Focaccia


(Note: this recipe was heavily influenced by Daniel T. DiMuzio’s focaccia recipe as seen in Bread Baking An Artisan’s Perspective)

Biga:

Bread Flour                                                  10 oz
Water (at room temp)                                   6 oz
Instant Yeast                                                 ¼ tsp

Dough:

Bread Flour                                                  1# 6.5 oz
Salt                                                               0.6 oz
Yeast                                                            0.2 oz
Yellow onion, minced                                    3 Tbsp
Biga                                                              1#
Water (at room temp)                                   1# 1.5 oz
Olive Oil 3.2 oz

To Finish:

Olive Oil                                                      As needed
Rosemary leaves, chopped fine                     2 Tbsp
Coarse Salt                                                  As needed



To Make the Biga, simply mix the three ingredients in a small bowl until a dry dough forms. Cover the dough and leave at room temp for about 24 hours.

To Make the Dough:

1 Combine the flour, yeast, salt, and onions in a mixing bowl and set aside.

2 Chop the biga into 1” pieces, and place in a mixing bowl. Cover with the water.

3 Squeeze the biga in the water to rehydrate for a couple of minutes, then add the flour mixture and olive oil.

4 Mix all of the ingredients together until a homogenous, wet dough forms. Do not knead, and do not add extra flour.

5 Let the dough rest covered for 15 minutes, then turn out onto an unfloured surface. Press the dough down into a flat disk, and then fold it into 3rds to form a rectangle using a bench-scraper. Fold this into 3rds to form a square, and return the dough to the covered bowl.

6 Repeat this step four more times, for a total of 5 turns and an hour and 15 minutes of rests. By the end, the dough still be moist, but more elastic.

7 Next, grease a cookie sheet with the olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, and stretch the dough to the size of the pan. Press various spots on the surface of the dough so that it rises evenly. Let rest until nearly doubled in size (approx 40 minutes).

8 Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

9 When the bread is ready to bake, top it with the coarse salt, rosemary, and a final sprinkling of olive oil.

10 Bake for approx. 35- 40 minutes, and then cool on a wire rack.