Killer Easy Tasty Homemade Focaccia

[ipsedixit]

Continuing the discussion from Killer Easy Tasty Homemade Focaccia for us West Coasters:

@Happybaker

I was torn - should I post this in a cooking thread? East Coast cuz it’s from NYC? Los Angeles cuzs that’s where I am?

But having lived in the Midwest and visited the East Coast heaps, and now live in LA? F it. If LA folks can get great homemade bread without importing east coast mineral filled water (it does make a difference) or driving cross town - I am here to share.

Kenji of Serious Eats (and Cook’s Illustrated) is a great cook and inventor. KILLER. But he can tend to sometimes, maybe, overcomplicate things.

So his recipe, flat out, is excellent. Truly. But it’s more of a special occasion thing.

Me? I don’t do the rosemary/pistachio/salt topping (the pistachios tend to fall off anyway.)

I simplify it and make it with just fresh chopped rosemary and salt or, like an everything bagel, salt, poppyseed and garlic or onions if I desire. (I’d say sesame seed too, but I don’t have it in the house right now.)

Anyhoo, 5 minutes of prep the night before, another two minutes of prep to set it for the second rise, preheat the oven and then another minute of prep before you put it in the oven? And then? Magic.

One of the sayings in my world is “You can get it fast, good or cheap. Pick two.” With this bread? As long as you can do an overnight rise? You get all three. Yay Kenji!

Easy No-Knead Olive-Rosemary Focaccia With Pistachios Recipe
Happy baking folks : )

P.S. This does seem to be in the same family as the no knead bread/overnight rise Suzanne Dunaway did in Beverly Glen years ago. But what Kenji does with the cast iron skillet, oil and salt takes it into a whole new place : )

[Dommy]

I MADE BREAD!

and… completely spaced on my tickets to go see Spiderman…

THIS IS WHY I DON’T BAKE BREAD!!

So I had the week off and decided to try a variation of this super easy focaccia recipe as my very first bread. I love focaccia and it’s something I really can’t find a great version nearby. So I used this recipe…

No-Knead Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia - Host The Toast

It all went well with the first step. Then I kept it in the fridge for a bit more than the recommended 24 hours because… christmas… and took it way to late in the evening to then get everything to set up and bake. All the meanwhile my seat at the Alamo was enjoying No Way Home without me.

I realized this as soon as I put the Focaccia in the oven… iwassomad. It certainly dulled the excitement of it all when it came out of oven…

After setting it out to cool, I cut it up. Does fresh baked Focaccia make up for spacing on something your REALLY wanted to do…?

NO.

But I was still pretty happy about how it came out. It certainly rose well and had a really tender moist crumb. Only two slight issues. I need to add more olive oil to the pan, it stuck a little bit. Maybe shave 5 minutes from my convectionbake mode. Also, IRONICALLY, I may let the next batch cold forment 48 hours a little while longer… to get some nice BIG bubbles.

I wrapped it up and today as i set upon the rest of my holiday tasks… I made a sandwich with said Focaccia… Did it make up for having to wait until after Christmas to go see this movie and dodge spoilers for several more days…?

NO.

But it was a fine use of Prosciutto Cotto

Mehry Chrisphmos.