Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - 26th Installment. The recipe is Foccacia.
 |
| Second attempt - looks good, but is it really foccacia? |
This was very tasty, and a multi-day odyssey - but seemed to turn out much flatter than I expected! I tried the recipe twice, and still didn't get what I expected, based on the photo in the cookbook.
On the positive side: bread that is full of (and covered in) flavored olive oil is delicious! :-) The dough was also very easy to mix and shape.
The details on my odyssey: the first batch was made in too much of a hurry, and did not get enough time to rise before its long (36 hour) stay in the fridge. It tasted good, but was a lot flatter than I thought this bread should be:
 | |||
| Batch 1 - not enough rising before going in the fridge |
I would love to have a reliable recipe for Foccacia, so I decided to try again,. I followed the recipe and recommended rising times to the letter. The result was somewhat similar - a bit puffier, but not bubbly and puffy and soft on the inside. It was more similar to a thick flavorful pizza crust. My yeast is fairly new, so I'm pretty sure it's not that. I left it out of the fridge for quite a while before baking, and it really puffed back up:
 |
| Batch 2 - Puffy dough after sitting in the fridge |
I flattened it as described, for baking in a square, with slashes, and it never seemed to recover its loftiness. I will look forward to seeing what my fellow Tuesdays with Dorie bakers did with this - maybe someone's got some good advice on how to get a puffier loaf.
Hi Kathleen. Check out Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice or Artisan Breads Every Day for a reliable and super airy focaccia recipe. They are really good. I skipped the slashing and I'm not sure why the recipe called for it. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHomemade Focaccia brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs is always delicious and yours looks wonderful - but there are so many other wonderful recipes for Focaccia out there - no reason not to try some of them as well.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Wednesday!
I was also a little disappointed by how flat this focaccia turned out. Fortunately, there are plenty of other recipes out there to try! And at least it tasted good!
ReplyDeleteYour focaccia did turn out good. And it is always good to shop around for a better recipe. I am thinking of giving Peter Reinhart's recipe a go.
ReplyDeleteThanks for baking along this week!
I really think it is the pulling the dough and then slashing it that keeps it from rising up again. I think if I made it again, I would dimple the dough, rather than slashing it.
ReplyDeleteYour focaccia looks really good! The final focaccia was much airier and picture when I only dimpled the dough, and when the dough was given more time to return fully to room temperature.
ReplyDeleteI chose to dimple mine rather than slash the dough. Not sure if that helped with the rising or not. I also did not get the air pockets that are normally seen with focaccia.
ReplyDeleteThe second attempt definitely looks great. But the first one doesn't look bad at all. And as long as it tasted good, that's all that matters!
ReplyDeleteOdyssey :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat word for an epic bread journey.