Fabulous Focaccia

I love to make bread and especially Italian style breads. I read somewhere that if you go to France the formula for a certain type of bread will be virtually identical from bakery to bakery while in Italy there will be as many different ways to make a type of bread as there are bakeries. Since I have not had the opportunity to travel through France and Italy I cannot attest to the truth of this statement, but it certainly seems that there are a multitude of variations on focaccia bread.

I have tried a variety of focaccia recipes, and virtually all of them have been good. The one given is now my standard recipe as it seems to make an exceptional focaccia bread. If you would like to explore a wide range of bread recipes with an emphasis on the breads of Italy The Artisan is an excellent place to start.

The recipe for my focaccia:

Sponge

3.5 oz (about 3/4 cup) Unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup water (100-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Bread

1 pound (about 3 1/4 cup) unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup water (100-115 degrees F)
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast

To make the sponge sprinkle yeast over the water and let stand for five minutes
Mix flour and water/yeast mixture, cover and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour

Bread

Sprinkle yeast over water, let stand 5 minutes

Add water to sponge, mix well, then add olive oil to the mixture and mix well.
Add about 1/3 of flour to the above mixture along with salt, mix well.
Add all but about 1/4 cup of the remaining flour, mix well and knead until a smooth dough is formed 8-10 minutes. Use the remain flour as needed to flour the board

Coat the dough in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and cover. Let rise until double about 1 hour.

Divide dough into three parts and spread out in lightly oiled 8 in bread pans (or make 1 large loaf on an 11 x 17 cookie sheet).

Cover and let rise about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising preheat oven with baking stone to 425 degrees.

Coat dough with olive oil and dimple with fingers. Sprinkle with coarse salt and herbs (rosemary, oregano, basil or others as desired)

Place in oven and spray oven walls with water.

Spray oven again at 3, 6 and 9 minutes.

Bake an additional 6-8 minutes, remove bread from pans and place directly on baking stones.

Bake until light brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped, 10-15 more minutes.

Cool on rack.