Tuesday, December 20, 2011

La Focaccia






Focaccia (Italian pronunciation:fo ca tsha) is a flat oven-baked Italian bread,which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. It is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same.
Focaccia is popular in Italy and is usually seasoned with olive oil and salt, and sometimes herbs, and may be topped with onion, cheese and meat, or flavored with a number of vegetables. It is eaten as a snack in Italy and school children will often purchase a slice from a baker's on the way to school, to enjoy at break time.



your dough before rest

Your dough after 15 minutes (without salt)

It should look like this.. sticky sooo sticky.

After the first 30- minute rest


The way you knead your dough
Leave it for 30 minutes

Your final result!


See how PRETTY  is it ?? see these airy  pockets??




Adapted from Cooks Illustrated
(makes two 9-inch round loaves)

Biga

1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2 2/3 ounces) warm water .
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast . or 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast.

Dough

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) warm water .
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast . Or 2 teaspoons active dry yeast.
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves.


Process
  1. The day before, combine biga ingredients in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute. You should have a uniform mass with no dry flour.
  2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for at least 8 hours (up to 24 hours).
  3. For the dough, stir flour, water, and yeast into the biga with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute. You should have a uniform mass with no dry flour.
  4.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 15 minutes.
  5. Add 2 teaspoons Kosher salt to dough and stir with wooden spoon about 1 minute.
  6. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 30 minutes.
  7. Spray rubber spatula with nonstick cooking spray.
  8. With rubber spatula, fold dough over itself 8 times as follows:
    1. lift an edge of dough with spatula and fold it towards the middle.
    2. turn bowl 90 degrees.
    3. repeat, repeat, repeat......until you've folded dough over 8 times.
  9. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 30 minutes.
  10. With rubber spatula, fold dough over itself 8 times as follows:
  11.  lift an edge of dough with spatula and fold it towards the middle.turn bowl 90 degrees.repeat, repeat, repeat......until you've folded dough over 8times. 
  12. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 30 minutes. 
  13. With rubber spatula, fold dough over itself 8 times as follows:lift an edge of dough with spatula and fold it towards the middle.turn bowl 90 degrees.repeat, repeat, repeat... until you've folded dough over 8 times.
  14.  Place oven rack in upper middle position. Place baking stone on rack and preheat oven to 500 F. 
  15. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 30 minutes. 
  16. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface (counter). BE GENTLE! Lightly dust top of dough with flour and divide in half. 
  17. Shape each piece into a 5 inch round by GENTLY tucking under edges. 
  18. Coat two 9 inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each.
  19.  
  20. Sprinkle each pan with 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt.
  21. Place each round of dough in a pan, top side down. Slide dough around pan to coat with oil and then flip dough over.
  22. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise 5 minutes at room temperature.
  23. Press dough out towards edge of pan with your fingertips. If dough resists, let rest 5-10 minutes and try again.
  24. Grab a dinner fork and poke each dough 25-30 times. Make sure you pop any large bubbles.
  25. Sprinkle rosemary over top of dough.
  26. Let dough rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes until slightly bubbly.
  27. Place pans on baking stone and immediately lower oven temperature to 450 F.
  28. Bake until top is golden brown 25-28 minutes. Switch pan placement on stone halfway through.
  29. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack 5 minutes.
  30. Remove bread from pans and return to wire rack. If any oil remains in pan, brush that on loaves.
  31. Cool 30 minutes before serving.                                                  
  32. Enjoy !

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great chewy inside!! Great job achieving that in a residential electric oven! Is the dough really 84% hydration? How can you handle dough so wet so that it want stick to the pan and the counter?

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