♪♪ Today, we're making olive and goat cheese focaccia.

This is a bread recipe that I really think anyone can make.

So, let's get started by making the dough.

We'll start by adding two and a half cups of warm water to a large bowl.

Sprinkle the yeast right on top of this warm water.

After about 5 minutes, this is what we want to see, that the yeast looks a little bit foamy.

Now, I'll add one tablespoon of honey.

Now, we'll add our flour.

I really do prefer to use a scale when it comes to baking.

In this case, we'll need 625 grams of flour.

And to that, we'll add five teaspoons of kosher salt.

And now, we'll mix it.

What you're looking for here is this.

It's really moist because of that high water content.

And now, it's ready to rise.

So, I'm going to transfer this dough to a bowl where I've already added four tablespoons of olive oil.

This will make sure that the dough doesn't stick as it rises.

So, I'm just sort of gently coating the dough.

That's it.

You don't want to work the oil into the dough.

Just have it coated.

And now, we'll cover this bowl with a tea towel.

You can also use plastic wrap.

And it goes into the fridge to rise so that it's double in size, overnight.

After being in the fridge overnight, this is what your dough should look like.

And now, it's time for its second rise.

I'll give it about four folds.

So, I've already buttered the pan and I'm adding just a little bit more olive oil.

Slide this right in.

We don't want to leave any of this olive oil behind.

All right.

I'm just going to give it a little bit of shape here.

And now, the tea towel goes back on top.

After about 2 hours of the second rise, you can see the dough has completely transformed.

It's filled out the pan.

I'm going to add, yes, a little bit more olive oil and give the focaccia that signature dimpling that you often see it have.

And this is exactly what you want it to look like.

So, now, we can add our toppings in.

Today, we're doing olives and goat cheese.

For the olives today, I'm using Castelvetrano olives.

I'm doing, like, a loose pattern here, leaving plenty of space for the goat cheese, which we'll add next.

I have a couple of ounces of plain goat cheese.

Again, you can have fun with this, use different cheeses.

We're keeping it simple today and really letting this focaccia shine.

I like to give this a bit of a Mediterranean flair and add za'atar on top.

Again, lots of options here.

You can do Rosemary.

You can do dried oregano, um, or you can just keep it really simple with some salt and pepper.

Then we'll add flake salt.

It's so lovely to have a slice of focaccia and bite into that nice, crunchy, salty layer.

And one more time, a drizzle of olive oil.

Beautiful.

This is going into the oven at 425 degrees.

We'll start checking on it at about 15 minutes.

Could be in there for about 20 to 25 minutes.

We're looking for a nice golden exterior and by the time it's done, a crunchy outer layer.

This is the most satisfying part about making bread, when it comes out of the oven and you have yourself a fresh, homemade loaf of bread.

I'm going to go ahead and transfer it now to a cooling rack.

We want to keep that crispy exterior.

Another way I love to enjoy focaccia is by turning it into sandwiches for a crowd.

Here's how you do it.

Once the focaccia has cooled, use a bread knife to cut it in half.

Then, carefully slice each half in two.

Now it's time to build our sandwiches.

Start by spreading pesto on the bottom halves and mayo on the top.

Then, layer on roasted bell peppers, turkey, provolone, and finally arugula.

Now, reassemble the halves and slice them into your desired portions.

Serve immediately, or prepare and refrigerate these up to 12 hours in advance.

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