Focaccia con Pepe e Olio di Tartufo (Pepper focaccia with truffle oil)

[Bill/SFNM]

This idea comes from a site recently discussed on another thread, http://oreganofromitaly.com/.

Although I love truffle oil, I had misgivings about this recipe since I was pretty sure that much of the flavor of the truffle oil would be driven out during baking; I always add truffle after cooking to avoid that problem. But since I've had so much success with other recipes from this site, I decided to give it a try anyway and add the truffle oil during kneading as directed. I also used my basic focaccia dough as the base and simply added the flavorings from the recipe.

Conclusion: excellent bread, actually fabulous bread. No truffle flavor. Next time either drizzle it on after baking or just use olive oil. Here is what I did for a standard baking sheet sized focaccia (I haven't had a chance to convert all ingredients to baker's % - assumes using olive oil instead of truffle oil):

798g bread flour (Giustos Artisan)
496g water
94g activated starter culture (French - 54% flour/46% water)
50g whole milk
17g salt
4g minced fresh rosemary
2g minced fresh thyme
102g potato flour
57g Extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper

In mixing bowl, combine water & salt.
Combine bread and potato flour thoroughly and then add to mixing bowl.
Add starter to mixing bowl
Combine all of the remaining ingredients and set aside
Knead the flours, salted water, and starter until smooth
Slowly incorporate the remaining ingredients
Knead for a very long time until windowpane stage
Place in oiled container, cover, and ferment @ 75F for 16 hours
Pour into oiled baking pan, stretch and dimple, brush with oil, sprinkle with some course salt and allow to proof for several hours.
Baked @450F ~25 minutes.
Brush with more oil.

[Pizza_Not_War]

Thanks for the update on this idea. For some reason whenever I have used milk and starter I end up with a foul smelling dough prior to baking. Not sure why that is and I have usually just tossed it out instead of baking the dough.

Do you have any thoughts on why that might be happening to me?

I might just try this without the milk and add a little more EVO/H2O

PNW

[Bill/SFNM]

PNW,

On the contrary, the fragrance prior to baking was excellent. FWIW, I am using unhomogenized whole milk. Have you tried powdered milk?

Bill/SFNM

[Pizza_Not_War]

PNW,

On the contrary, the fragrance prior to baking was excellent. FWIW, I am using unhomogenized whole milk. Have you tried powdered milk?

Bill/SFNM

My past attempts almost smelled moldy. Not sure what happened (3 times) to date. I have used powdered buttermilk, never regular powdered milk. I will give the powder a try.

PNW

[SteveB]

I've found that with an olive oil-enriched dough, neither whole or powdered milk is required for a focaccia with a soft and supple crumb:

http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=96