Cucina Archive · Antipasto · Contorno

Commercial Yeast Focaccia

Potato focaccia on packet yeast, worked over four hours of folds and baked in a pan wide enough to spread. The one with the clock written next to it.

C02 · Developed formula · yields One 14-inch round, or one 10.5 x 15.5-inch rectangle

A round tomato focaccia still in its dark pan, risen into soft uneven humps with torn tomato set into the dimples and dried oregano across a golden top.
A round tomato focaccia still in its dark pan, risen into soft uneven humps with torn tomato set into the dimples and dried oregano across a golden top.

Formula

BloomTen minutes, while the dry mix comes together.
Rapid yeast1 packet
Sugar1 tsp
Lukewarm water1/4 cup
DoughMixed by hand first, then five to ten minutes in the mixer.
AP flour3 cups
Cold mashed potato1 cupworked into the flour by hand
Salt1 Tbsp
Olive oil1/4 cupinto the dough
Lukewarm water9 ozadded with the bloom
Olive oilas neededproofing bowl, pan, and the top
The clock, as runA worked schedule for the round pan. Kept because the fold spacing matters more than the total.
7:30into the proofing bowl
9:30fold 1two hours in
10:00fold 2
10:30fold 3
11:00fold 4
11:30into the pan
12:00dimple and top
13:00into the oven
13:25first bastethen every 5 minutes, 2 to 3 times

Method

Mix

  1. Bloom the yeast with the sugar in the quarter cup of lukewarm water and leave it ten minutes.

  2. Meanwhile work the flour, cold mashed potato and salt together by hand until the potato is broken through the flour.

  3. Add the bloom, the quarter cup of olive oil and the 9 oz of lukewarm water, and run the mixer five to ten minutes.

  4. Oil the proofing bowl, transfer the dough, oil the top, cover, and leave it.

Bulk

  1. Fold every 30 minutes, four times, inside a total of four hours proofing.

Pan

  1. Oil the baking pan, transfer the dough and spread it to the edges. Proof 30 minutes.

  2. Dimple with the toppings: torn tomato pressed into the dimples, then dried oregano over the whole thing. Proof another 30 minutes.

Bake

  1. Bake at 425 F for 35 minutes, basting every five minutes once the top has set.

Notes

The folds are spaced, not counted against a stopwatch. Four at half-hour intervals sits inside a four-hour proof, which leaves the last stretch unfolded on purpose.

Two proofs happen in the pan, either side of dimpling: thirty minutes spread, thirty minutes topped. The toppings go on before the second one, not after.

The tomato goes into the dimples rather than over the surface, so the dough closes around it as it rises and the pieces end up set into the crumb instead of sitting on top.

While it sat

The same focaccia turned out onto a wire rack, showing a pale golden underside and a scorched patch at one edge of the rim.
The same focaccia turned out onto a wire rack, showing a pale golden underside and a scorched patch at one edge of the rim.