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Herbed Focaccia from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

August 26, 2009 by Nicole 59 Comments

Piece of Focaccia

Ok, let me come right out and say this.  This focaccia was the best I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Period.  Like many of the formulas in the book, this one takes two days to make.  And although it’s more labor and time-intensive than other focaccia recipes I’ve tried, I’m pretty sure it’s the only one I will ever make again.

This is the 13th bread I’ve made for The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge (with 31 more to come) and it has moved up to the top of my favorites list.  Honestly, I didn’t think I could love any bread more than the salami and cheese-filled Casatiello.  But I was wrong.  Foccacia, I love you.

There are two different formulas for focaccia in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, both of which take two days to make.  So why does it take so much time to make a great focaccia?  As many of you have learned from following along with my bread baking, long, slow fermentation of the dough is key to developing maximum flavor.  This can be achieved by using a pre-ferment such as a poolish (like I used for the ciabatta), or by refrigerating the dough overnight (the bagels were a good example of overnight fermentation).

I chose to make the Poolish Focaccia, for no other reason than I just like to watch the bubbles form in the poolish.  Also, I like to say the word ‘poolish.’  A poolish is simply a combination of flour, water, and a small amount of yeast.  It gets mixed together to form a batter-like dough and is allowed to ferment at room temperature until it gets nice and bubbly.

Here is my poolish after mixing:

Focaccia Sponge

and then a few hours later:

Focaccia Sponge Fermented

As you can see, the poolish increases in size and starts bubbling away.  If you stand and watch for a minute, you can actually see bubbles form, grow, and burst.  It’s alive!  Now once it’s nice and bubbly you want to put the poolish in the refrigerator for a long, slow, overnight ferment.  You can let it hang out in the fridge for up to 3 days and continue with the focaccia whenever you are ready.

Ready?  Ok, take the poolish out of the fridge one hour before you want to make the dough so it can warm up a bit.  For the focaccia dough, you will be adding more flour, yeast, water, olive oil and salt to the poolish.

Adding Oil and Flour to Sponge

I stirred the dough up with a spoon until it formed a wet, sticky dough.

Stirring Focaccia Dough

Then I kneaded it for 7 or 8 minutes using the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Once I had a smooth, sticky dough, I stopped kneading and dumped it out onto a bed of flour.  Doesn’t this remind you of my ciabatta? It should, because I used too much flour on the board for the ciabatta and for some reason didn’t learn from my mistake!

Focaccia Dough on Bed of Flour

So the next step is to dust the dough liberally with flour and then pat it into a rectangle.  This was as close as I managed to get.  It’s almost a rectangle!

Focaccia Dough Rectangle

Now for the stretching and folding.  Again, this should seem familiar if you saw my ciabatta post. After letting the dough relax for a few minutes, I coated my hands with flour and stretched the rectangle out.  It’s supposed to be twice its original size.  This time I brushed most of the flour off the top of the dough before folding.

Stretching Focaccia Dough

Next, fold one side of the dough in towards the middle then brush the flour off again.

Folding Focaccia Dough

Then fold the other side over, letter style.  Now I’ve completed one “stretch and fold.”

Second Fold

I covered my dough and let it rest for 30 minutes and then repeated the stretch and fold process two more times, allowing the 30 minute rest each time.  As you can see, the dough grew during the process!  But now it’s time to let it grow even more.  I covered it and let it ferment at room temperature for one hour.

After Stretching and Folding Three Times

While the dough was fermenting, I made a garlic herb oil using fresh garlic, basil, rosemary and parsley.  I also added a bit of crushed red pepper.  Hold on, you’ll see what I do with the oil in a minute.

Garlic Herb Oil

After an hour, the dough had doubled in size and was ready to go in the pan.

Dough is Doubled

I lined my rimmed half sheet pan with parchment and spread olive oil (not the herb oil) all over the bottom.  I gently lifted the dough off the counter and spread it out on the parchment.  Not as easy as it sounds!  As you can see, the dough didn’t hold it’s rectangular shape very well.

Spreading Out the Dough

I drizzled some of the herb oil over the top of the dough and started dimpling it with my fingers, gently spreading the dough out in the pan.

