Things are sprouting and shooting up in the garden and
around the property. Flowers are blooming and birds are singing. Spring. It's
one of my favorite times of year. Our Kitchen of the Month, Cathy of Bread
Experience has asked the Bread Baking Babes to make a spring flatbread/focaccia
topped with thin lemon slices and our choice of herbs and spring greens. As you
can see from the photo, it makes a very visually appealing dish.
The bread itself is fairly easy. I saved half the dough, in
two pieces, in oiled ziploc bags in the fridge and baked them almost a week
later. The flavor was even deeper than the original bread, so consider
retarding your dough longer than the recipe indicates if you like a full
flavored bread.
I made this lovely recipe over a week ago and the bread was
just devoured when served! I picked some miner's lettuce, tiny dandelion greens
and fresh herbs from my garden, then added super thin bits of asparagus, too.
With the thin slices of Meyer lemon, it just sang Spring! A wonderful May
recipe!
For the refrigerated dough I made half with fresh rosemary, sea salt
and olive oil on top and the other with those and a sprinkle of mixed seeds. I
think I liked the simplest one the best, although the lemon slices really added
to the bread, so it would be hard to choose. I'll be making this again!
Choose to make this bread and become a Buddy. Let us know
how you topped yours and how it was making the bread, then send that along with
a photo to Cathy. Check her blog, Bread Experience for more details. Get it to her by May 29th to
be included in the roundup. If you do not have a blog, no problem; you
can also post your picture(s) to Flickr (or any other photo sharing site) and
record your thoughts about the bread there. Please remember to email Cathy at
Bread Experience to say that your post is up.
Be sure to check out what the other Babes have done this
month, too.
The active Bread Baking Babes are:
Thin Crispy Spring Focaccia
Adapted from: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking by The French Culinary Institute
Makes: Four ~400-gram
Focaccias
Poolish:
40 grams (100 %) Bread
Flour
44 grams (125%) water, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon/ 4 grams
(10%) instant yeast
Final Dough
668 grams (80%) Bread
Flour
167 grams (20%) whole
wheat, or bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
625 grams (75%) - 725
grams (87%) water *
84 grams (All) Poolish
17 grams Olive Oil
25 grams water (3%), to
mix with the salt
17 grams Coarse Sea Salt
Topping Suggestions:
Olive Oil
Coarse Sea Salt, for
sprinkling if desired
Fennel Seeds, to taste
Dried Thyme, to taste
Lemon slices, thinly
sliced
Spring Mix Greens, or
other greens as desired
Alfalfa Sprouts
Tiny blanched asparagus
Fresh rosemary
Poolish:
In a medium bowl, whisk
together the bread flour and yeast. Pour in the room temperature water and
combine using a wooden spoon. Scrape down the sides of the bowl using a spatula
or dough scraper. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest on the
counter at room temperature (75 degrees F. /25 degrees C.) for 12 to 14 hours.
Final Dough:
The next day, or when
ready to mix the final dough, whisk together the flours and yeast in a large
bowl. Pour the water and oil over the poolish and mix thoroughly with a
wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk to break up the poolish. Add the water
gradually, reserving the 25 grams to mix with the salt. I started with about 650 grams (78%), then gradually
added more water until the dough reached the consistency I was looking for 725
grams (87%). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a dough
scraper, cover and let it rest (autolyze) for 20 minutes.
Uncover and sprinkle the
salt over the top of the dough. Pour the remaining 25 grams of water over the
salt to dissolve it. Using wet hands, thoroughly
incorporate the salt into the dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover
with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle water on a work
surface. Uncover the dough and transfer it to the wet surface. Using wet hands,
fold the dough from all sides. Then
gently tuck the seams under and place the dough back in the bowl. Using water on the counter and your hands, alleviates
the need to oil the bowl or the work surface. Cover
the bowl again with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set the dough aside for
the third time to ferment for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle water on the work
surface again and fold the dough one last time. Tuck the seams under and place
it back in the bowl. Cover and set it aside to ferment for 2 hours. (I let mine ferment overnight in the fridge.)
An hour before you plan to
bake the focaccia, place a baking stone or tiles in the oven and preheat it to
500 degrees F. (260 degrees C.) If you plan to use a pan for steam, place it in
the oven at this time.
Sprinkle your work surface
with water. Transfer the dough to the work surface and divide it into four
equal pieces. Depending on the type of flour you use and the hydration, each
piece will be approximately 400 grams. Mine
were about 410 grams each. Shape each piece into a round and cover with
plastic. Let them bench rest for 15 minutes.
At this point, I
wrapped two of the dough balls in oiled plastic, placed them in a plastic bag
and put them in the refrigerator to use another day. Feel free to make them all
at once if you prefer.
Lightly oil two half
sheets of parchment paper. Place one dough ball on each sheet. Gently press on
the dough to degas it and then shape each piece into a flattish round. Cover the rounds with plastic wrap and let them
proof for 45 minutes.
Uncover the dough, drizzle
olive oil over the top and gently stretch each piece into an oval disk the
length of the parchment paper, or to the desired size. Sprinkle the top with fennel seeds, thyme and
sea salt (optional) and place thinly sliced lemons, as desired.
Using a baker’s peel or
unrimmed baking sheet, transfer the focaccia (on the parchment) to the
preheated baking stone. If using steam, add ice
cubes to the steam pan. I used my new baking steel
with no added steam.
Bake the focaccia for 10
minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and crisp around the
edges. Remove the parchment paper partway through baking to allow the
bottom to firm up.
Remove from the oven and
transfer to a wire rack to cool. Add
a handful of the spring mix greens and sprouted alfalfa and tear apart pieces
or slice it if you prefer.
Repeat with the remaining
focaccias.
I recommend using lots of lemon slices, sliced very thin...it makes the bread special! Use the toppings of your choice.