focaccia

I did some bread posts already so this one won't be as thorough. I made a couple of batches of focaccia lately so I just wanted to share. It really doesn't take that much effort, its totally fine to knead this bread in the stand mixer. The dough is wetter then that of regular bread. It's actually very close to a pizza dough with extra oil and salt. I used unbleached bread flour, but regular all purpose is fine. I haven't made any whole wheat versions. Usually I am a firm believer in adding at least a third of whole flours, be it wheat or spelt or something else. In my head focaccia needs to me really light and fluffy.

I did notice that the bread goes stale quite fast, so from now on ill stick to serving it at dinner parties with 4 guests and more so it's gone by the end of the night. Serve it warm, but not hot. That's another bread rule being broken. 

The dough has a single rising period in a bowl coated in oil and covered with a towel. Then it gets shaped into a rectangle to fit the baking sheet and gets another 30 minutes of rising, this time uncovered, while the oven is being preheated as hot as possible. 

When you are ready to bake, poke holes all over using your fingers. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and chopped rosemary. Of course you are free to add whatever you like, but at some point you have to call it pizza. I added some chopped basil, in line with the idea of emptying out the kitchen. 

Ingredients: 

4 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp of instant yeast

2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups warm water (maybe more)

1 tsp olive oil for in the dough, plus extra for topping.

Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients in the stand mixer, slowly add the water, when combined add the oil. If the dough looks tough and dry, add more water. Kneed on low speed for 10 minutes. 

Shape into a ball, coat with olive oil and let rise until doubled in size, covered with a towel or plastic bag. 

Prepare a baking sheet with olive oil, turn the dough out onto the baking sheet and shape it to fit into the corners. let rest for 30 minutes while heating up the oven to 500-550F. 

Poke holes all over and top with oil, salt and rosemary, ... . Throw a couple of ice cubes on the bottom of the oven, this will create a nice humid environment. Bake for 20 minutes at 500F. Turn the heat down to 400F and bake another 20 minutes.

References:

The river cottage bread handbook by Daniel Stevens