Focaccia

5-6 servings

Batter will rise overnight. The cups and tsp in the recipe are approx. measurements for those of us who don't have a scale.

Alexander

 Focaccia

Ingredients

400 grams flour (>13% protein), 2 1/2 cups approx.

7.5 grams active dry (or instant) yeast, 2 tsp approx.

2 grams sugar, 1/2 tsp

Dried herbs (optional: basil, oregano, and garlic granules are nice)

~310 grams liquid as 1 part milk to 3 parts water, 310 ml or 1 1/3 cups approx.

10 grams salt, 1 2/3 tsp approx.

Olive oil

Toppings 

I like cherry tomato halves, rosemary, and garlic cloves with coarse pepper

More salt 

Instructions

1. Whisk flour, yeast, sugar, and herbs in a bowl incorporating air. 

2. Warm liquid until slightly warm to the touch. Add a small amount to the flour and mix to make a very shaggy dough that doesn’t quite come together. Add salt and liquid alternating until the dough is wet but not runny (most likely using all the liquid). 

3. Turn dough onto wet counter and ‘knead’ for 5 to 8 minutes. This dough starts very wet so kneading looks like you’re massaging the counter. As the gluten aligns it will start to thicken up.

4. Coat a large bowl in olive oil and let the dough rise covered in the bowl over night. In the morning, punch dough down by performing four ‘stretch and folds’, one in each direction (front and back first, then side and side). Let rise in fridge during the day. 

5. Remove dough from fridge and place in a generously oiled 9 x13 pan. Gently stretch dough to mostly fit the pan keeping thickness uniform. Let dough rise on counter for 2 to 4 hours. It will fill in the corners on its own. A warm, (<40 °C) oven can help rise but not shorter than 1.5 hours. 

6. Coat topping to be used lightly in olive oil and place evenly over dough. Using fingers, gently dimple dough pushing all the way down but making sure not to squish air out of the bubbles that will have formed. It can be useful to dimple to dough by pressing down on the toppings more likely to burn. 

7. Drizzle top of bread lightly with olive oil and season with salt. 

8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 225 °C (425 F) in preheated oven. Top will be golden and the edges slightly browned when done.  Remove from oven and allow to cool out of the pan on a metal rack. 

9. Enjoy hot or cold. (I like to cut and make halloumi sandwiches with it). 

Notes: Measurements from Canadian products on hand

Used the following to make the conversions

All purpose flour - 3 tbsp = 30 grams, 16 tbsp per cup

Traditional yeast - measurements 1/4 tsp = 1 gram

Granulated sugar - 1 tsp = 4 grams

Table salt - 1/4 tsp = 1.5 grams