Gluten Free Focaccia

I thought I would play around with a gluten free recipe for focaccia tonight, and I was really happy with the outcome. I used my gluten free pizza base recipe, just changing a couple of things. Instead of arrowroot flour, I decided to use potato starch, since most arrowroot flour contains preservatives and I really like to stay away from them if at all possible. And I changed the amounts of some of the other ingredients and added a little Rapadura.

Okay, so this might not look a lot like the Focaccia you're used to, but it really does taste good! It has a yeasty, pizza dough flavour, but it's light and fluffy inside with a crispy crust underneath... I'm thinking it would be good as a pan pizza base too (or pizza pie), if you pre-cooked it a little before adding the toppings.

Usually I would top the focaccia with kalamata olives, rosemary, garlic, sea salt and a good drizzle of EVOO, but this time I left it plain, because I wanted to be able to have it with soup for dinner, as well as toasted for breakfast with pure maple syrup drizzled over! Yum :) This makes a very large focaccia, and it really tastes best while it's hot, so if you only have a small family you may want to halve it (and cook it in a smaller, square baking dish), unless you want leftovers to toast for breakfast. 

 

Preheat oven to 210 degrees C (or 200 degrees if you have a fan forced oven).

1. Mix seeds with water in a cup, and leave to soak for a few minutes:

- 2 Tblspns chia seeds
- 4 Tblspns warm water

2. Grind in Thermomix on speed 9 for 1 minute, or until finely ground:
(Tip: I put a piece of kitchen paper towel under the MC to stop the grains from spitting out onto the lid)
- 100g basmati rice, raw
- 150g brown rice, raw

3. Add and grind for another minute, or until finely ground:
- 60g millet, raw
- 80g buckwheat (or dry, uncooked chickpeas)

4. Add and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds:
- 160g potato starch
- 2 tsp dry yeast (or 1 sachet)
- 2 tsp sea salt

- 2 tsp Rapadura

5. Add wet ingredients and mix on speed 5-6 for 15 seconds, using spatula to help it along if needed:
- 380g warm water
- 1 Tbspn apple cider vinegar
- 60g extra virgin olive oil
- soaked chia seeds

The batter should be the consistency of a cake batter - if it's too thick you'll end up with too dry a bread. Adjust consistency if needed.

6. Prepare a large rectangular baking dish by pouring in a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil, and swirling it around so it coats the bottom and sides of the dish. Pour batter into dish. The oil should come up the sides and even over the edges a little - this will make a lovely crispy crust.

7. Add toppings if you like (olives, herbs, garlic, sea salt) and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. Let the bread rise for 20 - 30 minutes, then bake in hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden, with browned, crispy edges.