“Better than the focaccia from a restaurant.” That’s what Adam said when he took his first bite of this bread. And he’s totally right! When I took this out of the oven I could hardly believe I’d made it myself . . . it looks beyond professional! And it really wasn’t very difficult at all.
I decided to go with the Poolish version for the sole reason that the refrigeration step takes place before the spreading-on-a-sheet step. My fridge is 3/4 sized and always packed to the gills, so it’s quite a challenge putting a sheet pan in there! Fitting a bowl in is much easier so therefore the poolish version was easier, too.
I have to say that this bread, while definitely strange while you’re making it, is not at all difficult. It’s similar to the ciabatta in the folding method used in place of kneading, but it’s easier than the ciabatta because you don’t have to worry about squishing it or even moving it too much. In fact I totally manhandled mine while transferring it off the counter onto the sheet pan and no one was the wiser! So don’t bother being too gentle with the dough, it won’t be noticeable in the end.
Oh, and my coworkers loved it, too. This one is definitely going into regular rotation!
Want to join us in the BBA Challenge? Get yourself a copy of Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, the incredibly comprehensive how-to book for bread, and play along! Full details on the challenge are here.
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Beautiful color on the Foccacia. Did you use the regular herb oil from the book, or did you have other spices?
I have the same problem with sticking a sheet pan in the fridge- I have to clear an entire shelf. If I have a bowl, I can just put a hard lid on it and put stuff on top.