Diary of a Frugal Foodie: Wild garlic focaccia - great sharing bread (if you can...)

About ME!

HELLO!!

I'm Christine. I'm a busy mum to 5 year old twins, Robin and Evie and wife to Ian. I also run a property management company. We live in a small village in beautiful, rural Northumberland. I love spending time at home with my family, running and exercising and socialising with my fabulous friends.

When I'm not busy with work, family or friends, my favourite pastimes are cooking and eating (often a combination of family/friends and food). I particularly get so much (too much?!) pleasure from making healthy, nutritious meals from nothing (well, whatever I've got in the house!), making leftovers exciting and not wasting a thing. I HATE waste. I've wanted to start a blog for a few years but time just hasn't allowed it. But I'm very excited about getting it going now and sharing my passion for food with the world!!

I'm very health conscious and want to feed my family good food, on a budget. As you can imagine, time is not something that I have a lot of so my cooking has to fit in with my busy life. Weekday cooking has to be fuss-free and speedy but I still want it to feel indulgent.

I am also a keen vegetable gardener. There is little better than creating a whole meal from produce that you raised with your own fair hands. And in the British weather, it's not always easy. It makes you appreciate it even more though! I would urge anyone to have a go at growing their own. Even if it's just a few of your favourites in pots or some herbs on the windowsill. Do it!

I'm going to try and share some of the recipes that I create and any tips that I have along with general ramblings about food and the good life!

Don't expect fine dining, just homemade, tasty, healthy and wholesome food. Always on a budget! Maybe with the odd flashy, entertaining number thrown in for good measure. The budget won't go out the window though.

I'm very new to this so please bear with me until I find my feet!!

I hope you enjoy it. All feedback very much appreciated!!

Thanks y'all!

Monday, 24 March 2014

Wild garlic focaccia - great sharing bread (if you can...)

Ingredients

300g white bread flour

220ml tepid water

7g fast action yeast (1 sachet)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Wild garlic olive oil for drizzling

Method

Put the flour, oil and salt in a bowl (or food mixer). Add the yeast and sugar to 100mls of the water. Mix it up and add it to the flour mix.

Stir it all together (or turn the mixer on, with the dough hook). Add the remaining water and mix it together. Knead it in the bowl for a few minutes (or let the mixer do this for a couple of mins on level 3 (kenwood chef))

It is a very wet dough but that makes it a lovely light bread.

Put the dough on an oiled surface (oil your hands too) and stretch the dough, fold it up then turn it over and stretch and fold it again. If it's still hard to work, stretch it a couple more times. Knead it on the counter for a couple of minutes and then leave it to rest for about 3 mins. Put it back in the mixer and knead for about 2 more mins (or about 5, if you're doing it by hand). You'll feel when the dough is right. It will be smooth, soft and springy.

Leave to prove for about an hour.

Knock it back and stretch it into an oven tray. Use your knuckles to made lots of indents in the dough. Leave to prove for a further 30 mins.

Drizzle the wild garlic olive oil all over it, sprinkle sea salt over and put it in the oven. Gas mark 7 (220c) for around 20-25 mins. Don't let it get too brown.

Eat. But try to leave some for the rest of the fam. It'll be tough!!