Focaccia

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

This recipe comes from How To Cook for Food Allergies by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne.  Lucinda is the founder of Genius Bread so you know it's going to be good.  I've made a few substitutions to the original recipe as I didn't have all the listed ingredients to hand and it worked very well. 

What is truly wonderful about this recipe is that it is really easy.  The children did most of the work and I provided a bit of elbow grease (mixing power) at the end.  You don't need a bread machine or even an electric stand mixer to make this and the dough doesn't need to proof either. Focaccia and Lucia jpeg gf.jpgIt really is a question of mixing up the ingredients and bunging it in the oven. 

This bread is delicious warm out of the oven but it also reheats well.  I cut the leftovers up into thin slices and toasted them in a low oven until crispy.  These little sticks make great dippers for hummous or guacamole.

Yield

1 loaf

Preparation time

15 minutes to assemble and 25 minutes in the oven

Ingredients

110g gluten free flour (Doves Farm)
110g corn flour (or potato flour)
110g sorghum flour*
55g ground almonds
2 tsp salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp sugar
14g quick active dry yeast
350ml tepid water (heat to blood temperature)
2 tbs olive oil
Fresh Rosemary, Sea Salt, Olive Oil, freshly grated lemon zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 C.  Drizzle some olive oil onto a baking tray and grease well using a pastry brush.  

Combine all the dry ingredients into a large bowl:  gluten free flour, sorghum flour, corn flour, ground almonds, salt, xanthan gum, sugar and yeast.  Mix well with a whisk to make sure all the ingredients are well incorporated.

In a measuring jug combine the water  and olive oil.  The water should be on the hot side of tepid- not boiling or so hot that you can't dip your finger in without burning yourself. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast.  If it is too cold it may not activate the yeast sufficiently and the bread will not rise.

Add the water and oil to the dry ingredients mixing with a wooden spoon.  The dough will come together and should be soft but still a little wet.  If it seems dry add a little more water but don't overdo it.  Beat with a wooden spoon for about a minute until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Turn the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet and using a silicone spatula spread it out into an oblong shape which is even in depth.  Dip your fingers in cold water and make indentations throughout the dough.  Drizzle with some olive oil and scatter with freshly chopped rosemary, sea salt and some freshly grated lemon zest.  Leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes before placing in the oven.Ruth and Lucia with Focaccia jpg gf.jpg

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.  Remove from the baking sheet and place upside down onto a wire rack.  Place the bread back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp up the base. To test if the bread is fully cooked, tap gently on the underside with your knuckles.  You should get a hollow sound.  If not, place it back in the oven for a few more minutes.  .  Leave to cool before cutting into chunks. 

Notes

You can get sorghum flour from many asian shops.   If you can't find this then use 110g of cornflour as stated in the  original recipe.

You can get wild and wacky with the toppings using olives, sun dried tomatoes, onions, garlic, you name it. 

armande's picture
armande (not verified) wrote 13 years 34 weeks ago

"testé et approuvé" as we say

"testé et approuvé" as we say in french, all thumbs up!