Rosemary focaccia

Prep the bread the night before. Put the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other (salt inhibits yeast, so keep them apart as long as possible).

Make a hollow in the centre of the flour. Measure 400ml tepid water in a jug, then add the oil and pour slowly into the flour, stirring with a big metal spoon. This will make a shaggy, sticky dough – it won’t look like bread dough, it will look like you need more flour, but you don’t. Don’t add more. Put a clean tea towel over the top and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour.

Take the dough, which should have almost doubled in size. Hold onto the bowl with one hand and, coating the other hand with a splash of extra virgin olive oil, grab the dough with your oily hand and fold it in on itself. Your oily hand goes between the bowl and the dough, then grab the dough and fold into the centre. Turn the bowl (with the non-oily hand), and repeat, pulling it off the sides and into the middle. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth and silky. Leave to prove overnight in the fridge, covered with oiled clingfilm. The next morning, take it out of the fridge and leave to sit for 1 hour.

Oil a medium roasting tin (about 34x24cm), then tip the dough in. Fold as before, then stretch to fit the tin. Leave uncovered – otherwise the cover sticks and you burst the bubbles removing it – for around 1 hour in a warm place for its final prove.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Poke the dough all over with the end of a wooden spoon to make little dimples, then pour over the 20g extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle on the salt and rosemary, then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Drizzle the bread with a little more extra virgin olive oil and serve. Great with the roast chicken, salad and bread (see recipes beneath title).