Garlic Rosemary Focaccia

I served this at the Dessert Exchange I hosted on 1/16, and several people had requested the recipe, so here it is. This recipe is based on the potato-based focaccia dough from Cook's Illustrated (I believe Best Recipe) combined with the idea of oil-poached garlic from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible.

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Peel a large potato or two small ones (you need about 9 oz. / 250g peeled) and cut into 1-inch chunks. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender. Save 1 cup of the water.

Next peel one large head of garlic, and cut large cloves into marble-sized chunks. Place garlic in a small saucepan and cover with olive oil. Simmer on very low heat (You want it to be just barely bubbling or the garlic will get bitter; I use a heat diffuser on our gas stove) for ~10-15 minutes until garlic is tender. Remove from heat.

In a stand mixer combine

3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (17.5 oz / 500g)
1 1/2 tsp yeast [edit: specifically, use instant]
1 1/4 tsp salt

With the motor running, add the 1 cup of potato water (ideally still warm, but not so hot it will kill the yeast) and mix briefly. Rice or mash the potato, and add it to the mixer along with 2 tbsp of the garlic-infused olive oil, and then mix on low speed until the dough comes together in a shaggy ball, about 2-3 minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled (use some of the reserved garlic oil) rising container, turn over to coat, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place for 35-45 minutes until not quite doubled in size. It will rise very quickly because of the warm potato and water.

With wet hands, pinch the dough ball in half, and place both halves on a rimmed cookie sheet in puddles of olive oil (about 1 tbsp per round). Gently shape the dough into two rounds. Drizzle a little more oil on top, cover loosely with saran wrap, and allow to rise in a warm place again, another 35-45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 during the second rise, with a shelf in the middle. You can use the top of the oven as your warm place to rise the dough.

Once the second rise is complete, poke holes in the top of the dough with a wet finger, spreading out the dough a bit so its flatter. Next tuck a chunk of garlic into each hole. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top of the dough, allowing some to puddle in the holes and around the outside, and then sprinkle with fresh rosemary leaves and coarse sea salt.

Bake for 23-25 minutes until the top crust is golden brown, then allow it to cool a little before slicing (although maintaining any delay before devouring it is very hard!) Total time start to finish is about 3 hours.

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At the dessert exchange, I made a double batch of this recipe, which will just barely fit in my 6 quart mixer. I baked both sheets at the same time, switching high-and-low sheets halfway through. They needed and extra 3 or 5 minutes to get fully browned (I left one sheet in slightly longer.)

thanks so much, chouxfly, for sharing your recipe. this was extraordinary foccaccia. i can't wait to try it myself. justjoan

justjoan wrote:thanks so much, chouxfly, for sharing your recipe. this was extraordinary foccaccia. i can't wait to try it myself. justjoan

Agreed. It's quite dangerous. I'm not even a bread lover,but this, this was different.

i made 2 separate batches of chouxfly's focaccia, and neither one approached the heavenly heights of his. i had trouble getting each batch to rise on the first rise; in fact i almost threw the first batch away because it didn't rise at all after 45 minutes. instead, i put it on a rack over the stove and turned the oven to 200degrees. it rose enough so i went ahead with the recipe. both batches spread a little too much during the second rise- but both were delicious. i double panned the first batch and the bottom was a little pale. i went with a single pan the second batch and the bottom was a little too brown. next time i make it, i'll double pan it and bake a little longer. my only deviation from the recipe was to use both fresh rosemary and fresh thyme and chop the herbs. thanks again chouxfly. justjoan

justjoan wrote:i made 2 separate batches of chouxfly's focaccia, and neither one approached the heavenly heights of his. i had trouble getting each batch to rise on the first rise; in fact i almost threw the first batch away because it didn't rise at all after 45 minutes. instead, i put it on a rack over the stove and turned the oven to 200degrees.

Not rising isn't a problem I've ever had with this recipe... possibly your water/potato was hot enough to kill the yeast when you added it? Or the dry yeast came in contact with the salt before it got dispersed in the flour?

I would also think that a 200F oven would be more than enough to kill the yeast. How long did you leave it in there?

Chouxfly wrote:

justjoan wrote:i made 2 separate batches of chouxfly's focaccia, and neither one approached the heavenly heights of his. i had trouble getting each batch to rise on the first rise; in fact i almost threw the first batch away because it didn't rise at all after 45 minutes. instead, i put it on a rack over the stove and turned the oven to 200degrees.

Not rising isn't a problem I've ever had with this recipe... possibly your water/potato was hot enough to kill the yeast when you added it? Or the dry yeast came in contact with the salt before it got dispersed in the flour?

