Animate

Posted on June 22, 2013

September 21, 2019 7:21 pm

Last step for today: Spoon herb oil over the focaccia dough and then spread the dough in the pan by “dimpling” it with your fingertips (to preserve the gas and bubbles). Now for an overnight nap in the fridge. Tomorrow, we bake!

September 21, 2019 6:59 pm

Prepping the pan for focaccia.

September 21, 2019 6:00 pm

Folded, rested, now folded again. Next a 1 hour rest before panning.

September 21, 2019 5:02 pm

When using folds to develop gluten, the dough is stretched from both ends to about twice its original length, then the dough is folded like a letter. (It’s easier when you’re not holding a camera with one hand!) After folding, the dough rests 30 minutes to let the gluten relax.

September 21, 2019 4:58 pm

Most doughs at this point would be ready for some good old fashioned kneading. But focaccia dough is so wet and sticky that I’d just end up with dough up to my elbows if I tried. So instead of kneading, this dough is stretched and folded to develop gluten.

September 21, 2019 4:53 pm

Now a 5 minute rest in a bed of flour to allow the gluten in the dough to relax. The flour just keeps the focaccia dough from sticking to everything.

September 21, 2019 4:50 pm

Next into the mixer for kneading.

Focaccia uses a really wet dough. It’s 7 parts water to 10 parts flour, by weight (or “70% hydration” using bread lingo). The result is a loose dough that doesn’t really form into a ball like many other, dryer doughs meant for loaf bread.