Focaccia

This one is a dandy folks! What a wonderful, luscious and tasty bread.

Let me go back a number of years and tell you about my discovery of Claudia Fleming’s book “The Last Course”, a wonderful and delicious ode to pastry and desserts. Back in 2007 to early 2010 I was the pastry chef at Gracie’s in Providence RI. Being a newbie in the pastry/restaurant world, I was always looking for inspiration for desserts. As it turns out, the Providence Public Library was just a couple of blocks away from Gracie’s, and I would occasionally wander over there after my day’s work to peruse the baking book stacks. Thrilled by the discovery of this particular book, I would often turn to Claudia’s recipes and glean ideas from her creations.

Imagine my delight when learning of Claudia’s second book “Delectable” published in 2022 and dedicated to her late husband Gerry Hayden who, as I understand it, was a very talented chef. For many years the two of them operated the North Fork Table and Inn on Long Island (now under new ownership), and Claudia baked focaccia for the restaurant every day. That kind of experience and expertise is invaluable.

One of the things I love about acquiring new baking books is reading the introduction and gaining an understanding of the author’s philosophy and approach - and, let’s not forget, the recipes aren’t bad either!

I’ve made this recipe a couple of times so far and you can be certain that it will remain a staple in my bread baking repertoire from here on out. I topped mine with a pizza seasoning herb mix we keep on hand along with grated parmesan cheese, but you can create your own version.

I’ve adapted the recipe with some tweaks in ingredient portions based on %hydration (76% here) and the weight of a cup of bread flour that I use. If you’re a recipe reader/comparer as I am, you soon realize the variables that can appear in measures vs. weights, particularly for flour. Some may indicate a cup of flour is 5 oz (140 g), some 4.5 oz (128 g) and some 4.25 oz (121 g). I’ve tested out what a cup of flour weighs for me - typically 127 to 130 g - so that’s my benchmark. I take weights over measures any day.

You need only the very basic ingredients for the dough (bread flour, water, dry yeast and salt), plus olive oil for the pan. Dissolve ~6 g / 2 teaspoons active dry yeast in 483 g / 2 cups room temperature water in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit about 10 minutes until creamy. This step activates the yeast, however you can skip it if using instant yeast which can be mixed directly with the flour, water and salt.

Add 635 g / 5 cups bread flour and 10 g kosher salt to the yeast/water mixture and mix first with the paddle until combined. Rest the dough for 30 minutes to hydrate. Here’s my dough after that rest.

After initial hydration

Now switch to the dough hook and knead on med-high speed for 20 minutes until smooth. My 8 quart Kitchenaid commercial mixer (with which I can also use my 6 qt bowl!) does a great job with it’s workhorse of a dough hook and powerful motor. It’s a beautiful thing.

8 qt mixer with attachments/6 qt bowl

After the 20 minute knead

Place the dough in a lightly olive-oiled bowl and do a folding of the dough to develop the structure by stretching and pulling up one edge of dough into the middle, then the opposite edge, then the other two edges one at a time. This forms a tighter ball of dough. Flip the dough over to coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until doubled. You can also do an overnight fridge rise if it better suits your schedule.

The first time I made this, I did a 4 hour fridge rise (must have had something unexpected come up?) which I followed by an additional hour at room temperature. It worked. For my second batch I followed the room temperature approach, completing the project over the course of several hours.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, pat it into a square of sorts and stretch it out to about 16”x20”(ish).

Now fold it in thirds length wise (à la the letter or 3-fold we use for laminated dough).

Now fold in the short sides in thirds (another letter fold). Press out air pockets.

Dough package before panning

Pour 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil onto a half sheet pan, put the dough on the pan and turn to coat with oil. Let rest 10 minutes.

Stretch the dough to fit the pan as best you can. I did this in two steps, letting the dough rest 10-15 minutes in between. Dimple it all over, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise about 30-40 minutes. It will become more puffy.

Before the rise

Heat the oven to 500F. When ready, top with herbs and grated cheese (or your chosen topping(s).

Bake 8 minutes, rotate the pan and bake an additional 7 minutes until beautifully browned.

Mmmm, mmmm!

I slid the whole thing onto a cooling grid and gave it just a few minutes before Steve’s and my tastebuds just had to be put to work. Oh boy. Just the right chew and lightness of texture.

After our initial pre-dinner taste test, we enjoyed more with our evening pasta dish and then divided the remainder to wrap and freeze. It thaws and warms up beautifully in the oven and is great to split for sandwiches or open-faced baked with grated fontina and tomatoes on top or whatever your little heart may desire.

AbsoLUTEly delightful! Thanks Claudia.