Lotsa Focaccia

It becomes more and more obvious to me every day that my love of food is deep-rooted and stems from the dozens of delicious memories from my childhood. As most yummy memories do, mine revolve around my Italian grandmother. But funny enough, it's not always the things she made that I recall so fondly, but sometimes the treats she picked up at the corner bakery.

There are two things that almost always showed up with my grandmother on her visits to our house: chocolate-frosted prune muffins (trust me, they were amazing) and what we affectionately referred to as "pizza bread." As the name suggests, this bread was delicious ... a fluffy, tender center with a just-a-little-bit-crisp crust, topped with either a very, very thin layer of tomato sauce or with olive oil and herbs.

It wasn't until I was in college that I learned that our "pizza bread" was focaccia ... and that it wasn't the same anywhere as it was at my grandmother's favorite bakery. When I left home and that San Francisco bakery was hundreds of miles away, I tried dozens that didn't even come close to being as good. And after my granmother passed and that bakery was too far out of the way for anyone else to bother stopping by, I figured I'd never have my beloved "pizza bread" again.

My focaccia rising alongside my resting pasta dough for homemade ravioli!

And then I moved to Milwaukee and sat down at an unsuspecting trattoria downtown one evening. As often happens at Italian restaurants, a basket of bread was dropped on our table. I took one look - and one whif - and knew I'd found it. This was the "pizza bread." This was the focaccia I thought I'd never find again. But surely it couldn't be as good. The focaccia my grandmother brought us was chewy and moist. This was probably tough and dry. But there was a tomato paste on top. And another with onions and rosemary. It looked right, so it was worth a taste. And it was perfect. It was just like I remembered it. And it's the sole reason that Louise's is my favorite Italian restaurant in Milwaukee to this day.

Shockingly, I hadn't thought of baking my own focaccia, even when I thought I'd tasted my last slice. So the proverbial lightbulb went off when I saw this recipe on America's Test Kicthen Feed the other day. Beware ... this focaccia will take all day (actually, two days!) to make. And most of your time will be spent waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting. But it's worth it.

While it's not a perfect replication of what Louise's makes or what I remember my grandmother buying, it seems to be a good substitute in a pinch. It bakes up a bit thicker and fluffier, and it's not quite as moist as I'd like, but it's delicious nonetheless. Just look at those air pockets that give away the chewy, airy interior! Irresistable!

I made a few minor tweaks to my focaccia by switching up the seasoning and baking it on a sheet pan instead of using round cake pans. You can read the Test Kitchen's original recipe here. Oh, and watch the salt. I had a heavy hand in the step just before baking and added a pinch (or palmful) too much. Oops!

Focaccia Bread
Ingredients:
For the Biga
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast

For the Dough
2 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for shaping
1 1/4 cups warm water (100-110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Italian or garlic bread seasoning

Directions:
To make the biga, combine flour, water, and yeast in large bowl and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms and no dry flour remains, about 1 minute. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (about 70 degrees) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours).

To make the dough, stir flour, water, and yeast into biga with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms and no dry flour remains, about 1 minute. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt over dough; stir into dough until thoroughly incorporated, about 1 minute. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 30 minutes. Spray rubber spatula or bowl scraper with nonstick cooking spray. Use spatula to fold partially risen dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees and fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 6 more times (for a total of 8 turns). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat folding, turning, and rising 2 more times, for total of three 30-minute rises. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees at least 30 minutes before baking.

Transfer dough to lightly floured counter. Lightly dust top of dough with flour. Coat a baking sheet with 4 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle sheet with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place dough on sheet, slide dough around pan to coat bottom and sides, then flip over. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes.

Using fingertips, press dough out toward edges of pan. (If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.) Using dinner fork, poke surface of dough 25 to 30 times, popping any large bubbles. Sprinkle seasoning evenly over top of dough. Let dough rest until slightly bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes.

Place pan in oven abd reduce temperature to 450 degrees. Bake until top is golden brown, 25 to 28 minutes (in my oven, that was just 15 minutes - so keep an eye out!), rotating pan halfway through baking. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and return to wire rack. Brush top with any oil remaining in pan (I had none, sadly enough). Let cool 30 minutes before serving (good luck - Bill was slicing into ours shortly after baking!).

Say Yes to Yeast!

Growing up in an Italian family, there was one thing I could always count on: bread would be present at every meal. And because of that, I love it. Which is why I've always been so frustrated by how hard it is to make.

