I am back!
These last couple of weeks have been a bit busy. Visits, graduation ceremonies… It’s been difficult to sit down and write, write, write. But still… I’m just so excited the blog is finally live! I can only think about recipes I want to share with you or new things I want to try, or just go on a full essay about my friend “the gluten network”.
One of the biggest challenges of making bread is the time it takes. What if you need to bake something but your schedule is tight? What if your best friend comes all the way from Oregon and you just need to adapt your baking plans? Ahem… 😉
For my second post, I wanted to share a recipe that I developed by myself. Something I could call mine from start to finish. And I also needed a recipe that I could easily modify to retard the fermentation. Baking a focaccia sounded just about right. This bread is in my top 10 because of its versatility. Very customizable, perfect for any occasion, and simple to make!
As you might know, focaccia is an Italian bread, it shares some similarities with pizza, but it has fewer toppings, and instead of a round shape, focaccias are typically rectangular, which doesn’t mean that you must do it that way. You can use whatever baking tray you have! Previously I had used Italian herbs and garlic, olives… But I wanted to try something different, something like…caramelized onion and goat cheese, maybe?
Yes!
The beauty of food is that everyday ingredients can go from “okay” to “omg-this-is-so-good” with just a bit of patience and some heat. That’s the case for caramelized onions. They can turn any dish upside down!
I typically use biga to enrich my focaccia. Biga is a preferment that has flour, water and a very small amount of yeast. It ferments for several hours (and up to a few days) and accumulates aromas that will make the bread dough much richer. But since I was going to do a cold fermentation, I skipped this stage.
I was a bit worried the dough could over ferment, but it didn’t! It worked and the focaccia came out beautiful and with a very intense flavor.
Thanks to the high water content, it had very nice holes and a soft crumb. It stayed fresh for at least 2 days, probably more but I can’t tell you exactly because we finished it within 2 days.
Oh well!
I started to make the dough on Saturday evening. Somewhere around 9 pm. First I activated the yeast, then I mixed all the ingredients except the salt and let the dough rest for 30 mins (Autolysis).
After the autolysis, I added the salt and started with the stretch and fold method, every 30-40 minutes, a total of 4 times.
This is a very easy method. You can do stretch and folds (S&F) while you’re watching a movie. Or in our case, while we surfed Netflix trying to find a movie to watch lol
It’s amazing how the dough develops with so little work!
Look!
Once you’re done with S&F just cover the container and put it in the fridge until next day! Mine was in the fridge for about 18h, I had enough time to go to the airport to pick my friend up, go visit her family, have a girls day with another friend and come back home to a bubbly dough!
Look at how lovely it is!
I took the focaccia out of the fridge and turned the dough onto the tray. I caramelized the onion at the same time I stretched the dough to fill the baking tray. My dough was snapping back quickly so I had to do it little by little. Make sure you use your fingertips to leave those characteristic holes.
When the onion was ready I let it cool down to room temperature and spread it evenly with the cheese.
TIP* don’t caramelize the onion completely or it’ll burn while you bake the focaccia. I know it because that’s what I did haha!
I also found a trick that I think helps improve the final result: I used an olive oil and water emulsion instead of just drizzling olive oil. The oil will be absorbed by the dough or leak to the bottom and help make the bottom crunchy.
To prepare the emulsion whisk the oil and the water very well until you get a thick mixture and drizzle it on top of the focaccia.
Now put the focaccia in the oven and wait until is baked!
Just… look!
Let me know if you make this focaccia and what you think!
Caramelized onion and goat cheese no-knead focaccia
Ingredients
Focaccia dough
- 600 g bread flour
- 480 g water
- 15 g sugar
- 3 g active dry yeast
- 12 g salt
- 50 g olive oil extra virgin
Oil & water emulsion
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
Toppings
- 1/2 yellow onion large
- 2 oz goat cheese plain
- olive oil for cooking the onion
Instructions
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Dissolve sugar and yeast in the water and let it sit for 15 minutes
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When the yeast is activated add the oil and mix well
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Sift the flour in a bowl and add the water/yeast/oil mixture
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Mix everything well until you don't see any dry flour particle and let it rest 30 mins (autolysis)
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After the autolysis period add the salt and do the first set of stretch and folds.
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Repeat the stretch and folds 3 more times, every 30-40 minutes
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Cover the container and place the dough in the fridge until the next day
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Take the dough out of the fridge
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Line a 46 x 33 cm baking tray (18 x 13 in) with parchment paper and brush it with olive oil
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Turn the dough onto the baking tray and little by little stretch it to fill the whole tray.
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Slice the onion thinly and cook it at medium-low heat until is soft and brown-ish. Don't caramelize it completely. When done, set aside and let it cool down until is warm.
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When the onion is warm and the dough is good to go, spread the onion and goat cheese evenly on top of the dough
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Preheat your oven at 450 F
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Mix 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of olive oil and whisk it until you have a thick mixture. It might take a few minutes but it'll eventually come together.
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Drizzle the emulsion around the focaccia, you don't have to add all of it, just as much as you'd like.
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Bake on a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Happy baking!
