Focaccia Bread

This is a herb bread baked on a flat sheet with lots of olive oil, but since Olive oil is good for you in many ways, don’t worry about it. This bread takes one to two days, depending on when you start, and will serve four to six people depending on what else you’re serving. While Focaccia bread is associated with Italian baking, it existed long before the Roman era, being part of Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greek cuisines. Focaccia come from the Latin “focus“, that is “cooked on fire“. After all, nothing “focuses” you more than being cooked on fire.

Ingredients

  • Poolish
    • 100 g flour
    • 101 g water
    • 1 g dry active yeast
  • Dough
    • 228 g flour
    • 101 g water
    • 9 g salt
    • 1.5 g yeast
    • 30 g olive oil
    • 3 g Herbs de Provence*

Process

  1. Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Make the Poolish: mix flour, water, and yeast in a container; seal and put in fridge for 24 hours.
  3. Mix Dough
    1. As you prepare your dough, remove Poolish from the fridge and leave out covered.
    2. Stir flour, yeast, and salt using the paddle attachment on your mixer.
      • Make sure salt is at opposite end of bowl away from yeast as you start.
    3. Add water and mix at speed #1 for four minutes.
    4. Add Poolish and increase speed to #4 for four minutes.
      • Kneading is important for activating the gluten.
    5. Reduce speed to #1, and add olive oil and herbs.
      • Mix until the oil is fully incorporated, which can take a long time so be patient. Mix until you no longer see the oil on the dough.
  4. First Proof
    1. place dough in a bowl, cover with film, and proof for 30 mins at room temperature.
    2. Roll out dough and fold.
      • To fold, roll dough into a long rectangle. Fold along short width 1/3rd the length. Make second fold at the 2/3rd mark, where the first fold ended.
      • It’s the same as folding a piece of paper to put in an envelope.
    3. Cover with film and transfer to fridge over night (at least 12 hours).
      • I usually make the Poolish the night before my planned dinner and then early in the morning I plan to bake the bread I do steps 3 and 4.
      • Then 1.5 hours before serving I start step 5.
  5. Second Proof
    1. Take dough from fridge and flatten on a baking sheet. Use the rim of the sheet to set the thickness by using a roller longer than the baking sheet width and rolling along the rim of the baking sheet.
    2. Generously brush flattened dough with olive oil.
    3. Use your four fingers to poke rows of holes about one inch apart across the width and along the length.
    4. Brush again with olive oil filling the holes with oil.
    5. Rest dough 45 minutes at 28C (82F).
  6. Bake 22 minutes at 230C.
  • Put baked bread on cooling rack after oven to let it firm up a bit before serving.
  • Cut into strips across the width and then slice into even length pieces.

* If you don’t have Herb de Provence you can substitute Italian seasoning, or make your own using the following recipe

  • 2 TBL rosemary
  • 1 TBL fennel seeds
  • 2 TBL savory
  • 2 TBL thyme
  • 2 TBL basil
  • 2 TBL marjoram
  • 2 TBL lavender flowers
  • 2 TBL Italian parsley
  • 1 TBL oregano
  • 1 TBL tarragon
  • 1 tsp bay powder.

Let’s be honest though, if you don’t Herb de Provence or Italian seasoning on hand, you probably don’t have all these bad boys either, even I don’t – just do the best you can with what you have to create a herb mixture.

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