How I nailed Homemade Focaccia by Ignoring Steps and Cursing Out the Recipe - Cooking Confessions

Have you ever attempted to make homemade focaccia only to find yourself in a flour-covered mess? If so, you’re in good company. My quest for the perfect focaccia was not just a simple baking experience; it turned into a saga filled with ups and downs, late-night kitchen chats, and a few too many four-letter words. In this post, I’ll share my journey, including specific examples and tips to help you achieve that dreamy, golden, bubbly focaccia you’ve been after.

Homemade Focaccia - The Initial Attempt

The excitement of starting something new always fuels my energy in the kitchen. I was captivated by mouth watering images of homemade focaccia on social media, which prompted me to try the Dusty Knuckles recipe. I gathered my flour, yeast, and other ingredients, feeling unstoppable. Despite the recipe's simplicity, I quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a quick bake.

After several hours of mixing, kneading, and waiting, I reached step six when my impatience kicked in. I glanced at the oven and thought, “I can’t wait any longer.” Ignoring the carefully laid plans of Dusty Knuckles, I slid my dough into the oven. To my surprise, the result was almost perfect—soft, airy, and crusty! This is where I should have taken my photos and made the damn sandwiches ... However, feeling overconfident set me up for a rough ride in my next attempt.

The Disaster

In my second attempt, I decided to play by the book and follow every direction without fail. I arranged my ingredients meticulously. The dough rose impressively, and the smell filled my kitchen with a delightful aroma. Then came the fateful moment—adding the oil and water mixture meant to enhance the crust.

Ignoring the little voice of caution, I poured it on and ended up with a catastrophe: a soggy-bottomed focaccia that was neither airy nor chewy, but instead a chewy disappointment. After pouring my hopes into that pan, my kitchen echoed with my colourful exclamations about recipes and trust ... It should at this point be noted that this isn't the fault of the Dusty Knuckles recipe, rather my lack of bread making experience.

Returning to the Roots

After a moment of reflection and a few choice words to the universe, I decided to revisit my initial success. This time, I ignored the problematic water step that had thrown me off course and went back to my instincts. I focused solely on harnessing the dough's potential without the added moisture that had ruined my last attempt.

With renewed energy, I eagerly prepared my dough, measuring carefully and treating it gently, hoping for an oven miracle.

The Triumph

Victory was mine! After allowing the dough to rise and baking it to perfection, my focaccia emerged golden brown and airy. The crust was exactly as I had imagined—bubbly and chewy. The sound of breaking crust was music to my ears, bringing smiles back to my family post-disaster.

This wasn’t just about the final result; I learned the importance of simplifying a recipe, trusting my instincts, and enjoying the unpredictable journey of cooking.

Tips for Your Focaccia Adventures

• Patience is Key: Allow the dough ample time to rise. Proper proofing leads to the best results—don’t rush it!

• Less is More: If a step feels unnecessary, embrace your intuition. Simplifying the process may lead to equally delicious results without the stress.

FOCACCIA RECIPE (This is the Dusty Knuckles recipe, however, I miss out the water and olive oil mixture at the end before baking. Should you wish follow the recipe completely, here's a link to their recipe - Get Baking with The Dusty Knuckle - Maldon Salt):

Servings: makes 1 Loaf

For the poolish:

• Water 250g | 1 cup

• Dried yeast 2g | 1/14 oz

• ‘00’ Flour 250g | 8 ¾ oz/ 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tbsp

  
  

For the dough:

• Water 165g | ¾ cup minus 2 tsp

• Water, second addition 40g | 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp

• Dried yeast 2g | 1⁄14 oz

• Strong white bread flour 140g | 5oz/1 cup

• ‘00’ Flour 140g | 5oz/1 cup plus 1 tbsp

• Flaky Salt 12g | ½ oz

  
  

To rest and finish

• Top-quality olive oil

• Flaky Salt

• For the poolish, add the water and yeast to a bowl, mix until your yeast is dissolved, then throw in the flour. Mix quickly with your hands; this will be wet and sloppy and you are only looking to mix it enough so that there are no wet bits and no dry clumps. Scrape your bowl down, cover it with a clean cloth or lid and leave somewhere warm to ferment. How long this takes depends on the heat of your home, your yeast, your flour, your hands. You are basically looking for it to have grown to almost triple in size and for the surface to be covered in little bubbles, roughly 2 hours. Use it before it begins to deflate and drop down the edges of the bowl.