I would also think that a 200F oven would be more than enough to kill the yeast. How long did you leave it in there?

i put the bread to rise on top of the stove, not in the actual oven. my yeast hadnt expired, and the water was no more than body temp, which shouldn't kill yeast. any chance you use instant rise yeast? that would explain why yours rises fast during the first rise. in any event, i will be making it again. my other question, chouxfly, in addition to whether you used warm or room temp. potatoes, is whether you chop up the garlic before inserting it in the bread. otherwise there would be fewer, but larger chunks of garlic in the finished bread. thanks, joan

I would just be careful not to chop the garlic too small so it will not burn.

justjoan wrote:any chance you use instant rise yeast? that would explain why yours rises fast during the first rise.

Ah! You're absolutely correct, I did use instant (Fleischmann's BreadMachine yeast, to be exact.) I feel like an idiot for not specifying that in the recipe, but I'll edit that.

justjoan wrote:in any event, i will be making it again. my other question, chouxfly, in addition to whether you used warm or room temp. potatoes, is whether you chop up the garlic before inserting it in the bread. otherwise there would be fewer, but larger chunks of garlic in the finished bread. thanks, joan

I do cut the larger cloves in 2 or 3 pieces, so that individual pieces are about the size of a small marble.

Chouxfly wrote:

justjoan wrote:any chance you use instant rise yeast? that would explain why yours rises fast during the first rise.

Ah! You're absolutely correct, I did use instant (Fleischmann's BreadMachine yeast, to be exact.) I feel like an idiot for not specifying that in the recipe, but I'll edit that.

i feel much better now! i'm glad you realized you had used instant yeast. FYI, without instant yeast, i'd say give the first rise a good 1-1/2hours. i sliced the garlic, after poaching, so there would be plenty of garlic to fill the holes. and none of it burned. for those with half sheet pans, i'd definitely recommend doubling up to avoid worrying about the bottom getting way browner than the top (which is what happened in my batch without doubled pans). thanks again chouxfly for sharing your marvelous recipe. joan

Inspired by chouxfly my focaccia is on its second proof now. I have found that the most time I spent on peeling garlic as I made a double batch and I LOVE garlic so there is about three heads of garlic. I have a wonderful fleur de sel and fresh rosemary. Can't wait. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Having had this exemplary focaccia a couple of times (made by Chouxfly himself), I'm very happy to have the recipe posted here. One of these days, I'm going to give it a shot and I'll report back when I do.

=R=

Roasted red pepper and Mozz. focaccia with thyme and sea salt



onion & mozz. focaccia with sage



inspired (following the bread part of the recipe) by
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-masterclass-20110526,0,1188913.htmlstory

Chouxfly's recipe is in progress for tonight's party, to be served with some cannellini beans mashed with herbs, lemon zest, and the rest of the oil-poached garlic. Gaetano processes this dip with some ice cubes to add volume, and I mashed the potatoes with an ice cube to bring the temperature down quicker; I hit 110 with the liquid (and I think the dry ingredients) with virtually no effort. Will report back. (and, beautiful shots above, Mr. Hill, and the seasonal ones in your stream as well!)

A snap; I'll be making often again. Thanks again for the combination recipe suggestion, chouxfly - the poached garlic and garlic oil made these ever so fragrant, and ridiculously crisp, even after sitting. I made the focaccia very rustic(ally), hand-mixing the dough, no super-precise measures (though I think 1.25 tsp salt might be light if your oil or toppings aren't also salted), and using regular yeast packets, allowing for a bit of extra time to rise, and baked in small pools of oil in pie tins, which were clean and handy. I have a dried herb version on the left, and garlic and rosemary on the right, with a truffled white bean spread and an un-truffled lemon zest white bean spread, respectively. Devoured.

made some focaccia today (very similar to the last batch)


olive & rosemary and red onion & sage

How much oil do you think you used? Was it just enough to cover the garlic in the saucepan? Also, I'm assuming that the garlic tossed into the holes before baking is the garlic that was poached in oil, correct?

fropones wrote:How much oil do you think you used? Was it just enough to cover the garlic in the saucepan? Also, I'm assuming that the garlic tossed into the holes before baking is the garlic that was poached in oil, correct?

Just enough oil to cover the garlic, which I didn't measure, but it probably was around 3/4 cup. And yes, that garlic-infused oil is the only oil used everywhere else in the recipe.

I should also say I didn't use all of it; i had a couple tablespoons left over.

Chouxfly wrote:

fropones wrote:How much oil do you think you used? Was it just enough to cover the garlic in the saucepan? Also, I'm assuming that the garlic tossed into the holes before baking is the garlic that was poached in oil, correct?

Just enough oil to cover the garlic, which I didn't measure, but it probably was around 3/4 cup. And yes, that garlic-infused oil is the only oil used everywhere else in the recipe.

I should also say I didn't use all of it; i had a couple tablespoons left over.

Thanks. I baked it last night and it turned out great!