Charcoal Focaccia; a darkly attractive soft and chewy free-form loaf bursting with mediterranean flavour.
If I told you that for the next 24 hours you could only eat black food, what would you eat?
Once you get past the more obvious (and delicious) options of Oreos or salty black olives, it’s not a simple challenge.
In honour of spooky season, and as a continuation of a current series of challenge videos on my YouTube channel, I took on this odd task. Eating nothing but black food for a whole day. You can find the video here!
As YouTube food challenge videos can often devolve into borderline-cheating romps of supermarket junk food, I wanted something darkly delicious to accompany my colourless meals. Nothing but homemade bread seemed to sufficiently fill this hole.
Without wishing to lean on the obvious and ever-faithful world of artificial food colourings, I turned to hipster and health nut hyped activated charcoal. Not one to be drawn in by wellness claims, this was purely colour-driven. As you can see from these pictures, it certainly delivered.
Just one wee tablespoon of activated charcoal makes the most perfectly Halloween-appropriate black bread. A fluffy, chewy, and delectably flavourful black bread. Whether you plan to make it for your family this Halloween weekend, or you’re just desperate for anything to spice up your life in lockdown (I’m the latter), it’s a great little baking project.
This recipe is based on the Foolproof Focaccia recipe I published a few months ago as part of my Back To Basics series. Subsequently inspired by the classic recipes in Brilliant Bread by James Morton, a MUST for bread bakers. It’s perfect for those of us who don’t have the upper body strength, or patience, to knead a big ball of dough. Minimal effort and just a little bit of waiting and you’ll have this gorgeous loaf on your table.
I hope this easy focaccia recipe will be a new favourite, and that this unusual version can add some much needed contrast to all the delicious sweets you’ll be treating yourself to this weekend.
Enjoy, stay safe, and stay healthy.
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To make this Charcoal Focaccia, simply follow the recipe below!
Charcoal Focaccia
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: why not add some black olives on top of the dough before baking for even more dark deliciousness?
This Charcoal Focaccia will keep well wrapped in greaseproof paper or kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days, best is always best enjoyed fresh.
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 10g salt
- 1 tbsp activated charcoal powder
- 1 sachet (7g) of dried fast-action yeast
- 400ml lukewarm water
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- Rosemary, flaky sea salt, black pepper (for topping)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, measure out your flour.
- Pour in the salt, charcoal powder and yeast and stir to combine.
- Add the water and olive oil and give everything a nice mix until you have a fairly consistent, wet, celluloid dough.
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm or a towel and leave it somewhere warm or just at room temperature for 1 hour.
- After this time, the dough should have relaxed a little bit and become softer and smoother. At this point, lift off the clingfilm/towel.
- Oil your hand, slide it to the bottom of the dough and fold it over itself. Turn the bowl by 90 degrees and repeat. Repeat again until you have folded the dough at least 4 times and it appears to hold its own shape a little better.
- Return the clingfilm or towel to cover the bowl, and leave it to rest for a further hour.
- After this hour, the dough should have doubled in size. This is what happens when the yeast eats up all the sugars in the flour and grows, expelling little bubbles as it goes.
- At this stage, repeat the folding process as you did before.
- Oil a large baking tray and plop the big bubbly dough out onto it.
- Oil your hands again before flattening and stretching the dough out completely into a big rough rounded rectangle type shape. Focaccia isn’t known for being pretty!
- Leave this flattened dough to rise for a further hour. In the meantime, preheat your oven – 220 C / 200 C fan / 425 F / gas mark 7.
- Once the dough has risen again, and the oven is hot, you can get the dough ready to bake.
- Oil your fingers again and use them to push holes all over the dough, this helps ensure an even bake and that classic focaccia appearance! Sprinkle over a little more olive oil, salt, rosemary and black pepper.
- Bake the dough in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, it should be well risen and crisp to the touch.
- Allow the bread to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing, serving and eating.
- Enjoy!
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