Wordless Weekend: Focaccia
Basic Focaccia
1 1/2 c. room-temperature water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 c. + 3 c. AP flour, plus extra for dusting the board
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for coating the dough
2 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. coarse/gray salt
First, make the sponge. In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast into the water. Stir in one cup of the flour with a whisk until the mixture is smooth:
Cover and let rise until the sponge is thick and bubbly and double in size, about three hours:
Add the remaining three cups of flour, the olive oil and the table salt:
Mix and knead with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes:
Transfer the dough to a large bowl that you’ve lightly greased; turn the dough ball around to coat it with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 45 minutes:
Fold the dough over on itself, working around the ball and lifting the edge up and over the middle. Re-cover and let rest for 15 more minutes:
Flour a work surface liberally and dump out the dough. Pres it gently into a large rectangle of about 10×15 inches.:
Meanwhile, liberally coat a half-sheet pan with olive oil. Gently transfer the dough to the sheet pan. Cover again, and let sit for another 45 minutes.
Use your fingertips to make dimples and crags in the dough, drizzle it with more olive oil and sprinkle it with the coarse salt. Preheat the over to 400:
Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack. Slice and devour:
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My desire for a stand mixer continues to do battle with the fact I have no-fucking-where to put it. This looks heavenly.
wow…even having just eaten a decent burger with avocado on garlic bread…that looks amazing.
I love focaccia, and olive oil + coarse salt on top makes it amazing. I don’t have a stand mixer, so I let my bread machine mix the dough, and then I bake it in a 9×13 pan. It makes for delicious sandwiches: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/cran_b/baking/rosefocsandwich2.jpg
I don’t have any done up now, though… and your pictures are making me hungry.
Not having a stand mixer or anything, I might even just try this purely by hand. It looks really good, maybe we’ll use it for buns for our elk sloppy joe meat.
Not being a man, I could, indeed, live on bread alone. Especially this focaccia.
(Insert diety here), but I miss bread!
Kinda wordy for a wordless weekend, even if all of the words were the recipe! I love focacia and I love my stand mixer! Lately, I’ve been using the basic dough recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s “Ratios” fro mine, adding a bit of olive oil to the dough and allowing a couple of extra rises; I use instant yeast, to the extra rises really help develop the flavor.
Just got a dough hook for my stand mixer, I will definitely have to try this recipe out! Yum!
You can do focaccia with the no knead/artisan bread in 5 mins dough too! awesome
Making a version of this now!!! Thanks for the push, was looking for just the right recipe to christen my new Kitchen-Aid, and I do believe this is it….
First try was a bust (brain fart on the salt) but second try came out perfect….made it a bit thinner, reducing baking time a little, and added a fat tbsp dried rosemary before the knead. Result was PERFECT – total replica of childhood pizza bianca memories…AND: Bonus – my Kitchen-Aid and I are BFFs finally, and all because of you….
Proof that it all happened:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6642789&l=7fcffd4238&id=533052406