Phil Vickery's gluten free focaccia recipe
This recipe took seven attempts to get right – I wanted to achieve a light and spongy texture and good flavour. As you will see, there is no salt in the mix, I find this tends to weaken the protein structure, giving you less of a risen bread. I tend to stick to adding granular rock or sea salt to the top of the bread along with olive oil, rosemary and garlic cloves. I like to include vitamin C powder in this recipe, as I’ve found it really helps improve the structure of the bread. It is widely available from chemists
Storing
In the cupboard: The bread will keep for 1 day in an airtight container.
In the freezer: Yes, once cooled and wrapped well.
Ingredients
For the gluten-free bread mix- 400 g soya flour
- 200 g tapioca flour
- 400 g potato flour
- 300 g cornflour
- 1 drop of vegetable oil - for greasing
- 2 sachets (7g) easy-blend dried yeast
- 500 ml warm water
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 500 g gluten-free bread mix - see below
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vitamin C powder
- 2 egg whites
- 10 garlic cloves, halved
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
Details
- Cuisine: Italian
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- To make around 1.3kg of Gluten-Free bread mix takes around 5 minutes. Mix all the flours together very thoroughly or put into a food processor and pulse until mixed. You can store in an airtight container until you are ready to use.
- Oil a 3.5cm deep 30cm non-stick pizza pan. Whisk the yeast, water and sugar together well, then cover and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes to activate. Meanwhile, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and vitamin C powder into a bowl and mix well.
- When the yeast is frothy, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour and add the whisked egg white and bring together. Mix well, but do not over-mix. Spoon into the oiled pizza tray, cover lightly with clingfilm and press down lightly with your hands. Remove the clingfilm. Press the halved garlic cloves into the dough and re-cover with a fresh piece of clingfilm. Leave to prove in a warm place for 15-20 minutes, or until just doubled in height.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
- Once the dough has risen, carefully remove the clingfilm, spoon over the oil and sprinkle over the salt and rosemary. Bake for 15 minutes or until well browned.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Slice into wedges to serve.
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Taken from, ‘Seriously Good! Gluten-free Baking’ by Phil Vickery. Published by Kyle Cathie Ltd in association with Coeliac UK, priced £19.99. Photography: Tara Fisher