Focaccia with white Kampot pepper
Ingredients – focaccia
- 500 g plain flour
- 400 ml water
- ½ yeast (if you can't get fresh, then a packet of dried yeast)
- Sea Salt Flakes
- 40 ml olive oil
Ingredients – wild garlic pesto
- 20 g wild garlic
- 15 g parmesan
- 20 g olive oil
- 10 g pine nuts
- 2 g sunflower seeds
- salt to taste
- white Kampot pepper
Procedure
1. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the fresh yeast crumbled into lukewarm water. Add the flour and mix in.
2. Using a scraper, turn the very loose dough out onto a work surface and prepare a stiff scraper. Do not put flour on the surface; we want the dough to be loose. Then roll and work the dough on the surface with the stiff scraper. Use the scraper because such loose dough sticks a lot to hands. Take your time; the longer you work the dough, the more gluten develops, making the dough beautifully soft and elastic. We have learned that you need to play with the dough, almost make love to it. Usually, we work the dough like this for at least 10 minutes.
3. Pour about 20 ml olive oil into the mixing bowl (or another bowl) and add the kneaded dough. Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes until full of bubbles.
4. Detach the risen dough from the sides of the bowl. Pull the sides of the dough as much as possible inside the bowl and join them. Then turn the dough over in the bowl so that the joined sides are underneath. Cover again with cling film or a cloth and let it rise once more for another 40 minutes.
5. If you have a baking dish or tray with a non-stick bottom, pour about 10 ml olive oil on the bottom (depending on the size of the dish) and spread it to the sides. If not, line the dish with baking paper and then pour about 10 ml oil on it. We divided the dough into two halves to make two different flavors.
6. Begin shaping the dough in the baking dish with your fingers, add another 10 ml of oil, and work the oil into the already shaped dough with your fingertips. Add whatever toppings you like. On the first one, we stuck rosemary sprigs and grated pecorino cheese on top. On the second, we added chopped anchovies marinated in oil and the best onions in the world.
7. Prepare the onions by frying sliced onions cut into half rings in a spoonful of olive oil in a pan. Once golden, add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Stir, salt, and fry together for two minutes. Cover both types again with cling film and let rise in a warm place (at least half an hour).
8. Meanwhile, preheat the oven, if your oven allows it, then don't hesitate to set it to 250 °C and bake for 12–14 minutes or until the focaccia is beautifully golden on the surface. Finally, drizzle the surface with the remaining oil from the bowl, let it rest for a few minutes, turn it out onto a rack where the focaccia must cool completely. Never cut the pastry while warm, otherwise it will collapse.
9. Continue with the garlic pesto. Into a mortar place pine nuts and sunflower seeds. Using the pestle, pound perpendicularly against the bottom of the mortar to crush both ingredients into a paste. Add wild garlic leaves, which you also first lightly pound and then begin to grind against the bottom and sides with the pestle until the leaves form a paste. Add grated pecorino cheese, pour in the oil, and continuously stir with the pestle to blend all the ingredients. Salt, pepper, and optionally add a few drops of lemon juice.
10. For garnishing, you can use, for example, pecorino, parmesan, rosemary, sweet and sour onions, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 red onion, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup, or anchovies. It depends on your taste.
Enjoy your meal!
Author: lubojatzky_couple
