Fantastaic Foccacia
I admit it, I am a foody – I love to make food, eat food, read about food, and obviously write about food. I really wanted pizza the other day, but, my usual nemeses, cheap and lazy, prevented me from ordering one or going out to get one. I did the next best thing.
I made my own pizza dough. I’ve decided to master yeast dough or at least come to terms with it so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I really wanted pizza.
The long and short of it is that my pizza was, if I do say so, fantastic.
For me, fantastic in pizza talk translates into perfect crust. The sauce was good- just a can of chunky tomatoes with oregano and basil reduced to thicken. The toppings were pretty good-Italian sausage, sautéed mushroom, and slivered red onions, but… the crust. Ahh-h-h-h…
When I took the pizza cutter to the crust, it crunched, a musical, crispy crunch. And, it crunched all the way through the slice. This crunchy delight had an ever so slightly, chewy center.
The large rectangular pizza didn’t last long. I did share. A little bit.
When I had another crusty craving this evening, I went back to the pizza dough. I didn’t really want pizza. Instead, I fed my craving with foccacia. I repeated the pizza dough making, patted it into the same pan. This time I brushed it with olive oil and sprinkled it with Kosher salt, herbs, and crushed garlic. Fifteen minutes in the oven and – that delightful crunch was music to my ears. Served with a little herb steeped olive oil for dipping – perfection.
Pizza/Foccacia Dough
2-1/4 tsp active dry granulated yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
1-1/2 c. warm water – 120F
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp. garlic powder (optional, but recommended)
½ tsp. herbes de provence (optional, but recommended)
2 Tbsp olive oil
3-1.3 c. flour
Mix
In large mixing bowl, add yeast, sugar, water. Mix with a mixer. With mixer running add salt, garlic, herbs, 2-1/2c. flour. Mix for about 1 minute or til flour is incorporated.
Kneadsa
If you have dough hooks for your mixer, change to those. Knead with the mixer for 5-7 minutes incorporating the rest of the flour. The dough is done when it’s no longer sticky. If you don’t have dough hooks, turn the mixed dough out onto a floured board and knead by hand for 6-8 minutes incorporating the rest of the flour until dough is no longer sticky.
Rise
Turn kneaded dough into an oiled bowl. Turn dough to get oil on all sides. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for about an hour – til double in size. Punch down dough, form into ball and let rest for a minute.
Roll, Rest, and Bake
Roll it out onto your oiled pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Let the dough rise in pan for another 15-20 minutes. Add your favorite toppings. Bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes. You should be able to lift the pizza from the edge to check the bottom for doneness.
Foccacia
For foccacia, follow same directions, but when rolling out for the pan use an oiled pan but don’t dust with corn meal. Fit dough to pan. Let it rise for another 20 minutes.
Top it
Brush with good olive oil, sprinkle with crushed garlic, Kosher salt, more herbes de provence, and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425F for 1 5-20 minutes. Check bottom of crust for doneness. Cut into serving pieces. Serve with your favorite dipping oil. (Or take the whole pan into your closet and keep it all to yourself!)