Sunday Baking Series: Focaccia
Focaccia has never held a ton of appeal for me. I typically associate it with those spongy, oily, crustless pieces of bread surrounding “fancy” sandwiches at places like Panera, so why in the world would I want to make it at home?
That all changed when I watch the ebullient Samin Nosrat crunch into focaccia handmade in Liguria, Italy on her completely wonderful Netflix series Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Who knew focaccia was supposed to have crunch? Hubtastic was drawn in by the layering of a salty brine and flake salt on the surface- and we decided then and there to add it to our list of Sunday Bakes.
Well, technically, we started on Saturday night- you weigh all the ingredients (water, yeast, honey, salt, olive oil, and flour), mix a bit, and leave it alone overnight. We decided the risen dough looks and feels very silly.
This kind of make-ahead step makes for an incredibly relaxing day of baking the next day.
Hubtastic decided to make this recipe essentially on his own (which he now does regularly with our Apple Cake recipe). I was there just to read out ingredients so he didn’t have to keep washing his hands to scroll through the recipe. And take pictures, I suppose.
Because of the oil content both in and on top of the dough, the texture was extremely slimy and gooey, but also surprisingly light due to the aeration from the yeast. If you have kids, or are a kid at heart, it may remind you of modeling foam- fun for kids, but therapeutic for adults!
Focaccia-making involves pulling and pushing the dough several times to achieve the classic flatbread appearance. You have to work with and against the gluten formed by the flour and water, which has a tendency to spring back to where it was, especially with fat lubricating the pan. It is an excellent opportunity to get to know what bread feels like before baking, since most bread recipes only involve kneading and shaping once. Here, you get three chances to watch the dough change its resistance to your touch.
This recipe also has an unusual brining step, which coats the entire surface with an even layer of dissolved salt that settles in to the little pock-marks made by the baker’s fingers. A final sprinkle of flaky salt prior to baking adds another layer of salinity, this time in concentrated bursts.
As it turns out, real focaccia is not at all sponge-like. The bottom layer crisps up like a deep-dish pizza, while the middle of the bread has a slight chew, like a baguette, but is softened by the presence of oil breaking the gluten into shorter strands. The top is gorgeously salty and addictive.
Olive oil is the primary distinction between focaccia and other kneaded doughs, added in 3 different places throughout the process. In the documentary, Samin explains all the different roles fat can play in food (and in her book, which you all should own)- texture, structure, delivery of flavor, adding crunch, carrying nutrients- it’s a shame we’ve been so afraid of it for so long. It’s well-known that doing something first-hand helps us get over our aversions, so focaccia may just be a good stepping stone to appreciating fat for all the pleasure it adds to our eating experiences.
We unabashedly ate only focaccia and salad for dinner this Sunday night. Wouldn’t you?