ONION FOCCACIA

We have a love-hate relationship with bread…love to eat, hate all those carbs. Maybe with the new BREAD DIET or even the COOKIE DIET we might have a chance to enjoy our carbs more, but who knows. For now I still love to bake bread… I love the process, and of course how it makes the house smell while it’s baking!

I’ve been holding off on preparing another batch of the new-and-improved-no-knead bread , but yesterday Art requested some focaccia, mainly so we could drizzle some of the new oil on it while it still has a little kick to it. This morning I looked through my cookbooks and collected recipes and found this onion focaccia, adapted from an EMERIL LAGASSE recipe several years ago.

I’d originally thought about covering the top of the bread with onions, but this recipe calls for the grilled onions (mixed with a little chopped garlic) to be incorporated into the dough, so I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately I didn’t start the dough until later than planned, so I just assembled the plain dough and set it aside to rise, then I grilled the onions and garlic and added them into the dough after it’s first rise. Needless to say, it turned out fine.

ONION FOCCACIA

2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 medium red onions, chopped

For the Dough:
1 envelope yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
3 ½ cups flour

Sauté the onions in the 2 Tbsp olive oil until caramelized, about 15 minutes, then set aside.

In a large bowl whisk the yeast, sugar, garlic, olive oil, warm water and cooked onions together until the yeast is dissolved. Slowly add the flour and salt, mixing and kneading until the dough is smooth and firm, about 10 minutes.

Grease a bowl with a little olive oil, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with the oil. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

Brush a 12 X 18 baking sheet with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Once the dough is doubled, punch it down and press it out on the baking sheet. Lightly cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350º while the dough rests.

Using your fingers, lightly ‘pounce’ the dough, making small dents in it, then drizzle olive oil all over the dough. Sprinkle with coarsely ground salt, pepper and rosemary if desired. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

NEW! IMPROVED! NO KNEAD BREAD, TAKE 2!

Remember back in January when I BLOGGED about the newest thing in bread baking? According to the NY TIMES WEBSITE, that no-knead bread was taking the country by storm, encouraging even non-bakers to give it a try. I can't imagine that who made this bread more than a few times didn't burn their hands...I know I did! Having to preheat the pan/pot, then add a very slack dough wasn't the easiest part of this bread, but true to the name, it didn't require kneading, just a very long proofing time.

And now, they've done it again! The NY Times has published a new and improved version, and you can find the article online HERE . I like this recipe much better than the first one for several reasons:

1. NO danger of burning your hands on a pot that's been preheated to a zillion degrees!
2. Far shorter proofing time, meaning that you can start this bread at lunchtime and bake it fresh in time for dinner.
3. You don't have to make the dough every time you want freshly baked bread, since this dough will keep in the frig for up to two weeks (at least that's what they say!), and makes a total of four loaves.

Of course you can make the bread as directed in the NY Times article, but I made a few changes, so here's how I made the bread:

Even Easier No-Knead Bread
Makes 4 loaves
Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
Cornmeal.

In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees).

Stir flour and salt together, then add to the water/yeast, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose.

Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours). ( I prefer the longest rise possible)

Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks.

When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450º; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450º for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack

Now you too can enjoy freshly baked bread anytime! How wonderful is that???

RYE SUCCESS!

Great news! The rye bread turned out beautiful AND tasty! I'm soooo glad I brought the rye flour from the states!







I did add one heaping tablespoon of vital gluten to this dough, just to ensure a nice rise.

With this basic recipe you can go many different directions: add whole wheat flour, nuts, fruits. Happy baking!

P.S. See the post just below this one for the recipe!

NO KNEAD BREAD...DO YOU NEED THIS RECIPE?

Have you read about the newest rage in bread making? A thread on the SlowTrav message board referenced an article in the New York Times . Now this recipe has been discussed on food message boards all over the internet. Do a Google search and you’ll find it on sites like egullet, cooks.com, and Chocolate & Zucchini.

At first I only read about the recipe, because it called for a 6-8 quart pan…one that would withstand a 450º oven complete with a tight fitting lid. I didn’t have an oven-proof pan that large, but eventually decided to try it in my 3 quart Calphalon pan. I checked the information and both the pot and the lid were oven-safe to 450º, so I figured I didn’t have much to lose…..a few cups of flour maybe.

When I mixed the dough the fact that it was very slack (wet) didn’t bother me as much as it did other posters on the ST board. I knew from past experience that a slack dough usually makes for a great finished product. I brought the bowl up to the living room, the warmest room in the house, and let it rise for the maximum time, 18 hours.

Before baking, not only is the oven pre-heated, but the pan is preheated as well. The slack dough is plopped into the pan with a sizzle and the lid is put on to steam the bread, ensuring a crisp crust. This is even easier than spraying the bread and/or the oven! The lid is removed for the last 15-20 minutes of baking, and when it’s done, it just pops right out of the pan!.. Of course the hardest part is waiting for it to cool enough to slice it easily. Sometimes we succeed with this step, sometimes not.



I did experiment with a 2 ½ qt pan, but in the end decided that the 3 qt pan gave me the size loaf I wanted.
I think letting it rise the full 18 hours gives it a tangy, sourdough taste. For us it’s a great compromise between a saltless Umbrian bread that’s perfect for bruschetta and a soft white sandwich style bread that’s good for sandwiches.

Right now I have dough made using 1 cup of rye flour and 2 cups of bread flour. Of course I also added 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds since that’s the way I like my rye bread. It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out!

With a few adjustments, here's my version of the recipe. Don't be afraid to experiment! For the original version click on the link for the NY Times article.

No Knead Bread

3 cups bread flour, more for dusting (430 gr)
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Water (1 ½ - 1 5/8 cups), tepid

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours rising

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Put dough seam side down on plastic wrap. Cover with more plastic wrap and a cotton towel and let rise for about 2-3 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450ºF. Put a 3-4 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that’s okay. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.