off with chilli flakes.

INGREDIENTS

Focaccia

200ml water
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
320g plain flour
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for greasing
½ tsp salt + extra for seasoning

Caramelised onions

1 brown onion, peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch of salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Toppings

½ cup baby boccocini
1 cup cherry tomatoes

METHOD

Prepare the dough by first mixing together the water, yeast and sugar in a food mixer bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the flour, one tablespoon of olive oil and salt to the yeast mixture and knead with the dough hook attachment for 5 minutes. This step can also be done by hand but you may have to knead for an extra few minutes. Set aside and let the dough rise for 1 hour or till it’s doubled in size.

Whilst the dough is rising, prepare the caramelised onions. Add one tablespoon of olive oil into a large pan and heat it up over low -medium heat. Add the onions and toss them around to coat with the oil and then basically leave it alone. Every now and then give a it a stir just to stop the onions from sticking to the pan but essentially you’re slowly trying to caramelise the natural sugars in the onions. You’ll know it’s ready to add the rest of the ingredients when the onions start to look translucent and sticky. Add in the salt, sugar and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for another few minutes – remember to regularly stir everything around to stop it sticking to the pan. Set aside.

When the dough has finished proofing, lightly grease a baking tray with olive oil and spread the dough out on the baking tray.

Cover with a tea towel to proof for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Scatter the caramelised onions all over the dough and then add the tomatoes and booccocini. Gently push the tomatoes into the dough. Season with salt and drizzle a little extra olive oil over everything.

Bake the focaccia in the oven 20 minutes or till the edges of the dough are golden.

Remove from the oven and serve warm.