It's not that my family put homemade bread on the table, it's just that I've had some of the best (read: Boudin) and I want to be able to recreate it! So I set out this weekend to conquer my fear of yeast. I've attempted bread-making many times before, but never with the vigor I exhibited this weekend. I was determined to finally get it right.

In homage to my Italian roots, I took on Sicilian pizza crust yesterday and Italian loaves today. I learned a few lessons that are probably worth sharing before I get to the recipes:

1. Read the directions. Very carefully.
2. Have patience. And a lot of it.

As far as I can tell, my biggest obstacle to bread success in the past has been that I rushed through the recipes, anxious to get to the end result. But now I know that taking your time is so worth it.

Working with yeast is tricky, mostly because it's super temperature-sensitive. But recipes don't lie (usually), so following them very closely should yield good results.

In both recipes, I was careful to dissolve my yeast in water between 110 and 115 degrees for at least 5 minutes. I was also careful about my kneading. This seems to be important to creating the right texture or elasticity, so I actually set a timer while I was kneading. No doubt without the timer I would have given up way too soon - kneading bread dough is hard work!

Allowing the bread to rise is also super important, but this is probably where I went wrong most often in the past. Bread dough needs to rise in a warm place, but how do you create an 80-degree environment for your bread to bask in for a few hours? This is especially difficult when it's winter and the thermostat in the house is set at 66. I discovered that heating the oven to a low temperature - about 250 or 300 degrees - will warm the stovetop to just about the perfect temp. I set the bowl on top of the oven and like magic, my dough rose to the occasion! (Just make sure someone doesn't come along and turn the oven off when they discover nothing's inside. Bill almost did that and I almost throttled him.)

Sicilian Pizza Crust

Ingredients:
1 packet (1/4 oz.) Active Dry Yeast
1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 3/4 cups flour, divided
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Stir yeast and water together in a small bowl. Let stands 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together 2.5 cups flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center and add yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir until dough comes together and forms a ball. Turn out onto a well-floured surface (that's where the extra 1/4 cup flour comes in) and knead for 5 minutes (that's where the kitchen timer comes in). Shape into a disk and place in a large bowl coated lightly with oil (I used cooking spray). Turn disk once and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Remove dough from bowl and punch down. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 15x10-inch baking pan (a standard cookie sheet works) with cooking spray. Roll dough into a rectabgle, transfer to pan and press into corners.

Top with desired toppings. (I used homemade marinara, very thinly sliced onions and bell peppers, mushrooms and cheddar and mozzarella.) Bake on the center rack for 18 to 20 minutes. Or, if you have a tempermental oven like mine, check on it after about 12 or 13 minutes. I had at least 5 minutes left on the timer when I pulled my pizza out, and I probably left it in a minute or so too long. The crust should be just golden.

Italian Loaves

Ingredients:
2 packages (1/2 oz.) Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons shortening
1 egg
8 or 9 cups flour, plus extra for kneading

Directions:
Stir yeast and water together in a small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

Combine sugar, salt, shortening, egg and 4 cups flour in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture and beat until smooth. Add remaining 4 or 5 cups flour, one cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. The dough should begin to form a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 6 to 8 minutes (again, set the kitchen timer).

Place dough in a large oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover (this time I used a towel instead of plastic wrap because the dough was much bigger and I knew it would be rising over the top of the bowl) and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Punch dough down, remove from bowl and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place each loaf on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Allow loaves to rise for another hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake loaves for 37 to 42 minutes (or 35 minutes in my oven), or until crust is golden. Remove from oven and place on wire racks. Brush tops of loaves with melted butter.


You'll notice that the directions in both of these recipes are essentially the same. They both allow the yeast to activate before it's added to any other ingredients, they both require a good amount of kneading, they both need ample time to rise. It seems to me that yeast is pretty predictable, so the more you work with it, the easier it probably gets.

One last quick note ... I mixed the pizza crust by hand and I used my KitchenAid stand mixer for the Italian loaves. As much as I love my mixer, I think I'll stick to mixing by hand. It's easier to tell when the dough has reached the right consistency.

I was super impressed with the results of both of my recipes, as was my live-in taste-tester, Bill. In fact, after 3 slices of the pizza, he declared we could "sell it out of a truck." And my Italian loaves earned a "beautiful," which is the first time I've ever heard Bill describe food like that.

This is just the beginning of my bread-making. Wait until I try sourdough :) Enjoy!