Stuffed Italian bread - Focaccia Farcita

To complete the good food weekend, we had a tomato, rocket and mozzarella focaccia for dinner on Sunday... For the first time I made the dough in the breadmachine, and it really makes it a lot easier!

Here goes the recipe...

Focaccia Farcita

For the bread:
2tsp dry yeast (the quick one for breadmakers)
500 g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
350 ml water

For the filling:
1 fresh mozzarella, cut in pieces
250 g cherry tomatoes
a handful of basil leaves
rocket leaves (as much as you can stuff in the focaccia)
1/2 tsp coarse salt
4 tbsp olive oil
3 sprigs rosemary

1. Put the bread ingredients in the breadmachine, using the "dough" setting.

2. Once the dough is ready, divide it in two equal pieces. Chafe each of them for 5 minutes (chafing is basically making the dough round by rotating it with your palms while you push downwards, stretching the dough from the top down). Then leave both pieces to rest for 10 minutes.

3. To do the filling, put the cherry tomatoes on a baking tray. Sprinkle with a bit of olive oil and some salt and bake for 20 minutes at 200C. Cut the mozzarella, rocket and basil and mix together.

4. Roll out each piece into a 24cm round. Put one in an oiled baking sheet (I use the teflon re-usable sheets you can buy in supermarkets). Arrange the filling on top of it and then put the other round piece of dough on top, sealing them by pinching the edges.

5. Cover the dough with a tea towel and leave it to rise for about 30 minutes.

6. Press the surface of the dough with your fingers to make dimples (1cm deep). Sprinkle with the coarse salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil and then top with the rosemary leaves.

7. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden (200C). Serve warm.