I've been working on Focaccia here because our excellent bakers don't sell it by the slab, only as finished sandwiches and such. My latest attempt gave me a lofty rise and good texture with minimal work. A Silpat prevents sticking, but parchment or foil should make a better bottom crust.
This recipe won The Kitchn's bake-off and they gush about it in another post. In the recipe, one commenter transcribed the amounts by weight from the video, which is where I'm starting from. If you combine the water from the dough and brine, you get an 85% hydration, about as high as I've seen. A follow-up suggested adding Barley Malt, which I might try after mastering it the honey.
I can't get Diamond Kosher Salt here, so am using basic cooking salt, but measuring by weight so the density shouldn't be a factor. I'm baking in my small oven's baking tray, which is 38x30 cm (15x12 inch), which is a 77% the area of her 18x13 inch pan. In practice I've been using a 93% scale which fits comfortably enough, and that's what the SCALED amounts below are based on.
My first attempt at this used the food processor and more yeast because I didn't plan ahead for the overnight rise: it was promising but both rises took 5 hours, and the bottom burned a bit because I put the tray directly on the oven floor. The second attempt with her long rise took more than 14 hours for the first rise and 2 hours for the second, didn't come out lofty as I'd hoped, and it stuck to the tray. For the third try, I increased the scaled Yeast to 3 grams and got a good bubbly first rise overnight (12 hours) and a one-hour second rise; I baked on a Silpat which made removal easy but the bottom was a bit soggy so try parchment next time, but the rise and texture of the bread was rather good.
ORIGINAL METRIC SCALED BAKER%
Dough:
2 1/2 C 600 g 560 g ( 75%) Water, lukewarm
1/2 tsp 1.7 g 3.0 g (0.4%) Yeast (increase from original)
2 1/2 tsp 15 g 14 g (1.8%) Honey (or Barley Malt)
5 1/3 C 800 g 750 g (100%) All Purpose Flour
2 Tbs 18 g 17 g (2.2%) Salt
1/4 C 50 g 47 g (6.2%) Olive Oil, Extra Virgin (plus extra)
Rosemary, chopped (optional)
5
Brine:
1 1/2 tsp 5 g 4.7 g (0.6%) Salt
1/3 C 80 g 75 g ( 10%) Water, lukewarm
In a medium bowl, mix Water, Yeast, and Honey.
In a very large bowl, sift Flour and Salt, then add in Yeast liquid and Oil.
Stir to combine with a spatula and scrape down edges; this is easy since it's so fluid;
cover with film and let rise 12-14 hours, overnight is convenient.
Line the 38x30 cm tray with parchment or foil (the Silpat shown here keeps it too moist).
Spread 2-3 Tbs Olive Oil over the lined tray.
Fold the dough gently onto it self and pour into the tray.
Pour additional 2 Tbs Olive Oil over dough and spread gently.
Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward.
It will pull back but let it relax over 30 minutes, repeating the stretching a couple times to fill the pan.
Add chopped Rosemary if desired.
Dimple the dough with finger pads
Make a brine by dissolving the Salt in the Water, then pour over dough to fill dimples.
Let rise about an hour until the dough is light and bubbly.
About 30 minutes before the rise is due to finish, heat oven to 230C/450F.
Sprinkle dough with Flakey Salt.
Bake 25-30 minutes on a preheated surface; putting the tray directly on the floor the full bake time overcooked the bottom but might be OK for half the baking.
Bake until the bottom crust is crisp and golden; if needed, move the tray to an upper rack for a few minutes to brown it.
Remove and brush with 2-3 Tbs Oil over the whole surface; use a fancy Oil here if you have it.
Let cool 5 minutes then release Focaccia from pan with metal spatula and transfer to a cooling rack.
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