Focaccia hot dogs

The cook

1. 01

   Step 1MIX THE DOUGH

   Mix the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and 20 ml olive oil, then stir firmly until you have a sticky dough with no dry flour left. Cover and leave for 10 minutes. This is a wet dough. Don't bury it in extra flour.

2. 02

   Step 2BUILD SOME STRENGTH

   With wet hands, lift one edge of the dough and fold it into the middle. Turn the bowl and repeat three times. Cover, wait 10 minutes, then repeat the four folds. The dough should start feeling smoother and stretchier.

3. 03

   Step 3LET IT RISE

   Cover and leave somewhere comfortably warm for 60–90 minutes, until roughly doubled and visibly bubbly. A chilly kitchen will take longer. The prep time includes these rises, so judge the dough rather than chasing the clock.

4. 04

   Step 4INTO THE TIN

   Coat the base and sides of a sturdy metal baking tin, roughly 25 × 35 cm and at least 4 cm deep, with 25 ml olive oil. Tip in the dough and gently stretch it towards the corners. If it springs back, leave it for 10 minutes before trying again. Cover and prove for 30–45 minutes, until puffy and relaxed.

5. 05

   Step 5SORT THE FIRE

   While the dough proves, set up your kettle or kamado for indirect cooking at 220°C with the lid closed. On a kettle, bank the fuel either side of the cooking area. On a kamado, fit the heat deflector. Make sure the tin fits over the indirect area with space around it for hot air to circulate.

6. 06

   Step 6PRESS IN THE SAUSAGES

   Drizzle the remaining 15 ml olive oil over the dough. Oil your fingertips and press deep dimples across it without flattening all that lovely puff. Arrange the raw sausages in two rows of four, leaving dough between them, and press each about halfway into the dough. Keep their tops exposed and don't prick the skins. Wash your hands after handling them.

7. 07

   Step 7BAKE WITH THE LID DOWN

   Put the tin over indirect heat, close the lid and bake for 35–45 minutes. Rotate the tin after 20 minutes if one side is colouring faster. You're looking for deeply golden bread, a firm underside and browned sausages. If the top gets ahead of the middle, loosely cover with foil and keep baking.

8. 08

   Step 8CHECK AND REST

   Probe several sausages through the end into the centre: they must reach 75°C for at least 30 seconds. Check that the dough beside them is cooked through, not wet or gummy. If either needs longer, keep baking and check again. Leave the whole tray to rest for 10 minutes before lifting the focaccia onto a board. That gives the sausages a rest and the crumb time to settle.

9. 09

   Step 9LOAD IT UP

   Zigzag the mustard over the top, then scatter with gherkins, crispy onions and chives. Cut into eight slabs with a sausage in each. Serve warm, with the crisp bottom still doing its thing.