Community bake #4 Ultra high hydration, focaccia formula.

Profile picture for user The Roadside Pie King
The Roadside P… on 16 Mar 2025 at 04:41
Finished product

Experimental formula 

100% Strong Flour 240 g

           100% Water  240 g

1.2% Instant Yeast.    3 g

                 1.8% Salt    4.5 g

                          Sugar 3 ts 

                       Olive oil 2 TBS

          Unsalted butter 1 TBS

Decorative inclusions

Parsley 

Black olives 

Sun dried tomatoes 

Bell peppers 

jalapeños peppers 

SliceBulk fermentation

The untouched bulk fermentation 

Proofing

The Final Proofing 

That's beautiful, Will. Hope it tastes as good as it looks :)

Was at the big farmers market here in Tucson and there was a Maltese baker! Thought immediately of you. His pastries on his house made filo were delicious. I gave him your TFL link .

Now I have an excuse to venture south to Tucson, mount Lemon and beyond! 

My mom made the best pastizzi! My sister Chetty is now the family pastizzi master. Did the Barrio baker (Don) have a booth? Or I bet he is to big for markets now. Did you know he is expanding north again to Gilbert! He is taking over a closed Sonic. Drive though pizza and bagels! 

Is my mom's ( the Maltese method ) regarding the flaky pastry. Instead of the traditional  encasing of butter, method then letter folding. This method was to stretch the dough paper thin, then smearing vegetable shorting and butter, on the dough then rolling cigar style. After that a series of letter folds. The fat can be either butter, shorting or a combination. Mom used a combination.

Will F.

I'm going to look it up and see about trying it when I get home. I'm still trying to find tepary beans etc from the native group here. I know it can be mailordered and it is I believe at the local huge food coop store. I need to get there before we leave. 

Profile picture for user trailrunner

trailrunner on 16 Mar 2025 at 13:54

Barrio was there I’m almost sure! I forgot you mentioned him. Will be more aware next Sunday. We leave April 1 for home in VA. Glad you might make it down here. The market is amazing. From mushrooms to meats and everything inbetween. 🙏

You are doing Vincent van Goh with sunflours and vegetables. A masterpiece Wil! 

This was a very spontaneous bake. Additionally, I switched gears in the middle of the bake. While this bake was going to be a flatbread, it did not start out to be focaccia. I was aiming to make North African fried bread. (Sfiz) As, the dough started to gain strength, I started to envision my wife yelling at me about the doctor telling me to make better food choices. Rather than actually live out my vision, I switched gears to a baked focaccia. In the end improvising every aspect, from a suitable size pan to match the dough weigh, to toppings I had on hand, made the bake successful, and fun! My wife even indulged in a slice! 

It was very tender and light. This dough formula is going to be my go to N.Y. grandma pizza pie dough! I can't wait to do a test bake!