Baking bread at home? Sourdough is really popular right now, but a satisfying alternative is olive-oil doused focaccia, which is simple enough for most home bakers, according to Iliana Berkowitz of As Kneaded Bakery in San Leandro.
Her recipe requires a scale for weighing ingredients and a stand mixer. From there, it’s just a developed mix of flour, water, yeast and salt. Don’t forget to dimple the dough, before baking it on a rimmed sheet pan with plenty of olive oil. Look for seasonal spins — hello, summer tomatoes — throughout the year at the bakery.
As Kneaded Bakery Focaccia
Whole wheat “sponge” ingredients
125 grams whole wheat flour
125 grams water
1 gram instant yeast
Focaccia ingredients
600 grams white bread flour
250 grams whole wheat flour
2 grams instant yeast
18 grams salt
500 grams water
180 grams olive oil, plus more for the pan
Directions:
Make the sponge eight to 12 hours before making the final recipe: Using a stand mixer with the dough hook, mix all the sponge ingredients together on low speed for 4 minutes. Transfer sponge to a lightly-oiled container. Sit out at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours to develop.
The next day, place all the ingredients, including the sponge, in a stand mixer with the dough hook again. Mix for 3 minutes on low speed, followed by 5 minutes at medium-high. At this stage, the dough should have a tacky, flexible feel to it. Move your dough to a large oiled bowl to rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Give the dough a series of turns, picking up a quarter at a time and folding the dough upon itself.
After all 4 turns, flip the dough completely upside down, so your turns are tucked underneath the dough mass.
Cover the bowl loosely with a tea towel, and move the dough to the fridge to cold ferment for 6 to 12 hours.
To bake, generously cover a rimmed half-sized sheet pan with olive oil and plop the dough on top. Turn the dough over so there is olive oil on both sides. Let the dough proof: Place it in a warm spot for 30 minutes, then stretch the dough lightly, every 30 minutes. When your dough stretches easily all the way to the corners of the sheet pan, dimple the entire dough by pressing your fingers directly down into the dough.
Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Let the focaccia rise another 30 minutes in the sheet pan. Once the dough has a light and airy touch to it, and it has grown to fit the entire half sized sheet pan, it is ready to bake.
Sprinkle the top of the focaccia with any ingredient you fancy: green olives, parmesan, red pepper flakes, anchovies, maldon salt or go plain. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until it’s a dark amber color. Give it one final brush of olive oil and serve.
— Courtesy of Iliana Berkowitz, As Kneaded Bakery, San Leandro
