My Ideal Focaccia

I've been working my way towards making what I envision as my ideal focaccia in the past couple weeks.  Due to time constraints on previous batches I sacrificed quality to fit my schedule.  The results were okay, worth eating but not worth writing about.  In my latest batch I applied what I had learned from previous batches and simultaneously found myself with less time constraints as I'm sure many are at the present due to COVID-19.  I'm happy to share my process and results and encourage you to give it a shot.  This recipe is entirely mixed by hand so the only real tools needed are a scale, a scraper, and common ingredients.

note:  I used a liquid levain (100/100) in this but for folks who don't have this a poolish could also work (200 grams water/200 grams flour/.2 grams Instant Dry Yeast)

Mix 800 grams of unbleached all purpose flour and 600 grams of water in a large mixing bowl by hand until ingredients are evenly hydrated.  Cover this and allow it to rest for 1 hour (autolyse).  I used fairly warm water (nearly 100 degrees) because it's winter and my flour and home are at a fairly low ambient temperature, but that is something you will need to determine based on your environment.

Take your ripe liquid levain and scale 400 grams on top of the Autolyse that you started.  At this point I also added 7 grams of Instant Dry Yeast (This amount could vary pretty drastically depending on your environment).  Pinch the levain and yeast into the dough at first and then start turning and folding the dough onto itself as the culture begins to form a homogeneous dough with the autolyse.  After the dough has become even, add 19 grams of salt and 40 grams of water.  Work the water and salt into the dough and then use the rubaud method to continue to develop some strength in the dough.  After a few minutes add 70 grams of olive oil, adding slowly and incorporating is more gentle on the dough and probably easier as well.  Once the oil is incorporated and everything is homogenous you can cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

At this stage I did a series of 2 "laminations."  If anyone wants I can elaborate on it but I think it's a fairly documented technique.  The second lamination was another 20 minutes after the first.  After the second lamination I allowed the dough to proof for 30 minute before doing the final fold (which was just a normal in bowl fold).  After that I allowed the dough to proof for 2 hours.  Throughout the series of laminations and folds you should have felt a shaggy dough turn a supple and quickly growing mass of dough.  The dough was probably about 2.5x it's original size by the time it is divided.  

Oil your work surface with olive oil liberally and turn out your dough.  At this stage I need to leave you to your own devices a little bit.  I have a few 14 inch round pan that work really well for focaccia but you will need to take stock of your own pan situation and divide accordingly, This batch makes 2 14 inch rounds (approximately 950 grams of dough per pan (each pan is approximately 154 square inches where as a standard half sheet pan is 192 square inches (so the math isn't exact but if you did a 1.5x batch you ought to fill out two half sheet trays nicely))).  So if you made it down that rabbit hole then you're probably still sitting with your dough on your bench wondering when I'll get on with it.  Cut your dough with a bench knife into the appropriately sized pieces for your pans.  Oil your hands do the dough won't stick to you and gently lift and flip the dough into your pre-oiled pans.  Gently press the dough towards the edge of the pan but don't force it.  Allow the dough to rest 30 minutes and then dimple and spread the dough to finish filling out the pan.  At this stage you could wait another 30-45 minutes and top and bake your focaccia or you could go for extra credit fermentation and retard the trays of focaccia overnight.  If you retard overnight pull out your trays of focaccia an hour or so before baking.

Dimple, Top, and Bake at 450 for about 25 minutes until the bottom and top are golden brown.  I put a three cheese shave blend of asiago, romano and parmesan but the topping are limitless.

Final Dough Formula:

800 grams Flour

640 grams Water

19 grams Salt

7 grams Yeast

400 grams liquid Levain

70 grams olive oil + oil for pans and work surface

Simplicity of ingredients and the right techniques.

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