FOCACCIA

I love this bread. I learned the finer points of producing foccacia from two people. The first was Francesco Ricci, who made some of the best bread I ever tasted. The second was a pastry chef that I met while on a short stint in a hotel early in my career. She was actually trained in Italy to make this bread and taught me how important the use of olive oil is to a good foccacia. This bread bakes up so light and airy and just sucks up the xvoo. I can't stress enough the importance of high quality bread flour. For me, it means the difference between a great bread and a mediocre bread.
When I took the Executive chef position at Harry Browne's restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland I got rid of their bread program which was costing me up to $50 dollars a day and started baking this foccacia daily which cost me about $5 dollars per sheetpan. But, my customers loved it especially right out of the oven!

INGREDIENTS:
6C. warm water (100-105 F.)
4 TBSP dry yeast
1 gallon hi-gluten bread flour(the best quality you can buy)
4 TBSP salt
1/2 C sugar
1.5 C XVOO
XVOO for garnish
Kosher salt (for garnish)
Chopped garlic (for garnish)
Chopped rosemary (for garnish)
Shaved or grated parmiggiano or pecorino cheese (optional)

METHOD:
*Place water, yeast, sugar, olive oil, salt, in mixer bowl and proof.
*Mix in flour.
*Knead in mixer until smooth ball develops.
*Transfer dough to bowl coated with olive oil.
*Cover with plastic or towel, place in warm(80 F.) area to DBL. size.
*When dough is doubled, roll out to oiled full sheet-pan and top with garlic, rosemary, kosher salt, and generous amount.of XVOO
*Place dough in warm(80 F.) area for 2nd rise.
*When risen transfer to oven pre-heated to 425. for approx. 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
*Remove from oven, immediately cover with generous amount. of XVOO.
* Cool on speed rack
* you get about 40 servings from this recipe.

Professional Chef cooking and living in the DC Metro area.

chef4cook: No, I don't take pictures of the food I do. I just never have. As far as grilling bread, I do grill pizza and in fact have taken this focaccia dough, rolled it out and grilled it with very good results.

comment left Sep 10, 2008

grillmaster: Do you have a picture of the end results? The recipe is a little different than mine and I am always ready to upgrade my way of baking my favorites.
Have you ever tried grilling the bread?

comment left Sep 10, 2008

jimr: oooh. I love focaccia. This looks like a pretty straightforward recipe. Will have to give it a try. btw: I assume that XVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, yes? What brand do you use? I've found the taste varies widely....

comment left Sep 01, 2008

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