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Like nearly everyone else on the internet, I have been baking much more regularly since the start of the coronavirus lockdown. I already started to take an interest in baking before this, but things have progressed considerably with nowhere to go and not much to do besides eat and think about eating. Bread baking in particular has become the trendy way of showing other people that yes, I can in fact make myself food. I haven’t yet committed to making sourdough like everyone else with a social media account, but I decided to try my hand again at focaccia after seeing a particularly devastating tweet about it.
Ed. note: I am going to try my best not to mention the whole pandemic thing every week. We all hear about it every day, and if you’re anything like me, you’re probably really tired of it being inserted into every last piece of media we consume. So this is me promising to keep the Especially Nows and In These Trying Times to a minimum.
I made focaccia once before maybe a year ago, and it was just okay, so I was eager to give it another crack and really make a good one. Focaccia, for those that don’t know, is a flat Italian bread that’s very similar to pizza dough. There are variations of it across the Mediterranean like fougasse in Provence or pogača in the Balkans, but it almost always has an oily, crunchy exterior, a soft, airy interior, and is usually topped with herbs. It can be baked in a deeper pan to create a taller loaf for sandwiches, or spread thin to make a crisp bread perfect for serving with soup, pasta, or just eating on its own.
I used this no-knead recipe from Bon Appetit, and the title was not misleading: it was shockingly easy. I made the dough the night before and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator, giving it approximately 18 hours before taking it out. I then let it rest and rise again at room temperature inside the pan for about two and a half hours before working the dough and putting it in the oven. The recipe says to bake for 20-30 minutes, but I found that it needed the whole 30 minutes to get a good color and crust, and to bake all the way through.
I didn’t top the bread with any herbs, just sea salt and garlic butter. Normally I’d spring for some rosemary or oregano, but it was delicious as is. The crust was firm and crunchy, and the interior was soft and light. Throughout the entire process, you’re covering the bread with olive oil or butter, and this does give it a bit of a greasy exterior. That’s part of what made it so good, though, as the fat helps give the bread its deep golden brown color and incredible texture. It’s not the lightest bread you can bake, but if you’re looking for low carb and low calorie, homemade bread is the wrong place to look. If you need any more evidence, please note the grease tracks on the cutting board here.
One thing I would change is the pan I used. I opted to use a 10” x 14” Detroit-style pizza pan, as I wasn’t sure the rim on a standard half-sheet would be tall enough to contain the bread. This made a taller loaf that worked wonderfully for an egg and cheese sandwich the following morning, but was thicker than I would have preferred when served along with the soup we had for dinner that night. Next time, I would probably use a bigger pan in order to get a thinner loaf with more surface area for that incredible crust.
I will definitely be making this focaccia again. It’s not a recipe you can decide to make spontaneously due to the prolonged proofing times, but it’s about as simple as baking bread can get and doesn’t require expensive equipment like a stand mixer. Until fairly recently, my baking experience was almost entirely sweet confections, and I found bread baking to be somewhat intimidating. What if I spend all that time working on it and it comes out bad? Well, it would stink, but that’s a risk you take when you cook anything. If you’ve never tried your hand at baking bread before, this is an easy and very tasty place entry point. Just try to keep the snacking under control, as I ate about a quarter of the loaf before dinner and was so full I couldn’t move for the rest of the night. Was it smart? No. Do I regret it? Also no.
Peter, you turned out gorgeous.
That turned out gorgeous.