If you have proudly defined yourself as a home cook who sucks at all things Baking & Bread ( The two B's) than Focaccia is for you . Not because its beautifully crispy , salty , buttery , and flaky , but because its shockingly easy ..Like shockingly easy . So...if you never accomplished or succeeded at the whole " Pandemic Bread Making" movement , which most of us admittedly failed at ( Me ) than, andiamo!
p.s
You can also be as fancy or as minimalistic as you would like with this. Sometimes I like to add anchovies or olives, crushed garlic , or herbs on top of the dough before baking or whatever . Whatever !
Ingredients
* 5 Cups AP Flour or Bread Flour works fine too ( One thing you will notice about me is that I am flimsy with most recipes ( ADD) , which is why I also ( most of the time ) hate the " Two B's)).
* 1 pack Fleischmann's instant yeast ( any instant yeast will work , but I have always been through and true to Fleischmanns)
*2 1/4 Cups Warm water
* a few squirts of honey ( 1 Tablespoon)
* Pinch of Salt
* copious amounts of Olive Oil ( Whatever you got - I like Boticelli )
1. Add your warm- ish water , yeast and honey into a Large bowl. Whisk until yeast is dissolved in the liquid. Let sit for 5 ish minutes or until you see a layer of small bubbles on top of your water ( Thats your yeast activating) .
2. Place all your Bread flour , or AP Flour into the large bowl with your yeast mixture and mix until a shaggy dough forms and there are no dry spots of flour , It will be wet and it will NOT look smooth - DO not Panic , It will smooth out in steps ahead.
3. Cover , and Let shaggy dough sit and proof for an hour or so in a warm spot .
After sitting for an hour, the dough should have doubled in size ... ( if it didn't you might have some dead yeast on your hands , so check the expiration date beforehand. )
4. Lightly flour a surface and take your dough out of its proofing bowl and knead it a couple times, back and forth , side to side, for about 2 minutes- ish ( I am an ~Ish girl) or until smooth - adding flour as you go ( but not too much ) to combat with stickiness .
5. Place kneaded dough back in olive oil greased bowl, cover, and let sit for another hour
6. Preheat oven to 425
7. After second proofing , Take a sheet pan and grease the pan with olive oil , now this depends on preference .. If you want a thicker bread , use a smaller sheet pan , If you want a traditional thinner Focaccia use an 18 x 13" sheet. If you want a circular one , you can do that too ! Spread the dough in your greased pan of choosing :)
8. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil, using any thats leftover in the bowl too , cover and let proof AGAIN ( this is the 3rd and final proof) for another 20-30 mins .This allows the dough to absorb as much flavor from the oil as possible . If you're in a hurry ...which I usually am, you can skip this step and just go to bake.
9. This is the fun part - (Your dough should look glossy and bouncy .. Its just like skin care . If you poke your finger in it , it should deflate a bounce back slowly. ) Take your fingers and in any order you want, begin to dimple your glossy and bouncy dough with the tips of your fingers ...It just like playing the Piano . Do this from top to bottom until the entirety is dimpled. Drizzle with a little more olive oil so the oil falls into the dimples .
10. Generously pinch with salt or other toppings you wish to add and bake for 20-30 minutes , or until perfectly golden and puffed .
Serve alone , or with eggs or with a cocktail , on a cheese board , use as sandwich bread, dip in a nice sauce... whatever !
Buon Apetito!
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