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.

Crumpets

Crumpets

(As modified from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible)

AP flour 11 oz (or 2 cups and 3 Tbsp)
Non-fat Powdered Milk 1.40 oz (or ¼ cup)
Instant yeast 2 tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Water (at room temp.) 1 ½ cups
Baking Soda ½ tsp
Water (at room temp.) ¼ cup
Clarified, unsalted butter 2 Tbsp

1) Mix the flour, milk powder, yeast, sugar, and salt together until thoroughly blended.

2) Add the first amount of water to the mixture and beat for 5 minutes.

3) Allow batter to rise until doubled (approx. 1 hour).

4) Add the baking soda and remaining water, and allow to rise until almost doubled again (approx. 30 minutes).

5) Meanwhile, preheat a griddle at medium heat, and melt clarified butter.

6) To cook, place crumpet rings on griddle, and brush the insides with the butter. Spoon in enough batter to fill each ring ½ way to the top.

7) Crumpets are ready to flip when batter appears to dry around the edges, and rings can be removed without the batter spilling over.

Challah

Challah

Bread Flour                                           12-14 oz (plus more for kneading)
Active Dry Yeast                                   0.25 oz
Salt                                                       0.30 oz
Honey                                                   3 fl oz
Eggs, Large                                           2 ea. (plus one for egg wash)
Water, room temperature                      7 fl oz (plus 1 Tbsp for egg wash)
Unsalted butter                                      melted 2 oz
Sesame seeds                                        As Needed to Garnish



1- In a large mixing bowl, combine 12 oz of the flour, all of the yeast, and all of the salt.

2- In a second bowl, combine the 7 fl oz of the water, the honey, two of the eggs, and the butter.

3- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix together using either a wooden spoon or your hand until a thick dough forms.

4- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead. Add remain flour to the dough as necessary while kneading. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

5- Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with either plastic wrap or a wet clothe.

6- Allow the dough to double in size (1-2 hours), and then punch it down.

7- Divide the dough into equal portions, and form into a braided loaf, turban loaf, or knot rolls.

8- Allow the dough to rise again until almost doubled in size (40 minutes to 1 hour).

9- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

10- Combine the remaining Tbsp of water with the remaining egg and whisk thoroughly. Gently brush this mixture over the loaf (or rolls).

11- Top the loaf (or rolls) with sesame seeds, and place in the center rack of the oven.

Bake for approx 40 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when gently thumped. Turn as needed for even brownin