• Add the first water addition for the dough, and the yeast. It will separate and feel slimy; don’t worry, this is normal. Add your flours and mix thoroughly until everything is combined. If you are doing this by hand, it will take around 4 minutes, and if using a mixer with a dough hook, around 2 minutes on slow speed. Scrape your bowl down, cover and leave for an hour. This rest period (called autolysis) allows the flour to further absorb the water, which is important in this recipe as it uses nearly the same amount of water as flour. It should rise nicely and it may get a bit of a crusty top: don’t worry about this, it’ll all get mixed in.

• Add the second water addition and flaky salt, and mix in with your hands (again, it will break up, but don’t worry, it’ll soon come back together). Once your dough is looking a bit more coherent, you will need to work it a bit. The easiest way to do this is to grab one side, stretching it upwards as far as it will allow you, then fold it back on itself, turn the bowl slightly and repeat, working your way around and around (keep the dough in the bowl; you will thank yourself when cleaning up later). The dough will start off shaggy and will tear easily, but will soon become elastic and silky. This will probably take you about 10 minutes, but don’t scrimp on the time here: you are building strength in the dough, which is the key to that chewy delicious bread. You can use a mixer – we do – for this, mixing for 2 minutes on slow speed, then 4 minutes on fast.

• Check your dough for elasticity: does it stretch without tearing? If it’s still a bit weak and tears easily when you lift it, give it a couple more minutes.

• Once mixed and silky and lovely and smooth and soft, take the dough out of the bowl, pour 2 generous glugs of olive oil into the bowl and replace the dough in the bowl. Cover and leave to rest for 1 hour, then fold and leave for another hour, before folding again and leaving for another hour (3 hours in total from mixing the final dough). To fold the dough, grab the edge of the dough with oily fingers and stretch it as high as it will let you, then fold it back over itself. Do this 4 times (north, south, east, west) to complete one fold.

• After 3 hours your dough should be feeling pillowy, soft and silky, and bubbly. Turn it out onto a well-oiled standard-sized baking tray and fold it neatly into a square shape (don’t worry if this is much smaller than the tray as it will sprawl out and fill the tray) and leave somewhere nice and warm, and not too airy, for 1 hour. (If following the morning bake schedule, then this is when you would put it in the fridge – it can be in the fridge at this stage for up to 12 hours.)

• Fold each side in to create a square and leave it for another hour, then do this one more time and leave for its final hour.

• Give it a prod: if it feels like it will let you, gently slide oily hands right underneath and slowly stretch it out, pulling from the central underbelly. Be delicate here: it should feel like a wobbly, airy pillow (if it doesn’t leave it another hour). Ensure you do not tear the dough. It will relax and start to fill the tray. Heat your oven to its hottest setting.

• Pour olive oil a pour all over the top of the dough – be super-generous here. Dimple the top of the dough with your fingertips – sharp hard dimples are better than little soft ones so don’t worry if you go right through to the tray or even make a little hole; this will move the bubbles around inside and help get that chewy, open structure we are all looking for. Because it is so oily and bubbly, and nice to touch, it is tempting to over-dimple which can knock the air out, so just prod it enough so the surface is evenly dimpled. Sprinkle with flaky salt and bake for 15 minutes or until deep and golden brown. Be super-careful taking this out of the oven as the oil is hot and there will be excess on the tray.

• Remove from the tray straight away and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Final Thoughts

After multiple attempts and a few expletives, I can honestly say I nailed my focaccia! Cooking can be like life; the twists and turns often make for an interesting story. So, whether you’re a seasoned baker or a complete novice, don’t hesitate to dive in. Embrace the mess, learn from your mistakes, and create your version of focaccia magic.

From my kitchen to yours, happy baking!