Focaccia Question
Hi Everyone.. my wife bought some focaccia tonight.. commercially made, very light, very open crust, flavourful crust because it was brushed with rosemary, olive oil and salt.. generally cooked very well.. was sold in a think plastic bag with at tie to 'seal in freshness'...
In all a very good bit of baking.. BUT.. if you ignored the top crust flavours, it was almost flavourless and the crumb had no aroma at all., and the crust was very chewy (all sides).. clearly made with commercial yeast, almost had a neutral sweetness to it..
My question is, what makes it so chewy? Could it just be the plastic bag that does that? I would say it must have been a high hydration formula given the size of the air pockets and lightness of the crumb.. possibly the protein content of the flour?
My guess would be that they do indeed use commercial yeast and don't let the actual dough develop any flavor. They may just mix the flour, water, yeast, salt (and maybe nothing else?) and once it's ready, they add the toppings and bake.
Not a terrible way to go about making a quick focaccia, especially if you liked it, but seems like it could improve with a little age.
So is the question about flavour or chewyness? Good flour makes for good flavour, cheap nasty heavily processed flour with a bunch of additives tends to lack flavour and yes, underdeveloped dough. Chewyness might just be the high gluten content, oil softens the crumb and crust but if its been in a plastic that might make it soft too.
there are other issues with commercial yeast in my books, but for making simple breads its fine. This bread is probably a product of ADD; "Activated Dough Development" which isn't Chorleywood, but not what I'd call real bread either. It will have been made with cheap flour and some other ingredients - flour improvers, (cheap) fats, and so on. Probably mix & knead, prove, bake.
Flavour takes time - and time is money in the commercial world... You can make good tasting bread with commercial yeasts - if you slow the process down a little. Even ye olde hour (or more) to ferment, "knock back" then hour to prove method should give you a good flavour when commercial yeast is used with good flour.
As for the chewy texture... It's probably down to a higher hydration than anything else, I guess. Combine that with being in a plastic bag to reduce staling and dehydration and it's probably the reason.
I use commercial yeast in some of my breads, however I use an organic yeast - and in my searches there is only one that's made in Europe - Bioreal. Shipton Mill & Bakery Bits sell it, dried or fresh. It doesn't contain any additives either which a lot of shop-bought commercial yeasts do contain. Read the label!
-Gordon
The chewiness and the lack of taste are both due to intensive mixing, in all probability.
Mixing for a long time at high speed develops the gluten in the flour more completely. It also results in a very uniform crumb. Think commercial, pre-sliced white bread. This kind of mixing also oxidizes the carotenoid pigments in the flour with two results: whiter crumb and no taste.
David