Vegan & Gluten Free Focaccia Bread
In our opinion, vegan focaccia bread should be 3 things; crunchy on top, chewy on the inside, and delicious!! This focaccia bread can be made to accompany a selection of cheese, cured meats, hummus, fresh vegetables and olives to remind you of those long summer nights.
Trust us, this vegan gluten-free and dairy-free focaccia bread is perfect as a starter or a snack or simply just because…
Ingredients
500g gluten-free flour ( we used chickpea)
1 ½ tsp salt
7g sachet fast-action yeast
325ml Luke warm/room temperature diary free milk ( we used soya)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling
A few stems of rosemary
Red onion
Sea salt, to serve (optional)
Olive oil to drizzle
Method
Put the flour into a bowl and mix in the salt. Mix the yeast into 325ml the dairy free milk. Add the yeast mixture and oil to the flour, then mix well with your hands. When most of the liquid is incorporated, use your hands to bring all the ingredients together into a ball of dough.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and tip the dough out. Kneed the dough by pulling and stretching for 10 minutes. Try to kneed in as much air into the dough as possible. Put the kneed dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a little more oil and a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rest for 1 hour in a warm place until doubled in size.
Once rested, tip the dough onto a lightly dusted work surface and gently stretch the dough out onto a baking sheet until it’s about 20 x 30cm. Leave the dough to rise about half as high again, approximately 30-40 minutes in a warm place, covered with a tea towel or cling film.
Pre-heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. When the dough has risen, press your fingers into it gently to make some knuckle sized holes. Place the rosemary and sliced red onion to the top of the focaccia. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for about 15 mins, then remove from the oven.
Once baked, lightly drizzle with a bit of olive oil and salt if desired. Enjoy!
Words by Christine Barnett
Photography by Jelena Fairweather
