As the sequel to my post on the food market earlier, for my late night snack, I have made a focaccia using the beautiful tomatoes I bought from the market today. The tomatoes not only gave the bread a great appearance in colours, but also delicious flavours. Good for supper, lunch or breakfast even!

The stall owners told me the best way to eat these tomatoes is to eat them raw with salt and drizzles of olive oil. Sometimes, simplicity is indeed the best! Not sure what they will think of my focaccia haha?

The recipe I used is inspired by the focaccia recipe in ‘How To Make Bread’ by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou. (I found this book when I was visiting a book store one Friday night after work. It is a great read for those of you who may be interested in bread making!)

Rainbow Tomatoes and Cheese Focaccia

Quantity: 1 focaccia

Ingredients:

200g / 1½ cups strong white/bread flour

4g / ¾ tsp salt

1g / ¼ tsp dried/active dry yeast

150g / ⅔ cup warm water

50g / 3 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil

Cherry tomatoes, multiple colours

Pecorino/Parmesan cheese, grated

Method:

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
2. Place the yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the warm water and stir until the yeast has dissolved.
3. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture. Mix until you get a quite sticky dough.
4. Place one third of the olive oil in another large bowl and place the dough in it. Cover it and let it rest for 1 hour.
5. Gently fold the dough twice and cover again for another 1 hour.
6. Repeat step 5 for a total of three times. Add a little olive oil each time before resting to allow the dough not to stick too much to the bowl. By the end, the dough should be well-risen and bubbly.
7. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Gently transfer the dough to the tray and avoid damaging any air bubbles. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
8. Flatten and widen the dough into a rough rectangle using your fingertips to push it out. Cover and let rest for another 10 minutes.
9. Chop the cherry tomatoes in halves and arrange them on top of the focaccia. Sprinkle the cheese and season with salt. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the toppings.
10. Cover the focaccia and let it rise for about 20 minutes, or until doubled in size.
11. While waiting for it to finish proofing, preheat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 9.
12. Bake the focaccia for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and the focaccia makes a hollow sound when tap at the bottom. (Unlike most other breads, you do not need to place a cupful of water at the bottom of the oven to create steam as this focaccia dough is moist enough to create steam on its own.)
13. Once the bread is ready, set it on a wire rack to cool.