The Cornwood Store & Tearoom is now doing a brisk trade in slices of our luscious focaccia pizza. If you can get there before the rush on Friday, I recommend them. But in case you live that bit too far away, I thought I’d share the recipe with you here.

It’s the simplest thing, and like all simple cooking, the better your ingredients, the better the effect. We use Shipton Mill’s No.4 Organic White Bread Flour, together with extra virgin olive oil, pitted Kalamata olives, genuine mozzarella cheese and organic English vintage cheddar. You can be as creative as you like with the toppings, but simplicity is really its own reward.

Dough ingredients:

• 500g white bread flour
• 350g tepid water
• 60g olive oil
• 5g instant yeast
• 10g salt
• 1tsp dried herbs, or one Tbsp fresh minced rosemary.

Topping ingredients:

• 1 can Napolina chopped tomatoes
• 8g fresh, minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1tsp honey
• 250g mozzarella (we get Galbani)
• 100g strong cheddar, grated
• 24 olives – Kalamata are great

Method:

Pour water and oil into a medium bowl, then add flour, yeast, salt and herbs. Mix to a dough, and knead for five or ten minutes, stretching it up out of the bowl. You want a very, very soft, runny dough. Cover and leave to rise for one hour in a warm place.

Pour the dough onto a parchment lined tray . Oil your fingers then spread the dough gently out to the corners, aiming for an even thickness all over. Leave to prove until it has puffed up again, about 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, put the tomatoes, removing about two tablespoons of the juice. Mix in the fresh garlic, honey, pepper and salt. Once the dough has proved, spread the tomato sauce evenly all over it. Cover with the mozzarella, torn up into small chunks, then the olives and finally the cheddar.

Bake at 190 C / 374 F for 25 minutes, turning down to 180C / 356 F for the last ten minutes, or if the cheese starts getting too brown.

Sprinkle with more dried herbs, or fresh basil.