Culture

Dissatisfied with Pak ‘n’ Save’s colourless and inadequately topped pizza bread offerings? Unhappy with your regular, run-of-the-mill, unexciting toasted sandwich? Hankering after a more sophisticated savoury treat that you can customise? Then this delish stuffed focaccia recipe is for you, lovelies. I’ve included some basic ingredients for the filling, but anything goes, really – roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, feta, capers, broccoli and blue cheese – basically whatever you’d put on a pizza. Don’t be put off by the bread aspect either; just allow enough a couple of hours to create your masterpiece so the dough has enough time to rise.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
- 450g plain white flour
- 300ml warm water
- 2 tsp dried yeast
- 4 tbsp olive oil

For the filling:
- 2 fresh tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups of grated cheese or 250g of mozzarella
- 1 cup of button mushrooms
- 4 tbsp sliced black olives
- 2tsp dried mixed herbs
- Sea salt for sprinkling
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and then stir in the yeast. Make a well in the centre, pour in the oil and water, and then stir the ingredients together.

2. Transfer the mixture onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes or so until you have created smooth and elastic dough.

3. Grease a bowl with a little olive oil, place the ball of dough inside and cover with a tea towel. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1½ hours until it has almost doubled in size.

4. In the meantime, prepare the filling ingredients. Dice the tomatoes and mushrooms and then place these, together with the cheese, olives, and mixed herbs, into a bowl. Lightly toss, and season with a little salt and pepper.

5. Once the dough has risen, briefly knead it one more time and then divide into two pieces. Place some baking paper on a baking tray and lightly brush with oil.

6. Roll out the first piece of dough to about the size of a dinner plate. Place this on the tray. Spread the mixture over the base, leaving 1cm around the edges.

7. Roll out the remaining dough (making it the same size as the first piece), brush the edges with a little water and place over the filling. Pinch the edges together tightly to seal.

8. Brush the top with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with the sea salt and bake in the middle of a preheated oven at 220º for 20-30 minutes or until the top has risen slightly, is firm, and golden brown in colour.