Focaccia experts... need advice from breadmakers

[C_Ruark]

With lean breads, a nice airy texture usually comes from having a high hydration level (look at the great wet dough pictures above) - and by being careful not to degas the the dough too much after the bulk ferment. 

The wet dough is better able to give you the nice clear bubbles I associate with good foccacia

If you dont punch down the dough after the bulk ferment (and if its good and wet you wont really be able to) some of the bubbles that have developed during the ferment are retained and can give you a nice open texture

There is a very good recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

Enjoy...

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Thanks! Very helpful advice.

~C

[C_Ruark]

Another round of questions...

1 - Highly hydrated doughs:Is there is hands-on technique to detecting when the dough is suitably saturated? Anything like "windowing" before throughing, perhaps?

Still tuning my "Baking with Julia"'s recipe where I halved all weights. Might help to post pictures (I'll have to work on that), but right now the best description I have is this: coming off the dough-hook, my dough has the feel/behavior of weighty Play-Doh. It's definitely not glossy and I bet the gluten formation is retarded.

2 - Yeast activation: I'm simply adding active dry yeast to 105deg (controlled temp) water. Is that too low?

3 - Degassing: This is more of a survey question... how much gas do you leave behind after punchdowns? I'm probably too heavy-handed.

Thanks in advance,

~C

BTW, Warren's no-knead recipe is on-deck

[UnConundrum]

I'll take a shot at your questions C

1. I think the answer is no, although, with time, you could develop a feel for it. Hydration is based on bakers' percentages, and the "feel" will be different with different doughs. I have a recipe on my site for pumpernickel raisin bread, (Recipe here) where the dough seems rather dense given the hydration. With the rye flours, the gluten content is lower, and the overall feel is very different. As applies to your focaccia, and the goal of larger air pockets, you want to add more water to make a rather soft dough, that does not become too sticky.

2 I like to use instant yeast, and activation/proofing is not required. I like to avoid any temperatures over 100 for yeast. Since you're using active dry yeast, I'll defer to others.

3. Since there's no way to measure the gas, this is tuff to answer. It's a feel thing again. I've found that with my no-knead breads there have been no problems. Generally speaking, pat it down a few times, and you're ok. (In the no-knead situation, you don't really degas, you just stretch, until you turn the dough out for pre-shaping. ) I basically pat the dough into the shape I want for folding, and fold. I have some folding pictures in the pumpernickel recipe with the link above that might help you, but once again, this was a dense dough that does not develop those big bubbles. In the focaccia recipe, I've had new bubbles rise up as I'm stretching the dough into the baking sheet.

[C_Ruark]

Thanks UnC... very useful info.

~C

[tino27]

I'll throw in some ideas to your questions as well ...

1. Hydration Level - I generally hydrate my focaccia's to about 70-72% (that is, for every 1000g of flour, I use 700-720g of water) because I am trying to promote hole formation. Generally when I am kneading the dough in my KitchenAid mixer, the dough won't be sticking to the side of the bowl, but it will stick on the bottom of the bowl. Regardless of the hydration, the windowpane test is always a valid way to test for enough gluten formation. From what I can remember, my finished dough is not as dense as play-doh.

2. I, too, am a big fan of instant yeast. I almost never proof the yeast unless I'm worried that it might be past it's prime. When I do proof the yeast, I generally do it in 115 deg F water that has a little starch added to it. Instant yeast has the added benefit of being viable for quite a long time in an airtight container and stored in the fridge or freezer.

3. Like UnConundrum said, it does become a feel thing. For my fairly dense honey whole wheat loaves, where air pockets aren't a necessity, I don't have a problem almost fully degassing before shaping. For my French breads and focaccias, I'm a lot more gentle with the dough when I shape them. That being said, when I am doing multiple fermentations (two rises before final shaping), when I degas the dough between the first two fermentations, I usually do a pretty thorough job. I use a folding technique where I fold the dough from the outside edge of the bowl to the center of the dough.

Hope that helps a little bit. Good luck with the baking.

[UnConundrum]

C,

Did you ever get to try the no-knead focaccia? I was wondering how you made out.

[ElsieD]

I want to bring focaccia bread for a group family get-together. The recipe I normally use has the following steps - mix biga, put in fridge for up to 16 hours, let come to room temp., add rest of ingredients, mix, let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, put into baking pan, cover, let rise for about 1 hour, then bake. I had thought to put the biga in the fridge overnight and then finish it the next day but I don't have enough time the next day unless I want to get up VERY early in the morning. Which I would rather not. So, my question is this - if I make the biga one night, finish the dough to where it is put in the baking pan the next day, then refrigerate overnight (for the second time) then let it come to room temp the next morning and then bake it, will the dough be all right? Or, if I see on the second morning that it has risen to it's required height overnight, can I bake it without letting it come to room temp?

Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts on this.