June Focaccia
Spent the early part of the month of June on a serious focaccia kick. I almost entirely followed the Serious Eats ‘Easy Garlic Focaccia’ recipe, but didn’t always use garlic. In total, I made 4 focaccias in 2 weeks, and I think @mookerji made 3 more.
Recipe:
Combine throughly:
- 500g flour (we used AP exclusively. I want to experiment with 50/50 whole wheat next)
- 15g kosher salt (once, I subbed table salt because I didn’t have any kosher salt in the cabin we were staying in in the Gorge)
- 4g instant yeast
- 325g water
Let rest under plasticwrap / cloth for 6 to 24 hours. I preferred the less rested ones–the more rested ones tasted “too yeasty”, but YMMV. I’d also be interested in experimenting with a cold ferment in the future.
When ready to wait 2 more hours and then bake, add 3 tablespoons olive oil (i usually eyeballed this) to a 12 inch cast iron skillet. Pour dough out onto skillet. Flatten and coat in oil on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let it hang out for 2 more hours.
After the 2 hours have passed (we also let it hang out for more than 2 hours once with no ill results), poke holes into your focaccia so that you pop all the bubbles. If you’re adding non-herb toppings, add them now, and press them into the holes. Bake at 550 degrees fahrenheit in your oven for 16-24 minutes, or until golden. Rest until room temperature.
Some more notes:
THIS WAS LIKE THE EASIEST BREAD I’VE EVER MADE. So addictive. My home oven only gets to around 475, and that seemed fine (it took a little longer, and came out less crispy than when I cooked it at 550). Sometimes I didn’t cover it in plastic wrap, but just in a cloth, and that also seemed fine. I think you’re trying to avoid the resting dough obtaining a ‘crust’ from drying out.
One bread baking difficulty that I aspire to get better at: timing is quite tricky for this, like other breads, because of the two phase rest. I think, for dinner bread, the trick would be to mix the dough when I wake up, and do the resting phase in the pan right when I get home. Haven’t managed to do that yet, resulting in 10pm focaccia and 9pm focaccia and 4pm focaccia.
(x-posted from zmagg/baking-journal)