The Many Lives of Focaccia

I have always been a fan of focaccia.    I think my first memories of eating it were with my Uncle Beef, who also taught me and many others how to make it from scratch.

Out of nowhere,  I've had a few different encounters with  focaccia that really opened my mind to the variations in which it's served.   

Wood Oven Roasted Focaccia

You may recall that I spent a week cooking with a chef in his restaurant outside of Florence.    I had a few completely revolutionary focaccia experiences with him that started this focaccia awakening.    On the first night I arrived to work with Chef Claudio,  I helped him prepare for an outdoor party at his bed and breakfast.    I watched him make the dough for the focaccia, pretty much in the typical way I was used to making it (more on that below).    However, he had an outdoor wood oven.   After watching him make a few, I took over and made the focaccia in the wood oven for the rest of the afternoon.     Rolled the dough.   Dimpled it with my thumbs.   Salt, olive oil, then added it to the piping hot wood oven.   Obviously, the wood flavor made this a focaccia experience that I could never forget.    At the same time, there wasn't that soft, spongy interior that I was used to tasting.   Not bad, just different.

Fried Focaccia

The next day in his restaurant kitchen, Chef Claudio made the same focaccia dough, but this time fried it in olive oil in free form pieces.   He served them warm with salt and sometimes rosemary as bread to start the meal.   Fried Focaccia.    Brilliant.

Three Toppings

Around the holidays last year, Uncle Beef made focaccia for us at home, but somehow I was able to weasel my way into making the toppings.   After laying out the focaccia dough onto a sheet pan and dimpling with thumbs, I then applied three different toppings.    The first was a truffle salt (which you may recall I broke up with a few months ago) and rosemary, but my favorite was whole red grapes gently cooked in balsamic.   A bit sweet, a bit tart and a sprinkle of pine nuts for texture.  The third topping was a mojo - a few varieties of herbs ground with olive oil and garlic in a mortar and pestle.

Crispy, Chewy Pizza

My local pizza place, Muzzarella, has a very crispy, thin focaccia crust that is my go to late night neighborhood slice these days.      The copious amounts of olive oil and the super hot oven make the focaccia pizza crust crunchy and chewy at the same time.  Right on.   

Light and Airy

And finally, on the airy section of the focaccia spectrum, I recently bought a slice of Whole Foods focaccia I saw in their bakery.    No joke, the airy interior was something like two inches thick.    Sliced down the middle and layered with salami, goat cheese and truffle oil, it was an airy, soft sandwich that once again made me rethink the focaccia I had in Italy.   

I'm sure someone will write me a passionate email telling me that there's one right way to make focaccia.  But somehow, I'm concluding the best way is every way.

The base recipe for focaccia is below.

Roughly adapted from Emeril Lagasse.

(I think the stages of proofing for the dough.  It's annoying but do it. )

1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons dry yeast
4 cups flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt

In a large bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon yeast into 1/2 cup water.   Add 3/4 cup flour. Cover with plastic and let stand until the mixture is bubbly, about 45 minutes.

In a small bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon yeast into 1 cup water. Again let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, stir dissolved yeast mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil into sponge mixture. Stir in 1-cup flour and salt. Add the remaining flour in 2 batches, mixing the flour into the mixture thoroughly. Form the dough into a ball.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto the prepared pan. Press the dough out to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover the dough with plastic and let the dough stand for about 10 minutes. Press the dough out again and let the dough rise until double in size, about 1 hour.   Bake the focaccia in a 425 oven until the bread is golden and crisp, about 20 minutes.