How To Make Sundried Tomato And Aubergine Mini-Foccacia

Step 1: You will need

Step 2: Make the paste

Put the flour, water, olive oil, yeast, salt and the honey into the bowl of the mixer. Lower the hook attachment and switch onto a slow knead. Gently mix for roughly 5 minutes. Once the dough begins to form into a ball and cling to the hook, remove it from the bowl. Then place it onto a clean work surface and knead it, quite strongly, using the heel of your hand for a further 3 minutes. Hand kneading completes the kneading process. Mould into a ball and place into a bowl. Then cover with a clean tea towel. Allow it to double in size, which will roughly take an hour.

Step 3: Make the sauce

Place the saucepan on a medium heat, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and the sliced garlic. Stir and let it sweat for 30 seconds. Then add the pureed tomatoes and the sun dried tomatoes, drained of their water. Stir in and season sparingly with salt as the sun dried tomatoes are salty enough. Grind in some pepper, lower the heat and leave it to simmer for 5- 10 minutes. Remove from heat, after this time and place your pan on top of an inverted fork, to let it cool slightly.

Step 4: Purée the sauce

Spoon the cooled sun dried tomato sauce into the blender and blend on pulse, two or three times to make a rough consistency. Transfer it into a bowl and set it aside to cool.

Step 5: Separate the dough

Now that dough has doubled in volume, uncover the bowl and punch out the air, once or twice with your knuckles. Then divide the dough into 4 pieces and mould it into four small balls. Sprinkle them with a little flour. Cover with a towel and set them aside to rest for another 15 minutes.

Step 6: Preheat the oven

Set the oven to 250ºC (475ºF/ or the highest gas mark). If you have a pizza stone, now place it into the oven. If you are using a baking tray, place it upside down into the centre of the oven, to get really hot.

Step 7: Shape the dough

Lightly flour your work surface. Take a ball of dough and place it into the flour and dust it lightly. Shake off any excess. Now start to open up the ball using your thumbs. Stretch into a circle by punching with your finger tips, and pulling it outwards. Turn over and repeat on the other side. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Step 8: Fill the foccacia

Begin by lightly brushing each of the foccacia bases with olive oil. Then place a generous dollop of the sun dried tomato sauce on each one. Spread the sauce evenly around the base with the back of your spoon. Make sure to leave a generous space at the edge. Then sprinkle over the aubergine and finally, the cheese. They are now ready to bake.

Step 9: Bake

Remove the now heated tray from the oven. However, if you are using a pizza stone- do not remove it and with the tray still inverted, sprinkle over a little bit of the corn meal. This stops the dough sticking. Then with the help of your spatula place all four pizzas onto the hot baking tray. Be as quick as possible to retain the heat, as the hotter it is the better the dough bakes. Now put the tray into the centre of oven and cook for 10-12 minutes until nicely brown. Then remove from the oven.

Step 10: Serve

Just before serving, garnish with the roughly chopped basil leaves. Then serve immediately. These delectable creations make the perfect lunchtime meal or even an after-school snack. Experiment with all different types of topping variations. Enjoy!