Ciabatta/Foccacia = Ciaoccia
I’ve been baking Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread for a while now and it is absolutely the most popular bake in our house. My wife has been asking me for foccacia for a while but I haven’t been pleased with the recipes or results. I decided to combine Jason’s recipe (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread) above with a few variations of foccacia I’ve seen online and in books. Simple stuff!
Soften three small minced cloves of garlic with two tablespoons of butter and your favourite EVOO (recommend expensive). I took the garlic off the heat well before browning.
Mix the garlic and goods from the pan with 450g of water and the following:
- 1 teaspoon of dry or 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme;
- 1 teaspoon of dry or 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary;
- 15g salt;
- fresh pepper;
- 510 g A/P flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast (I used slightly heavy teaspoons)
Mix on high speed for around 20 minutes on fairly high speed until it clears the bottom of the bowl (as per Jason’s recipe);
Let rise until it triples (consistent 2.5 hours for me);
After it has risen, pour dough mixture on to 11x16 heavily oiled (expensive EVOO) pan and spread as much as reasonable;
Cover for 10 minutes and rest before spreading again with oiled hands until it covers bottom of pan (two rests for me);
Once it has covered the bottom of the pan, mist oil over top and cover until doubled (around 1.5 hours). In the meantime preheat oven on 475C with baking sheet/steel/stone near bottom rack;
Once doubled, heavily drizzle EVOO over top, and dimple entire top of pan with fingers;
Preferably using a salt mill on the course setting, apply liberally to top and bake for 12-15 minutes until bottom is mottled brown and bread is 215C in middle.
Cool on cooling rack for 10 and serve warm. Delicious and endless possibility of herbs and toppings!
