Written by Shawn Krajewski
If there is one thing we all don't have enough of, it is attention and time. That is why I am going to skip over the chit-chat and go right into the recipe, and then the story behind it. Continue reading below for a 3-4 hour recipe for the best quick and easy focaccia dough.
Equipment:
Oven
Large mixing bowl ----12 quarts or larger
Spatula
Measuring Cup That Can Hold 2 Cups of Liquid
Measuring Scale
Clean surface For Kneading
Large Towel
Sheet pan
Ingredients:
570g Flour (Preferably All Purpose flour)
15g Salt
400g Lukewarm Water
20g Olive Oil + a Little More
8g Yeast
Step 1:
Measure out 512 grams of flour and place it into the mixing bowl. You can do this by placing the bowl on the scale, and then hitting the tear button to zero it. You would then measure out enough flour until you reach 512g. After that, repeat the same steps but with 10 grams of salt. Next, mix the salt and flour together using your hands.
Step 2:
Measure out 400g of lukewarm water in the measuring cup; after, dissolve 8g of yeast in the liquid and wait for it to fully dissolve. This should take around 5 minutes. Secondly, add 40g of olive oil to the concoction. It is important to remember that you don't need to mix the mixture now, in fact, that is what the next step is for.
Step 3:
Add the liquids you just prepared to the flour and salt, then start mixing it with your hand or hands until it's fully mixed. By the end of it, you should have a sticky glue/gum-like substance. Also, you should note that it is critical that you only mix the substance with one hand. This way you can have one hand free to scoop the dough with a spatula and get it off of the hand you mixed with.
Step 4:
After mixing, go to your clean surface and cover it with the final 58g worth of flour (or more, if needed). Spread the flour and place the dough on top of the surface. Now it's time for you to knead the dough into its (mostly) final form. To do so, transform the mixture into one big ball. Next, press and push your palm into the center of the dough, and open it out. Then, grab the newly formed glob, and bring it back to the center while also pushing it down into the original mass. Finally, repeat the prior steps until the dough becomes even more smooth. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.
Step 5:
After you are done fully kneading the dough, bring over the bowl that you mixed it in and drop in a dab of olive oil. It should be just enough oil to fully coat the dough. Next, form the dough into a ball-like shape and place it in the bowl. You should get the olive oil to fully cover it but do not mix it in. Place a towel over the bowl and let it rest for 1.5 hours.
Step 6:
Come back to the dough after the time is up and place it in the sheet pan. Spread the dough throughout the entirety of the pan evenly. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to fill the entire half-sheet pan, make sure there are little divots in the dough made from your hands pressing it. Place the towel back over it and wait another 1.5 hours. Finally, set the oven to 425 degrees.
Step 7:
When the timer is up, come back to the dough, remove the towel, and place a little bit more olive oil onto the dough. To do this, create a few more divots with your fingers in the dough. This should cause the olive oil to cultivate in the tiny pockets. After that is complete, place the dough and pan into the oven and set a timer for 25 minutes. Once the dough is baked and the time has gone off, remove the dough, and you will have a delicious piece of focaccia!
After reading the recipe you probably noticed that I refer to each of the ingredients in grams, rather than of cups or ounces. This is a deliberate choice as this recipe happens to be my Advanced Placement Chemistry final. Every year after the AP test, all the students in AP chemistry have to complete a final project that involves teaching younger students in the lower school (6-8th grade) how to make a basic bread dough. So, this is the very recipe you just read.
Overall, cooking is chemistry; you combine specific amounts of different materials to get something new. Therefore, teaching a class on cooking not only helps younger kids learn how to do the basics of chemistry, but it also gives me an excuse to bake for school credit.
But other than the fact that I like to bake, I also choose to do a project like this because it is something very close to my family as a whole. Both of my parents are chefs, and both are very talented when it comes to cooking, with my dad being exceptionally skilled in such a form of art/science known as bread baking. It is my dad who designed this recipe! He took an old recipe that he made several years ago and edited it to be more beginner-friendly. We spent weeks testing and perfecting it so that it would be suitable for a 30-minute class of young children who don't understand the basics of baking, let alone chemistry.
Image Credit:
コメント