Ligurian Focaccia
By January 13, 2019
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread product similar in style and texture to pizza doughs. This focaccia is from Samin Nosrat’s Netflix series called Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat: The Four Elements of Good Cooking.
- Prep: 15 mins
- Cook: 25 mins
- Yields: About 24 pieces of focaccia
Directions
1In a medium bowl, stir together water, yeast, and honey to dissolve. In a very large bowl, whisk flour and salt together to combine and then add yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir with a rubber spatula until just incorporated, then scrape the sides of the bowl clean and cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature to ferment for 12 to 14 hours until at least doubled in volume.
2Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons oil evenly onto a 18-by-13 inch rimmed baking sheet. When the dough is ready, use a spatula or your hand to release it from the sides of the bowl and fold it onto itself gently, then pour out onto the pan. Pour an additional 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough and gently spread across. Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward. The dough will shrink a bit, so repeat stretching once or twice over the course of 30 minutes to ensure dough remains stretched.
3Dimple the dough by pressing the pads of your first three fingers in at an angle. Make the brine by stirring together salt and water until salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the dough to fill dimples. Proof focaccia for 45 minutes until the dough is light and bubbly.
4Thirty minutes into this final proof, adjust rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F. If you have a baking stone, place it on rack. Otherwise, invert another sturdy baking sheet and place on rack. Allow to preheat with the oven until very hot, before proceeding with baking.
5Sprinkle focaccia with flaky salt. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes directly on top of the stone or inverted pan until bottom crust is crisp and golden brown when checked with a metal spatula. To finish browning top crust, place focaccia on the upper rack and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more.
6Remove from oven and brush or douse with 2 to 3 tablespoons oil over the whole surface (don’t worry if the olive pools in pockets, it will absorb as it sits). Let cool for 5 minutes, then release focaccia from pan with a metal spatula and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
7Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe by Samin Nosrat who wrote Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. Please note that the recipe is not from her book, it's from her Netflix series.
3 Reviews
Leslie Blythe
February 20, 2019
Good point, but it worked for me and everyone loved it. I am not a baker either.
Jonas
February 20, 2019
It translates into bakers percentages as:
Flour – 100%
Water – 86%
Salt – 4.93%
Oil – 7.8%
Honey – 5.44%
ADY – 0.21%
It contains a LOT of salt, honey, oil, and even water. Once the combined percentages of water and oil go above 70% the dough becomes difficult to handle . This recipe has 93% total(water + oil percentages added together) which is pancake batter. Nosrat has a nice book and TV show, but she is not a baker.
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Noah Iliinsky
May 18, 2019
I’ve made this a couple of times now. It does take a little work to get the texture of the dough to be consistent, but it bakes up really beautifully, regardless. It’s super delicious and light.
I also find the assorted timing mentions in the proofing stage to be a bit unclear, read it twice as you go.
As for Jonas, he clearly has not made this recipe, and seems more interested in criticizing than baking.