Denise's Excellent Pizza & Focaccia Dough Recipe

Denise's Excellent Pizza & Focaccia Dough Recipe

A great all-purpose focaccia dough recipe. Make it in a smaller jelly roll pan if you like it higher and fluffier or in a larger pan stretching the dough thinner to make it more in the style of Focaccia from Genova, which is thinner with a higher oil to bread ratio. I do both depending on the use. It is only truly great eaten the same day.

BUT, it is fantastic the next day or sliced into longer thinner cuts and reheated in a frying pan, turning it over to brown on all sides. Use a little extra virgin olive oil in the pan to fry the focaccia. It makes great sandwich bread this way or serves as a perfect accompaniment to soup.

It is important to respect the salt measurements. They are perfect just as they are, so resist tinkering with that! Makes 1 medium size pan, enough for 8 to 10 people and you will have leftovers (hopefully!) if the focaccia is part of a breadbasket.

Be sure to put your leftover focaccia in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

Author: Denise Pardini, Hotel Castello di Sinio

Ingredients

Focaccia Ingredients:

2 cups lukewarm water (between 85° - 95°F / 30° - 35°C)
2 TBS granulated sugar
2 TBS active dry yeast (1⅓ pkg) or 15 grams fresh active yeast
6 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp salt
4¾-5 cups all-purpose flour

For Pizza Dough

5½ cup flour; knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

Instructions

Put 2 cups of lukewarm water in a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Sprinkle yeast over top of the water and allow to soften for a minute. Then stir to combine.
Mix in the 6 TBS olive oil.
Add 1 cup flour, stirring in using a large whisk until all lumps disappear.
Add the 2 tsp salt and mix well.
Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time until all flour is used, stirring vigorously after each addition, leaving perhaps the last ½ cup if the dough does not seem to want to take it. The dough should be soft, sticky, and not completely smooth looking.
Oil a large bowl and scrape the dough into it. Drizzle a little more oil on top and rub the surface of the dough so it does not form a crust. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about two hours in a warm draft-free area until it has doubled in volume. There will be no need to punch down and do a second rise.
(If you are making the dough ahead for next day baking, place in refrigerator at this point, covered, in a container big enough to allow it to rise.)
For same day focaccia, when the dough has doubled in volume. Oil a 15x10x1 inch baking sheet. Slide dough out onto the prepared pan. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky.
Gently pull, stretch, and push dough so that it covers the sheet and fills corners. Press your fingertips all the way into the dough all over to make indentations.
Drizzle all over with another 1 TBS olive oil, then sprinkle with herbs and the 1 tsp flaked salt.
Let rise in a warm draft-free area until puffed about 15 minutes.
Put in a preheated oven (392° F / 200° C) and place rack in center of oven. Bake focaccia until golden brown, about 20 to 22 min. Allow it to cool a couple of minutes then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.
Cut with a serrated knife and serve while still warm.

Pizza Reheating Instructions

Heat up in your skillet. Put a little olive oil in the pan over low heat. Cut the pizza into the size you want. I usually cut squares. Toast slowly on all sides, especially the bottom, but be careful because it can burn easily.
Depending on your toppings, you could turn it over just at the last moment for a few seconds. But it will heat through and make sure you get a nice crunchy bottom. Don’t be afraid to add enough oil to make it crisp up good!