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One of the destinations I’ve missed most (and have hurt for the most) during this painful pandemic is Italy. With 30,000 deaths, mostly the precious elderly, we have simultaneously lost tenfold the amount of treasured stories, sage wisdom, rustic hospitality and old-world Italian recipes. This thought kept me awake several nights, with guilt and anxiety. As most writers feel, it’s an inherent duty to capture the stories of others, in some way, so they are never lost. It’s our job to translate them into a captivating prose so it readers are seduced into the reminder that magic does indeed exist, and it’s often rooted first in reality, in history, rather than fantasy. Magic is tangible, controllable. Essentially, I felt the weight of hundreds of thousands of stories now simply impossible to tell.
This is when Daniel started to balm the pangs of my mourning with one of my favourite Italian recipes: a simple focaccia. An old culinary haunt during our times in northern Italy, specifically the region of Liguria. We’ve had to consume around a dozen focaccia during our time at home, with a myriad of topping combinations: naked with sea salt flakes, layered with golden potatoes and rosemary sprigs, blanketed in the heirloom tomatoes. It’s a five ingredient recipe (plus warm water and any toppings of your choice). It’s criminally simple, fussless and an absolute delight. I hope you treasure this one culinary story as much as we do.
I’ve shared the recipe video (another modern superpower braved during quarantine) on Instagram, for those craving a bit of visual guidance. Also, thank you to my beloved cousin Michela in Italy, whose Whatsapp messages of culinary wisdom were the most treasured moments of our day. Ti voglio bene.
Italian Focaccia Recipe
Ingredients:
- Yeast (1 Packet Dry -or- 20g Fresh)
- Strong Bread Flour (500g)
- Sea Salt (1.5 Tablespoons)
- Sugar (1.5 Tablespoons)
- Olive Oil (Generous amounts, multiple times)
- Warm Water (375ml)
- Optional Topping: Tomatoes & Rosemary
Directions
- Mix yeast into the warm water. Optional: Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- In a mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar). Mix.
- Either with mixer or wooden spoon (either work), slowly mix your yeast-oil mixture into your dry ingredients and mix until a firm-yet-wet dough forms.
- In a glass or ceramic bowl, coat sides with generous amount of olive oil (around 7 tablespoons). Scoop in dough. Cover and let rest for minimum 1.5 hours or until it has doubled (or tripled) in size. If you have time to spare, 2-3 hours is even better.
- In meantime, line a baking form with baking paper and prepare your toppings. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.
- Once dough has risen, put it into your form and massage it down so it fits but has some “hilly” texture to the surface.
- Add toppings and finish off with a sprinkle of sea salt flakes.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until slightly golden.
- Buon appetito.
For those who are interested in my cosy home attire, I’ve resorted entirely to loose frocks and cardigans. Sweatpants were glorious for a two weeks, and then they began to feel like a crime against human spirit.
