Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Focaccia

Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Focaccia

I received the most wonderful delivery of smoked salmon from my friends at Alfred Enderby, the traditional Grimsby fish smokers… and sometimes, when you have a product this good, you need to keep it simple.

For the focaccia:

500g strong white bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons fast action dried yeast
1 teaspoon salt (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 tablespoons olive oil (I use extra-virgin olive oil)
360ml cold water
fresh rosemary
plenty of olive oil for manipulation
2 tablespoons mixed seeds (for dressing, not to go in the dough mix)

For the cream cheese:

200g cream cheese
2 tablespoons Greek Yoghurt
the juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
4 or 5 cornichon gherkins – finely chopped
a large handful fresh dill – finely chopped

You will of course need some amazing smoked salmon. Alfred Enderby delivery across the UK.

First start with the focaccia dough (this benefits from an overnight rise in the fridge but if you’re too lazy and can’t wait, simply skip this part, it will be lovely.) It makes one large focaccia or two smaller ones. I used two 17cm x 25cm pans by Nordic Ware which I oiled and lined with parchment paper.

I’m using my stand-mixer but this can easily be done in a large bowl with your hand. It’s quite a wet dough so I’d advise having plenty of olive oil handy to help you navigate all the stickiness.

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and bring them together with a spoon, your hand or a dough hook and knead gently for 5 mins, then with a well-oiled hand, pull and stretch the dough – once at each of the north, south, east and west points of the bowl. Return the dough to the stand mixer, or tip out onto an oiled surface and knead for a further 5 mins.

Place the dough into another oiled container (that has a lid), do the pull and stretch technique as before, then cover with the lid and set aside for 15 mins. With wet hands, repeat the pull and fold and rest twice more before covering in with a lid and setting aside for at least an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. You should see some large bubbles on the top of the dough. You can use it straight away or leave it in the fridge overnight. Take it out of the fridge 1 hour before moving on to the next stage.

pre-heat the oven too 220C

Knock back the dough and divide it into two and transfer it to the oiled trays and gently tease it out to the corners. It will spring back but that’s fine. Cover with clingfilm or a tea towel and set aside for 30 mins for the second prove.

After 30 mins the dough should have almost all but filled the baking trays. Drizzle with oil, then poke your fingers over the dough surface. I do it in semi-uniformed rows. Sprinkle the tops with mixed seeds.

Sprinkle the top generously with salt, then bake in the oven for 35 – 34 mins until golden brown. Once it comes out of the oven, drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Leave to cool on a wore rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

To make the cream cheese, add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Slather onto the cut focaccia and drape over the smoked salmon.