Now I am not sure what the Italians would have to say about this but I have been playing with their focaccia recipe, I know that it is perfect as it is, I love focaccia, but I need it to fit in with our clean eating diet, it is still yummy, still perfect to dip into olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but hopefully a little more clean with a few clever ingredients swaps.
The first main swap is to change the strong white bread flour for a gorgeous wholemeal or brown strong flour of your choice, then I used rapeseed oil instead of olive oil, not that there is anything wrong with a good quality extra-virgin olive oil but rapeseed oil is rich in vitamin E. Then choose what ever seeds you fancy for the top, I used pumpkin, but you could just stick to traditional garlic or rosemary, they are all just as good for you.
I know that it isn’t gluten free, I know that there is two teaspoons of salt in this recipe, but two teaspoons to the size of this huge loaf is very little and far less than you would find in shop brought bread, plus there is no added sugar, no preservatives, so it is almost a clean eating recipe, if not completely clean, it is very near and as my lot love homemade bread with their meals its good enough for me.
Buon appetito
Makes 2 loaves or 1 large one
500g strong brown or wholemeal bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 sachets dried easy blend yeast
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
400ml/14fl oz cold water
olive oil, for drizzling
Seeds of your choice (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame etc)
Place the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and 300ml of the water into a large bowl.
Gently stir with your hand or a wooden spoon to form a dough then knead the dough in the bowl for five minutes, gradually adding the remaining water. I use the dough hook on my food mixer for this bit!
Stretch the dough by hand in the bowl, tuck the sides into the centre, turn the bowl 80 degrees and repeat the process for about five minutes.
Tip the dough onto an oiled work surface and continue kneading for five more minutes, again I cheat and use the machine, well I didn’t say I was perfect did I 😉
Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
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