This focaccia recipe uses ingredients from Peter Reinhart's "Bread
Baker's Apprentice" Sicilian Bread recipe, hydration levels from
"Cooks Illustrated" recent high hydration pizza dough and mixing and
proofing procedure from Joe Ortiz's "The Village Baker" Genoa
Focaccia recipe. I've done many focaccias and have never been
satisfied with the texture of the final bread. Most are dry and have
a "bready" texture. I started using BBA's Sicilian Bread dough (a
mixture of white flour and semolina flour) for pizzas and we like it
very much. I tried the Cooks Illustrated high hydration pizza
procedure and the pizza was excellent but had more of a focaccia
thickness and texture. The pizza dough is too wet to roll or stretch
so it just gets poured and pushed into a rough pizza shape. I looked
up my old "Village Baker" Genoa Focaccia recipe in Ortiz and decided
that I would merge the three sources into one, a very high hydration
semolina Genoa Focaccia. Focaccia's don't have to be shaped so a
high hydration dough that is "pourable" is quite practical and
workable. Ortiz doesn't add toppings to his Genoa Focaccia but
Reinhart has several in BBA and American Pie. I used a simple
topping of soft cooked diced onion, diced sun dried tomato, and
grated parmesan.
Before you read further, Ortiz's focaccia rises in a herbed olive oil
bath and absorbs a lot of oil. The final bread is delightfully oily
so you will need to keep a napkin handy. If you think focaccia is
just thick pizza dough than you may not like this version. The
texture of this high hydration bread has the classic uneven holes and
shiny crumb but there are no oversize voids to cause burning of the
crust. The crumb is not bready nor is it pasty.
High Hydration Genoa Focaccia
Poolish - 100% hydration
5 1/4 oz. All Purpose Flour
5 1/4 oz. Water
Pinch yeast - approx 1/8 tsp in winter, 1/16 tsp in summer
Semolina Dough - 90% hydration
All of the poolish above
5 oz. All Purpose Flour
6 oz. Semolina Flour
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp Instant Yeast (Bread Machine Yeast)
9 1/4 oz. water - slightly warmed
1 Tb. olive oil
2 tsp. honey
Olive Oil Bath
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 finely diced garlic cloves
8 sage leaves, coarsely chopped or coarsely shredded by hand
1 tsp sea salt.
Toppings - your choice or none
Remember that there are already garlic and herbs in the oil bath.
Lightly sauteed diced onion and diced sun dried tomatoes, plus a
sprinkling of parmesan.
Both BBA and "American Pie" also have toppings
You can also use coarse salt as a topping
If you start in the morning, the focaccia should be done in time for
your pasta dinner. Mix the poolish in the early morning and let is
rise until very bubbly, about 4 to 5 hours. I always dissolve the
instant yeast in the water first. It can't hurt and it distributes
the tiny amount of yeast very efficiently. While the poolish is
rising, mix the ingredients of the olive oil bath together.
For the dough, mix the yeast into the water, then add the honey and
olive oil, stir until the honey is dissolved. Pour the yeast mixture
into the poolish and stir until the poolish is dissolved. Measure
and mix the flours and salt into the bowl from an electric
mixer. (This is an electric mixer job. I have no idea how long it
would take to mix this dough by hand with a spoon. The procedure
comes from Carol Field's "the Italian Baker".) Pour the yeast
mixture into the flour mixture and blend using the flat beater on
"STIR" speed for two minutes. Stop and let everything hydrate for 15
to 20 minutes. Still with the flat beater, mix on speed 2 for at
least 12 to 13 minutes. Speed 2 on my Viking is one speed above
"STIR". Every 3 minutes or so, lift the head to let the dough (or
batter) fall back into the mix. Somewhere around minute 11 you should
see the batter tighten up and start to draw away from the sides of
the bowl. After 12 to 13 minutes the dough should be clinging to the
flat beater but with a large puddle in the bottom of the bowl. It
still won't look like dough, it never will.
Pour 1/3 of the Olive Oil bath mixture into the bottom of a rising
bowl and spread it around. The rising bowl should be big enough to
allow for tripling of the dough. Pour the dough out of the mixing
bowl into the rising bowel (a plastic dough scraper helps
here). Pour the remainder of the herbed oil bath over the top of the
dough and spread with a brush (carefully, it is very sticky) to coat
the entire dough surface. Cover and let rise until tripled (3 to 4
hours). There will still be some oil bath under the dough but you
will be surprised how much has been absorbed. Use a bit more olive
oil or PAM to grease the inside of a 4-sided 11" X 17" sheet
pan. Pour the dough into the pan but try to keep as much of the
unabsorbed oil bath in the rising bowl. Spread the dough as evenly
as possible. It may take a few "rests" before you can get it into
the corners. (At this point the dough is very slimy and
unappetizing. Take heart!) Pour the remaining oil bath from the
rising bowl onto the dough and spread as evenly as possible. Try to
spread large puddles as their weight will prevent the dough from rising.
Add toppings now. This very soft wet dough can't handle heavy, meaty
toppings, it won't lift them. If you put them on later it will
collapse. Be gentle.
Cover the dough with a second 11 x 17 pan upside-down. Preheat the
oven to 400 F. Use a baking stone if you have one. After one hour
the dough should be at the rim of the pan, about double. Prick any
obvious large bubbles. If puddles have prevented rising in one area,
use a soft brush to spread the oil out. Most of the oil should now
be gone and the dough should have a shiny surface. (Some procedures
say to gently push the dough down slightly with your open, oiled
palm. I tried but this dough is too sticky.
Bake on the stone for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust turns a light
tan. Remove the focaccia from the pan using a 1 sided cookie sheet as
a spatula and place it on a cooling rack with paper towel under
it. The finished focaccia is still fragile and will break easily if
you try to lift it without support.
This focaccia is fun to make. You get to grease up your hands, your
cloths and everything you touch with garlicky olive oil. You can't
eat a piece without getting oil on your hands but the taste and
texture are excellent and, I believe, authentic. Once you have made
one you can adjust the type and quantity of herbs and garlic to
taste. Rosemary focaccia is also excellent.