First Focaccia

Now that flour is finally back on the grocery store shelves and a friend sent me 2 lbs of yeast, my first foray was focaccia :) I followed Daniele Uditi's recipe with just two variations.

This is the active dry yeast and water dissolved and rested for 8 minutes.

 I added the flour and used a wooden spoon.

I miscalculated my start time, so after the 1st hour proofing at room temperature, I ended up letting the dough proof in the refrigerator for 24 hours (otherwise I would have had to wake up at 3 am to knead and proof for another few hours).

After taking the dough out of the fridge, I slowly added in the flour, salt, and olive oil, mixing by hand for 9 minutes. It was a work out! After proofing again, folding, and repeating 3 times, it was finally time to let it proof in the sheet pan with LOTS of olive oil!

As you can see there was a sea of olive oil in the pan which pooled a bit at the corners.

I used a spoon to scoop it up and sprinkle it over the top into my finger tip punches.

Because I had plenty of fresh rosemary from the garden, I chopped some up and sprinkled it on top along with the fleur de sel.

After all the time in preparation, the actual baking time was only 15 minutes!

My first focaccia was enough to share with two neighbors warm from the oven! It was wonderfully light, savory, and delicious!