Paul Hollywood's Focaccia and Pitta recipes

I love Paul Hollywood recipes below;

Focaccia

Make 2, Prep 3 hours and bake for 15 minutes

This lovely, oil-rich Italian bread is great for sharing and is particularly good served still warm with extra virgin olive oil for dipping, and perhaps some salad and olives or antipasti. The dough here is really quite wet, so you might well prefer to knead it in a mixer. However, I’ve suggested you make it by hand because it’s useful to get to know the feel of a good, wet dough and this one is a little more manageable than, for example, a ciabatta.

What you needs;

500 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

10 g salt

10 g instant yeast

140 ml olive oil, plus extra for kneading and to finish

360 ml cool water

Fine semolina for dusting (optional)

To finish

Flaky sea salt

Dried oregano

Before baking it.

After

1. Lightly oil a 2-3 litre square plastic container. (it’s important to use a square tub as it helps shape the dough.)
2. Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add 40ml of the olive oil and three-quarters of the water, and turn the mixture round with your fingers.  Continue to add water, a little at a time, until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You want dough that is very soft- wetter than a standard brad dough. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until the mixture forms a rough-dough.
3. Coat the work surface with some of the remaining olive oil, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5-10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin. This is supposed to be wet, sticky dough, so try not to add more flour.
4. When your dough feels soft and elastic, put the dough into the oiled tub. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until at least doubled in size – about 1 hour or more.
5. Line 2 baking tray with baking parchment and drizzle with olive oil.
6. Put more olive oil on the work surface and dust with fine semolina if you have some. Carefully tip the dough onto the surface. Rather than knocking it back, handle it gently so you keep as much air in the dough as possible. Divide the dough in half. Stretch each piece out to a flat, even piece and place on a baking tray.
7. Put each tray into a clean plastic bag and leave to prove for a bout 1 hour, until the dough is doubled in size and springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220 c.
8. Make deep dimples in the focaccia with your fingers, pushing them all the way through the dough to the bottom. Drizzle each focaccia with olive oil and sprinkle with a little flay sea salt and oregano, then bake for 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Tap the bottom of the focaccia and you should hear a hollow sound. Trickle with more olive oil, then cool on a wire rack.

I wasn’t followed the whole instructions but I adapted with I’ve got. For example I don’t have a bread machine, I used my hands to knead and mixed it. My first focaccia was very nice and I loved it.

Pitta Breads

Makes 6-8/ prep 1-2 hours/ bake 5-10 minutes per batch

You’ll be amazed how easy it is to make authentic-looking pitta brads at home. These are delicious when freshly baked, split open and stuffed with good things such as hummus, salad and falafel- or almost anything else that takes your fancy. They also freeze well and you can pop them straight from the freezer into the toaster.

Ingredients

250g strong white bread flour

5g salt

7g instant yeast

160ml cool water

2tsp olive oil, plus extra for kneading

Fine semolina (or extra flour for dusting)

my little pitta bread

1. Tip the lour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add three-quarters of the water and the olive oil, and turn the mixture round with your fingers. Continue to add the remaining water, a little at a time, until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or your may need to add a little more- you want dough that is soft, but not soggy. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until the mixture forms a rough-dough.
2. Coat the work surface with a little olive oil, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5-10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to forms a soft, smooth skin.
3. When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until at least doubled in size- at least 1 hour, but it’s fine to leave it for 2 or even 3 hours. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220c and put a bake-stone or baking tray in to the centre to heat up.
4. Dusting a work surface lightly with fine semolina or flour. Tip your risen dough onto it. Fold it inwards repeatedly until all the air knocked out and the dough is smooth. Divide the dough into 6-8 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball, keeping them covered with a tea towel as you work. With a rolling pin, start rolling out the pieces of dough in rough oval shapes, about 3mm thick, stopping with your have as many as will fit on the stone or baking tray with some space in between.
5. Take the hot stone or tray from the oven, scatter with a little semolina, the later the pitta breads on it. Bake for 5-10 minutes taking the pitas out of the oven as soon as you start to see any colour on them. Repeat with the remaining dough. Leave the pittas to cool, keeping them coverd with a cloth as they do so; they trapped steam with keep them soft. Eat within 24 hours or freeze.

 Reference; How to bake by Paul Hollywood 2012 published by Bloombury