Tall & Airy Focaccia

[Oded]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to make a tall & airy focaccia, any idea where can I start as far as recipe?

I tried the one from Nancy Silvetone's Triple Beam pizza and really liked how it tasted... the texture was great as well as hieght.

Thank you!

[Pizza_Not_War]

My current favorite. It is crispy both top and bottom and super soft inside. Emilie Raffa sourdough focaccia - you can google it for several different people using the recipe. I sub some diastatic malt for the honey. If you don't use sourdough, you would have to figure out the yeast substitution amount, which would be a small bit of yeast.

[Oded]

Thank you very much!!!

[bethj]

This Cook's Illustrated recipe uses a biga, and is very good - tall and airy.  I've made it many times.  I like to toss about 50 grams of unfed sourdough discard in the biga for flavor (not for leavening - the yeast will do that).

https://myyearwithchris.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/rosemary-focaccia-3/

[bobgraff]

Here's the video for the Cook's Illustrated recipe.

[jkb]

This Cook's Illustrated recipe uses a biga, and is very good - tall and airy.  I've made it many times.  I like to toss about 50 grams of unfed sourdough discard in the biga for flavor (not for leavening - the yeast will do that).

https://myyearwithchris.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/rosemary-focaccia-3/

My goto.  Don't know if I'd call it tall and airy.  Is focaccia supposed to be tall and airy?


Trust me:  https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=465.msg650456#msg650456

[HansB]

My goto.  Don't know if I'd call it tall and airy.  Is focaccia supposed to be tall and airy?

After reading this is, I made the poolish last night, finished just now. Smells really good!

[bethj]

My goto.  Don't know if I'd call it tall and airy.  Is focaccia supposed to be tall and airy?

Mmmm...as opposed to "flat and brick-like"?   

[amolapizza]

I'd argue that there are many different styles of Italian focaccia ranging from soft to crunchy.

[ARenko]

I'd argue that there are many different styles of Italian focaccia ranging from soft to crunchy.

Agree.  In Liguria, where I think it originated (at least in name), it's relatively thin.  What makes focaccia great to me that I don't see in a lot of these linked recipes are the dimples filled with oil, water, and salt that results in doughy, salty, and oily bites, but maybe that is mostly characteristic of Ligurian focaccia.

[amolapizza]

Here is another type of focaccia from Genoa:



And one from Bari:



I have the impression that each corner of Italy has it's own style of focaccia! 

[TXCraig1]

I've had good luck with this recipe. If nothing else, it's a fun watch.

[mmille24]

I made this today.

80% hydration
24 hour RT fermentation + 10 hour CF
.07% fresh yeast
2% sugar
2% oil
2.5% salt

[ARenko]

I've had good luck with this recipe. If nothing else, it's a fun watch.

Love how he describes the holes.  Slathering on an emulsion like that is critical and missing in most peoples' recipes (at least ones claiming to be Ligurian/ Genovese). 

[TXCraig1]

I made this today.

80% hydration
24 hour RT fermentation + 10 hour CF
.07% fresh yeast
2% sugar
2% oil
2.5% salt

Very nice. What was the dough weight for that pan?

[mmille24]

Very nice. What was the dough weight for that pan?

900g flour. So 1650 ish. It was a half sheet pan.  I'm currently doing another run right now at 600g flour.  The previous run was good, but would like to try it with a higher crust to crumb ratio.

I was watching the below video. He does 940g dough and his pan looks bigger as well. I'd like a little thicker than his though. 

[TXCraig1]

I use 900g, and I think it's a bit light.

[TXCraig1]

900g flour. So 1650 ish. It was a half sheet pan.  I'm currently doing another run right now at 600g flour.  The previous run was good, but would like to try it with a higher crust to crumb ratio.

I was watching the below video. He does 940g dough and his pan looks bigger as well. I'd like a little thicker than his though. 

61.5% hydration 4:00

[mmille24]

61.5% hydration 4:00

I remember watching the video this week, and doing the calculation and thinking, that can't be right. Thought focaccia was higher.

[nlavon]

I watched the Chris Kimball video about focaccia. It relates to the recipe in the ATK 20th Anniversary cookbook. But there are some interesting differences between the video and the printed recipe.

In the video, Becky Hays is making the focaccia. In the printed recipe in the ATK cookbook, it calls for one teaspoon of kosher salt to be added to the final dough mix. In the recipe, she adds two teaspoons. For the bake, the printed recipe says to heat the oven to 500 with a baking stone, and when the pans are put in with the focaccia dough, the oven is immediately turned down to 350. In the video, she turns it down to 450.

Those seem like some major differences to me.

What do you think? I guess the salt can be determined by taste (some comments on the YouTube video page said it was too salty and recommended cutting it back) but the 350 vs 450 I think could have a significant difference. For other recipes online, I am mostly seeing 450. Think I'll go with that.