In search of the best Focaccia recipe and method
Hello All,
I've been trying to bake the perfect focaccia for some time now and I was wondering if you could help me?
Currently using a poolish method that is about 70% hydration (12 hour for the biga and then further 12 hours for the dough). However, sometimes the dough can be a bit chewy so I still have a few questions regarding how it can be improved... There is no limit to my time and effort in getting it perfect so fire away with any tips!
1. What hydration levels yield the best results?
2. How long fermentation time should you be using, is there such a thing as too long?
3. Is there a particular mix of flours or additions to the dough that creates a better flavour profile?
4. Would a sourdough starter be better than a poolish?
5. I've heard people mention the quality of baking pan you use makes a difference...does it actually or is it marginal?
6. Have you got any other baking tips (e.g. heard putting a glass of water in the oven whilst baking gives the dough moisture & baking at a high temperature shocks the dough forcing it to rise and create air bubble
Any help would be very appreciated!
Hi,
Maybe this would help?
https://www.thekitchn.com/focaccia-recipe-reviews-23158391
They found that salt brine method works best
Here's the recipe of the best ligurian focaccia ever
https://www.thekitchn.com/samin-nosrat-focaccia-23158397
Refrigerator method, giving focaccia dough some time in the fridge, is the second best.
My personal favorite is focaccia annarosa style, from Annarosa bakery in Salisbury, MA, originally published by King Arthur Flour, no longer available on their website. Cook's Illustrated recipe for rosemary focaccia is close enough, so I use it instead..
I also remember seeing this article a while ago, but didn't remember where. Very nice overview.
I have tried making sourdough focaccia a few times and it was always good, but every time something wasn't perfect. Focaccia from Rus Brot recipe with CLAS was the best one I've ever made, and very quick too. Delicious.
But recently I visited Genova, and tried focaccia there. Quite a different product! Very thin crust, very fluffy crumb, but the whole thing is quite thin. Very flavourful from olive oil, but the oil doesn't drip out of it as much as one would expect. Really-really good.
Thank you very much for both your comments! Will try these recipes.
1. Hydration does mot matter, what matters is a good recipe. There are great focaccias from medium consistency doughs, about 55-65% hydration and from superhydrated doughs, 110-120% hydration. And everything in between.
2. Again, the length of fermentation is stated in the recipe. My liquid preferment (not poolish, mine is liquid, 112% hydration) for focaccia ferments 8 hrs at room temp, up to 24hrs at 70F/21C and then overnight or up to 3 days in the fridge. Focaccia dough ferments for two hours at 70F/21C. Any more than that is too long.
3. Any special flours? No. I use unbleached all purpose flour. Again, that is what is common, or normal, for focaccias, but any other flour or combinations of flours exist as well.
4. Would a sourdough starter be better than a poolish? No. Focaccia is a yeasted bread. Obviously, you can bake sourdough everything, including focaccia, no problem.
5. I use thick aluminum pans designed for small Chicago style pizzas. It makes a difference, for sure, but other pans, including cast iron frying pans would work as well.
6. No steam. Never for focaccias. Never.
I'm sorry, but focaccia means so many different things to different people (see comments above) that there is now way to offer advice without knowing what would make it perfect in your eyes (mouth).
Just a bit of an aside...
I recently made a focaccia according to the recipe in Paul Hollywood's book "100 great breads" from 2004. It's not the best and the amount of yeast is excessive (I used a lot less), but he uses a brine on top already.
I forgot to do so, so can't comment further, but thought it interesting that someone else is now credited with this idea ;)
I made focaccia following (reasonably closely, except I also added a small amount of CLAS because why not) an authentic recipe for Genovese focaccia. The dough is much-much stiffer than any non-Genovese recipes I've seen, it's rolled out much thinner, proofes after docking, and there is a very generous amount of brine on top.
https://www.giallozafferano.com/recipes/focaccia-fugassa-alla-genovese-genoa-style-focaccia.html
It turned out very similar to what I had in Genova. I made a couple small mistakes (e.g. made dimples too close to each other, so I think that's why the result is even thinner than it should be, and less airy), but it's delicious. Interestingly, I thought it was even better next morning after reheating in a toaster.
Because the dough is stiff, it doesn't stick to the pan at all (except if you make a hole and some brine leaks through... that part was already eaten before I took the picture). Don't have a picture, but it also browns very nicely on the bottom.
Your description above has piqued my interest and I was about to ask you to recommend a recipe, and here it is!
Thanks for sharing.
Yippee
Cool, hope you like it and also share your results!