Adding Oil and Dimpling the Dough

The dough didn’t quite reach the edges of the pan, but I wasn’t worried because it still had some growing to do!

Ready for Proofing

I covered the pan and let it proof for about an hour and a half.  As you can see, the dough definitely filled the pan!

Dough has Risen

Next, I drizzled even more herb oil over the top.

Adding more oil

Then I dimpled the dough all over with my fingertips again.

More Dimpling

Close-up of Dough

Before putting the focaccia in the 5oo degree oven, I sprinkled the whole thing lightly with coarse salt.  The focaccia baked for about 20 minutes, and I rotated the pan halfway through baking.  Although the oven is preheated to 500 degrees, it gets turned down to 450 after putting the bread in the oven.

Here is the resulting bread:

Baked Focaccia

The crumb was beautiful!

Focaccia Crumb

And the flavor and texture were out of this world!

Focaccia Crumb Close

I can’t wait to make this focaccia again and try some different toppings.  I loved the herb oil, but can’t wait to try it with cheese and olives, among other things.  I might even make a thick crust pizza using this dough.  It is absolutely amazing!

The recipe for Poolish Focaccia can be found on page 164 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

The next bread in the challenge is French Bread!  I can’t wait to tell you about the beautiful crusty baguettes that came out of my oven last weekend.  Yes, I have been baking bread faster than I’ve been able to write about it, but my blog posts will soon be caught up to my baking.

Want to Join The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun!  First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  Read the first section of the book carefully, as this will prepare you for the bread recipes in the second section of the book.  Then just jump in and bake some Anadama Bread, which is the first recipe in the book.  But first, please visit The BBA Challenge Page for more details on how to participate in the group!

If you haven’t already, you might want to bookmark the BBA Challenge Page.  From there you can see which breads are coming up soon, find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit and/or add yourself to our World Map, see the BBA Challenge Blogroll, and check out the continually updated slideshow of BBA Bread photos from our ever-expanding group of bakers!

Focaccia from other BBA Challenge Members:

  • Tomato Parmesan Focaccia from Lovin’ from the Oven
  • Herbed Focaccia from The Yumarama Bread Blog
  • Caramelized Onion and Cherry Tomato Focaccia from I Can Do that
  • Focaccia with Feta, Tomatoes and Pine Nuts from MustangTerri
  • Herbed Mushroom and Cheese Focaccia from Texas Farmer’s Hot Stove
  • Herbed Focaccia from Bewitching Kitchen
  • Herbed Focaccia with Tomatoes and Blue Cheese from Nico’s Blog
  • Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia from Goth Panda
  • Herbed Focaccia from Something Shiny
  • Focaccia with Caramelized Onions and Parmesan Cheese from Culinary Disasters
  • Herbed Focaccia from The Other Side of Fifty
  • Focaccia with Peppers, Olives and Feta from Pete Eatemall
  • Caramelized Shallot and Golden Raisin Focaccia from Pink Stripes
  • Grape and Walnut Focaccia from Eating Out Loud
  • Raisin Focaccia from Eating is the Hard Part
  • Blue Cheese, Pepper, Steak and Mushroom Focaccia from Joelen’s Culinary Adventures

Filed Under: BBA Challenge Tagged With: BBA, BBA Challenge, bread, Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, peter reinhart

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carla McGarvie says

    August 28, 2009 at 7:06 am

    This looks delicious! Just got back from Spain and Bread Baker's Apprentice was waiting for me. Read it during jetlag hours in the middle of the night and am soaking cornmeal and water for anadama bread right now! WIll let you know how it turns out via twitter. Wish me luck!
    Reply
  2. Georgia Pellegrini says

    August 28, 2009 at 11:08 am

    I used to think I was a bad baker. Until I went to France and cooked in a crazy kitchen and spent way too much time with the pastry chef. We made LOTS of foccacia which I learned to love. So now I bake too, not just cook. I recently made hazelnut bundt cakes which were oh so adorable! Here's a pic: http://www.georgiapellegrini.com/blog/
    Reply
  3. Kelly says

