Forming Focaccia First

The biga once it had fermented in the fridge

While Italy is known as the world leader in fine leather goods, marble, and ancient masterpieces, it is less known as the birthplace of a often overlooked craft, gourmet baked goods. Many recipes for the delicious goods lining the counters of bakeries around the world originated in Italy. I am embarking on a mission to learn about and be able to craft breads and I sweets to astound every customer at a bake sale. In the past, I have enjoyed trying out different bread recipes with varied success; I have had trouble getting dough to rise consistently. However, after reading The Il Fornaio Baking Book, by Franco Galli, I have found new strategies and tips to insure that my dough will rise as well as challenging new recipes. My first challenge was to bake a Focaccia Alla Genovese, a flat bread covered in olive oil that I remember enjoying all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Galli’s method involves making a biga to leaven the bread. If you have never heard of biga think of well fed yeast. If you paid attention back in fifth grade science, you would remember that yeast is a living organism that produces carbon dioxide. This chemical reaction is used in most bread recipes to produce light and airy bread, but packaged yeast cannot always do the job on its own. The old Italian way of getting bread to rise, biga is a mix of yeast, flour, and water. This mix is set in a cool place and allowed to ferment, activating and feeding the yeast until a baker scoops some up and combines it with other ingredients to create soft, fluffy dough. If a biga acida or sourdough starter is required, the yeast is kept alive and “fed” flour and water until it forms spores that contain the sour flavor. Jars of starter can be kept for years, used again and again and referred to as “mother dough.” One woman claims to have a starter that is 122 years old!  

Kneading the dough.

After my biga had fermented in the fridge for two days, I was ready to start my dough. I gathered my ingredients and brought them up to room temperature before mixing packaged yeast and water to supplement the biga in the dough. I combined all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then carefully added the wet ingredients. Kneading is one of the toughest parts of making bread, working the dough like an elastic band across the countertop and trying to force it into a smooth, well mixed ball.

This accomplished, I placed the dough into an oiled bowl, covered it with a damp washcloth to keep the surface from drying out, and put the bowl aside in a warm space, where it rose for the next hour and a half.

The dough finally ready to bake.

Once the dough had doubled in size, I turned it over and then set it back to rise again for another hour. When it was considerably larger in size, I shaped into a square per Galli’s instructions and then set to rise one more time. Galli recommends baking loaves on stone because “porous unglazed stones gives them a wonderful crisp crust that baking on sheets cannot match”(Galli, 15). I happened to have a pizza stone that I set on the bottom shelf of my oven, which I preheated to 425*F. Gali also recommended misting with water before baking. This was a step that was entirely new to me but I tried it out, trusting the expert.

Finally the dough was done rising for the last time. To make the standard dimples in the top of the focaccia, I pressed my finger into the dough before painting the surface with a light coat of olive oil. Carefully I transferred the dough onto the blistering hot pizza stone in the oven. Galli recommended baking the bread for five minutes, misting the oven, and then baking for 30 more minutes. Once the crust looked like a corgi’s rear end, I pulled the bread from the blazing hot oven and set it on wire racks to cool.

The bread cooling after it was done baking. 

Overall I’m happy with the way my bread turned out -- especially for my first try. Not only is it edible, but I got some compliments when I shared it with my family. If I had a chance to try this recipe again, I would paint it with a little more oil and mist it less often, hoping to make the crust turn out a little softer.

What delicious Italian recipe should I bake next? Calzones, Braided bread, or Sponge Cake? Let me know in the comments what you recommend.