AMAZING FOCACCIA BREAD _ How to Make it in 6 Easy Steps

Is great .

If you're wandering into the world of bread making .

This video breaks down my recipe step by step .

So it's easy to understand and it produces a great loaf of bread .

I seriously think FAA is the gateway to the world of bread baking for a few reasons .

One because traditional FAA does not use a pre or a starter .

It's just a straight dough .

You add your flour , your yeast , water salt and olive oil .

You mix it all together .

Boom , you're done two because FAA is baked in a pan .

So you don't need any extensive knowledge of dough shaping .

None of that's required three .

It's a wetter dough .

So it doesn't require as much needing .

In fact , I barely need my dough at all .

Rather I use a series of folds which I will discuss later in the video .

Four .

Faca is the type of bread where it's perfectly acceptable to top it with whatever you want in this recipe .

I'm gonna use fresh rosemary , some garlic con and some coarse sea salt .

But when you make this just top it with whatever you want .

OK ?

To kick things off , grab a large bowl into it add 600 g or 4.5 cups of all purpose flour and a quarter teaspoon of dry active yeast .

Give everything a quick stir to distribute the yeast evenly and make sure to leave a well in the center of the flour that'll be for the liquids .

Now , go ahead and set those ingredients aside and grab another bowl .

Add 450 g of warm water and by warm , I mean , shoot for a target temp around 100 to 100 and five F too hot and you'll kill the yeast .

But if the water's too cold , then the yeast won't really activate .

Finish this step by adding the sea salt and then give the bowl a quick stir to help it dissolve .

Now , pour the warm salted water into the bowl with your flour mixture , then drizzle in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil , use your hands to stir the mixture together .

If you happen to have a stand mixer , that'll work too .

Just strap on that dough hook and off you go .

But sometimes it's good to get your hands dirty .

So that's the approach today .

OK .

At first , the dough is gonna feel and look kind of shaggy .

But after a minute or so of mixing , it'll come together to form what will seem like a pretty wet dough .

See how I'm kind of pinching the dough with my index finger and thumb .

This is a great technique .

To incorporate ingredients without actually needing or handling the dough too much .

OK .

Now that we have everything evenly mixed together , it's time to transfer the dough to a lightly greased large mixing bowl , a plastic bench scraper with rounded corners on one side is the perfect tool for this step .

So go pick one up .

They only cost a couple bucks .

The hydration percentage for this dough is about 75% that's considered fairly wet .

So it can be tough to handle if you try to need it .

So in lieu of needing , I use a series of folds which introduce air into the dough .

It also helps to create gluten which will give the dough great structure .

Grab a quarter to a third of the dough from underneath , lift up and stretch it until the dough resists fold it over onto itself and press down a bit to secure the dough in place .

Do this three or four times until you've completed a full turn .

Now cover the bowl with a wet towel and let the dough rest for about 20 minutes .

Then repeat the entire folding process three or four more times .

The dough is ready when it's smooth and silky and has some resistance when you poke it .

Now cover the bowl tightly with some plastic film because we need to let the FAA dough rest and ferment as a single mass .

This will be our first rise and it's easily one of the most important steps in bread making .

Once you have the bowl sealed , put it aside until the dough has doubled in size .

I'm doing an overnight bulk fermentation in my refrigerator .

Now , remember we're not using a starter or a pre ferment here .

So that additional fermentation time is gonna help develop more flavor in the dough gluten will continue to form overnight as well .

So that combined with the folding technique that should give us enough structure in the dough to support it for the second rise .

I usually make dough at night right after dinner .

Then I pull it from the fridge the following morning .

This is what the dough should look like .

It should have risen overnight , but the dough is still strong enough that it'll resist .

If you give it a few pokes , prepare a baking pan by greasing it with a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil .

A nine by 13 inch pan is the perfect size for this recipe .

It's actually the same exact pan that I use for my Detroit style pan pizza .

So if you're curious about that recipe , I'll leave a link in the upper right hand side of this video .

OK .

If you have a dough scraper , grab it because you got to transfer that faca dough from the bowl to the pan .

You just lathered in olive oil , gently press the dough and stretch it into each corner of the rectangular pan .

If the dough's too tacky and it's sticking into your hands , just wet your fingers a bit .

That should solve the problem .

And occasionally I find that the dough can be stubborn and it just doesn't want to make it to each corner .

So don't force it .

Spread the dough out as much as you can without fighting it .

Then cover the pan and try again in 10 minutes or so .

Next cover the pan with a damp towel or some plastic film , whatever you prefer and leave it to rise a second time .

Ideally , the ambient temp should be somewhere between 80 and 90 F .

And it turns out that an oven with a light left on is the perfect environment for proofing bread dough .

This second proof is important for a few reasons .

One because it gives the yeast a second chance to produce more gas which will improve the crumb in the and two .

It allows the gluten to stretch out a little bit more which will trap those gasses and keep the dough from collapsing as it rises .

Pull the dough after it's been proofing for about an hour .

It should have risen but not quite doubled in height .

Then fill a bowl with some water and have it at the ready .

Then dip your fingers and begin dimpling the FAA dough .

Press straight down to the bottom of the pan .

Don't be shy with this and work from one end of the pan to the other .

You can actually deflate the FAA dough if you're not careful here .

So keep dipping your fingers back into the water so that the dough doesn't stick to them .

Take that damn towel and cover the dough again , then stick the pan back into the oven and continue proofing the dough for another 45 minutes to an hour .

Check it again .

And at this point , the dough should have risen enough so that it fills about half to two thirds of the pan .

There should also be bubbles that are visible on the surface of the dough .

And if you shake the pan , it should jiggle a bit .

We're almost ready to bake .

But first , let's top the FAA with a few delicious things .

I've picked some fresh rosemary leaves from their stems and I'm just gonna Sprinkle them all around the surface of the dough from edge to edge .

I'm also gonna add some garlic con .

Now this sounds fancy , but it's really not .

All I did was submerge garlic cloves and olive oil .

And I cooked them over very , very low heat for about 30 minutes until they're tender .

And that is it .

I added about 20 or so cloves here and I gently press them into the surface of the dough .

Don't forget to add a hefty drizzle of that garlic infused oil as well .

Oh , and I almost forgot I always finish off each faca with a few fat pinches of coarse sea salt .

Now , bake your , on the middle rack of a preheated 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 15 to 20 minutes .

And when the internal temp hits 100 and 90 degrees , you should have a bread that looks something like this .

Carefully .

Pop the bread out of the pan and onto a wire rack .

It'll be hard to resist .

But you're gonna want to let it cool off for just a few minutes while it's still warm though .

I like to drizzle some good extra virgin olive oil all over the top of the .

I mean , the bread's gonna soak it up but it just makes it taste that much better .

All right , I'm gonna cut the bread in half and take a look at the interior .

Now should have a moist and airy crumb to it and the inside should be kind of springy .

There should be plenty of air holes throughout the bread and mine are typically smallish to medium in size and that's fine .

I mean , no one's ever filed a complaint with me .

The bottom top inside should be golden brown and a little crispy straight out of the oven .

Now , I've been staring at this for about an hour .

So it's time for a slice .

Another splash of olive oil and a final pinch of salt and I am ready to dig in .

I hope I did a good job of explaining the FAA making process to you .

If so hit me with a like and consider subscribing to my channel .

If you haven't already , if you have any questions , feel free to hit me in the comments below .

I will get back to you ASAP .

Thanks so much guys .

Have a good one .