    August 28, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Wowsers, Nicole! That is gorgeous. Man, every time I see a beautiful post on one of the breads, I want to go back and make it again. Right. NOW. :) Also, thanks for linking to my post.
    Reply
  4. Andy says

    August 28, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    That bread looks absolutely amazing! The thought of that bread with a good bit of extra virgin olive oil is making my mouth water!
    Reply
  5. pam says

    August 28, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    Well, I already have a favorite focaccia recipe, but you've pretty much sold me on this one!
    Reply
  6. Valerie Reilly says

    August 29, 2009 at 8:21 am

    hi....I have been following your blog since you started, and i can taste it all through the internet. brava!!! do you have a photo of an almond croissant (i could link to the recipe) for my new blog? mille grazie! - Valerie
    Reply
  7. Daniel says

    August 29, 2009 at 11:47 am

    Blasphemy! Casatiello will always be number one in my book. At least until we get to Stollen, which I love. Your Focaccia looks amazing! Sometimes I think you make several versions of the same bread and only photograph the good one. You seem to have the magic touch for bread. In contrast to me: http://aehrelichgesagt.blogspot.com/2009/08/bba-challenge-13-and-12-foccacia.html I totally overbrowned it. But everyone who got a piece said it was amazing. I guess I eat with my eyes and stomach and others only with their stomach.
    Reply
  8. Amanda says

    August 29, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    That's absolutely beautiful. It really looks so very good. I haven't been very good about making my breads, I made the bagels and got swamped with work. I'm going to hit my BBA book again tomorrow and see what's next :)
    Reply
  9. Di says

    August 29, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    I had the same problem with using way too much flour on the counter for my ciabatta. =) Your focaccia looks so good (especially right now when I haven't had any dinner yet).
    Reply
  10. cheffresco says

    August 30, 2009 at 5:51 am

    This is among the best looking focaccia I've ever seen. I don't doubt it was absolutely delicious!
    Reply
  11. Vanessa says

    August 30, 2009 at 9:35 am

    Oh my goodness. This focaccia is absolutely incredible. This is what focaccia is supposed to look like!!! I just wrote an entry in my own blog about focaccia. http://www.thedailyv.com/?p=333
    Reply
  12. Tracy says

    August 30, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    Wow, that looks gorgeous! I might have to try my hand at making some, but am intimidated because yours looks so good.
    Reply
  13. Nancy/n.o.e says

    August 31, 2009 at 6:44 am

    Loved it more than casatiello? That must be one fabulous bread! It looks delicious and I love getting a preview of all the breads that are (way) ahead of me in the BBA Challenge.
    Reply
  14. Husband says

    August 31, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Have to save that Breadmaker's Apprentice is one of my absolute favorites. I pull it down more than any other book of late, and your foccia looks so perfect... I'm jealous now.
    Reply
  15. pity says

    August 31, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    this focaccia looks absolutely divine! I can almost smell it! well done! cheers from london, pity
    Reply
  16. Ron Merlin says

    August 31, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    Perfect, absolutely perfect. And beautiful photo's. The Merlin Menu
    Reply
  17. CookingSchoolConfidential.com says

    August 31, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    At culinary school we do very little baking. And that's a shame. Because I never met a focaccia I didn't like. Sigh. Maybe I should take the baking program, too! Cheers.
    Reply
  18. Ariana from Chicago says

    September 1, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    This post was the kick in the butt I needed to get to the library and get this book. If only I could find that darn instant yeast somewhere! ;) I have been waiting for a good focaccia recipe, the ones you get from other Italian ladies aren't the best written ones and they always leave out steps, measurements, etc. I will try this dough to make a Sicilian style "sfincione" pizza. Did you have those in Sicily? My mother in law made them when the kids were younger, and I would love to one up her and make a great one. Thanks!
    Reply
  19. Half Assed Kitchen says

    September 1, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    Yum. I made focaccia recently too. Though it was a lot more half assed than yours.
    Reply
  20. Nancy says

    September 2, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    I've never made anything that took this long except the Amish sour dough starter bread. You make it look easy so I guess I'll give it a try!. Thanks
    Reply
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