Cheesy Herby Focaccia - by Anna Ramiz
We’ve moved many times. So many times, in fact, that I began to pride myself on how efficiently I was able to pack and unpack a house. I was quick and organized and my house would be put back together within a week. Turns out, the joke is on me. I discovered over the last three weeks that they only reason I was so good was because I didn’t have any children underfoot. Right in the the middle of our move, Marco became mobile. He is truly the efficient one in our family, rapidly scooting across the living and dining room, on the hunt for any object that he isn’t supposed to have—ie, Tahini’s full water bowl or potted plants. I spent two weeks unpacking as many boxes as possible during nap times and I’m happy to say that we are done! We are moved, my little studio is set up, Marco has a brand new playpen to help him stay semi-contained, and I’m back in the kitchen working on new recipes for you! :)
My favorite part about this move is that I now live less than 5 miles from some of my favorite NYC bakeries. We’ve gotten cardamom buns from Fabrique, coffee cakes from Milano Market, an array of hefty cookies from Chip City (I wasn’t impressed), and sampled Oprah’s favorite cookie from Maman (I was impressed). All of this snacking and sampling has been inspiring and the little push I needed to get back into the kitchen to start creating. I’m already looking ahead to holiday recipes and would love your input. Tell me—what kinds of recipes are you looking for this holiday season? Easy desserts? Intricate desserts? Breads? Cocktails and mocktails? Appetizers and snacks? I’d love to create some recipes that catch your attention this holiday season.
Now, onto focaccia!
I’ve been wanting to play with my base focaccia recipe for a while and a depleted freezer stash gave me the perfect opportunity.
Focaccia is a high-hydration, yeasted flatbread with roots in Italy. It varies slightly in thickness, flavor, and application based on the region, but is characteristically baked at high temperatures resulting in crispy edges and a pillowy soft center.
For this recipe, I set out to make my focaccia recipe a bit fluffier, while creating slightly more structure. To do this, I incorporated a few folds of the dough to enhance gluten development and implemented a cold-proof method for extra bubbles and flavor. The result was perfect.
I started this batch of focaccia in the mid afternoon, but it’s really quite flexible and you can easily make it work for your schedule. Here’s the rundown of my timing for this bread, along with some tips for adapting to suit your availability.
about 2 pm: I mixed together my dough: water, yeast, a pinch of sugar, olive oil, flour, and salt. Stir with a rubber spatula until all of the dry spots are gone and you have a shaggy dough. Cover with a towel.
2:15 pm: With wet hands, fold your dough by grabbing one edge and lifting the bottom up and over the dough to the other side. Repeat for each side—North, South, East, and West. Re-cover.
2:30 pm: Fold the dough again in the exact same way. Cover it back up.
2:45 pm: Fold the dough one last time, drizzle the top with a little olive oil, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and pop into the refrigerator for a cold proof.
—THE NEXT DAY—
8:00 am: Take the dough out the refrigerator and flip it into a lightly oiled 9x13" baking dish. Cover again with the towel and set in a warm-ish place to rise.
9:00 am: Check the dough and gently stretch it to fill the sides of the pan. Re-cover.
10:00 am: Preheat the oven, then go check on the dough once more. Use your fingertips to dimple the dough all over, tuck in your little cheese cubes, drizzle with the dipping oil, and bake!
11:00 am: Enjoy warm focaccia!
The dough can stay in the refrigerator cold proofing for up to 48 hours. If you work out of the home, you could easily mix up the focaccia and do the 3 folds one evening, pop it in the fridge, and then pull it out and continue the counter-top proofing and baking the following evening.
Not all salts measure the same. I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt in my kitchen because that’s what I used in restaurants and I got used to the size of the crystals and the way they feel in my fingers, which helps when it comes to knowing how much saltiness a pinch of salt will add to a recipe. Morton’s Salt crystals, however, are about half the size of a Diamond Crystal salt crystal which means you need significantly less Morton’s salt than Diamond Crystal. If you’re using Morton’s salt or another table salt in this recipe, start by cutting the salt amount in half. You can always add more, you can’t take it away.
*Another little note: most recipe developers use Diamond Crystal so unless a recipe specifies “Morton’s” or “table salt”, you can assume most recipes that list “kosher salt” are using Diamond Crystal.
If you’re interested in more about different types of salt, I highly encourage checking out Samin Nosrat’s book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She has a whole illustrated diagram of different types of salt and their shape.
In the meantime, here a few articles you can read for a more in-depth look:
makes one 9x13 pan of focaccia
for the focaccia:
600 g (2 1/2 cups) warm water
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
800 g (about 5 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
18 g (2 tbsp) kosher salt *see notes*
50 g (1/4 cup) olive oil, plus more for the pan
4 oz of hard cheese, such as smoked provolone or asiago, cubed
for the dipping oil
2/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt
a hefty tsp of freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar. Let rest for about 5 minutes, until yeast has dissolved and the mixture is cloudy.
Add the flour, salt, and olive oil, and stir well with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough forms and there are no more flour streaks.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, wet your hands and gently fold the dough by grabbing one corner and pulling it up and over the rest of the dough to the other side. Repeat on all four sides and then re-cover the dough and let rest for another 15 minutes.
Repeat this process twice more, waiting 15 minutes between each fold. After the third fold, drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the dough, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 48.
When you’re ready to bake, generously coat a metal or aluminum 9x13” pan with olive oil. Turn the chilled dough out into the prepared pan, cover it with a towel, and let it rest in a warm place for about an hour.
After an hour, gently stretch the dough to fill the pan, re-cover, and let rest for another hour.
In this last bout of proofing, mix all of the dipping oil ingredients together in a small bowl and cube the cheese. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
When the dough is puffy and at room temperature, use your fingers to dimple the dough all over. Tuck the cubes of cheese over the surface of the dough and drizzle it with about 1/3 of the dipping oil.
Bake the focaccia for 35-40 minutes until it’s deeply browned. Let it cool and then sprinkle the top with flaky salt. Serve with the remaining dipping oil.
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