Comments on: Focaccia five ways.

By: Bob Biga

Bob Biga — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:57:41 +0000

I love that you used the proper word for the starter. As you can see that is my last name in Italian and Greek the other meaning is 2 horsed chariot. Actually there are 12 bakeries with the biga name throughout the country. I let my biga if you will rise in the refrigerator over night no longer than 12 hrs. once it has the final rise I section off 2×2 sections and bake. My grand sons call it “poppa’s big boy bread” I cut it in half and put ham and cheese on it, slather EVOO on both sides and give it a shot in the panini press. Even the adults go ga ga over it. I also make mine as a pizza. I”m 70 plus so its getting harder fir this old bird anymore. It”s usually on special occasions anymore. Good eating Bob Biga.

Bob, thanks for upholding your good name all these years! Your family is lucky to have a bread-baker in their midst… - PJH

By: Rona

Rona — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:20:14 +0000

I absolutely love! all the suggestions on this site and your expertise is invaluable, I just wish I could get king Arthur products, they are not on sale in my country. But I just love this site,it’s just wonderful, many thank’s.

Rona, you can always order our products online and have them shipped to you in Great Britain- PJH

By: Lynn Pelletier

Lynn Pelletier — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:38:46 +0000

Thank you so much for this wonderful site - so generous of you to share all these fabulous recipes. I have spent the summer testing several -lol. Although I’ve made focaccia before, this version has become the family favorite. It’s awesome!!! I have two half-sheet pans (perforated) so I use one for the bread and set the other on top while it’s rising (top rim to top rim). It fits perfectly and there’s plenty of room to rise.

Love the bread stick idea, but so far we haven’t had any left over to try it with!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:36:16 +0000

TRY THAT GRAPE FOCACCIA! I’ve served it at a couple of birthday dinner parties, and people love it. There’s something about hot grapes that just gets to people.

By: Christian Carter

Christian Carter — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:02:19 +0000

I just finished mixing up the starter. I am so excited to hit up the farmers market for some grapes or cheese or something tomorrow, and make this bread when I get home from work. Thanks for this wonderful blog, and wonderful flour!

You’re welcome, Christian, and good luck with your focaccia - sounds like it’ll be a winner. The one I make with grapes is unusual, but VERY good… Check it out at kingarthurflour.com - Rosemary & Grape Focaccia- PJH

By: Rcmp Commercial Crime Division Gaming Stocks

Rcmp Commercial Crime Division Gaming Stocks — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:54:05 +0000

found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later ..

By: MikeLib

MikeLib — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:19:09 +0000

Over 25 years ago I use to live in Greenwich Village, NY. For over 20 years, on Sunday I would go to one of the local Bakery to buy focaccia bread to have for breakfast. The bakery only sold the focaccia on Sunday because the rest of the week they were slicing the focaccia and toasting it. They sold it to all local restaurants and they called it Riviera Toast.

One Sunday I went to bakery and there was a notice on the door that the IRS closed the bakery because they did not pay their Federal Tax. Bummer since then I have learned to make a good focaccia bread. I have the recipe down pat were the dough is mixed, knead and rises in a round 1 ½ gallon plastic container.
My favorite topping is diced red onions, soaked in red wine vinegar, poppy seeds and olive oil. It makes a great Sunday breakfast.

Interesting topping, Mike - with the vinegar. I’ll have to try that one next, thanks- PJH

By: Lee

Lee — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:21:11 +0000

Hi PJ, thanks for the tip on mixing the patent and bread flour, it worked like a dream! Maybe a little lighter than most foccacia I’ve had, but awesome. I made feta and rosemary-flavored (together). (Just a tip: I should have oiled the pan more as the feta stuck in some places.) One question: I found forming it into the pan was kind of difficult, did you knead the dough and then roll it out or something?
This morning for breakfast I made a yummy toasted foccacia sandwich with brie and tomato confit.

Hi Lee - Glad the flour combo worked. Did you grease the pan, AND oil it with olive oil as well? I just push the kneaded dough into the pan, no rolling it out. When it starts to shrink back, I walk away for 10-15 minutes, then push it some more… You do need patience. You’llalso figure out what method works best for YOU. Good luck - PJH

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:40:33 +0000

I made this for a double birthday party July 2nd. It was soooo good. Everyone, including me, couldn’t stop eating it and it was easy to make. I made the olive oil, fresh rosemary, tuscan sea salt blend kind. Can’t wait to make it again.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:17 +0000

I just now took a cheese-stuffed focaccia out of the oven. It looks exactly like the picture posted here. Man, is that good! I made it today because I had a little feta in the fridge that needed to be used. I was expecting the focaccia to be good, but this is exceptional! I need to bake this one again, soon! How would it be with pepper-jack cheese? or maybe brie? I’m going right back into the kitchen to whip up another starter so that I can bake another one of these tomorrow.

PJ - another winner! Thanks!

Tom

Tom, I won’t say it’s hard to go wrong with yeast bread… but maybe it’s easy to go right? I swear, anything with flour, water, yeast, salt, olive oil, and a bit of time comes out wonderfully well. I think any cheese would work with this, some, of course, becoming more melty than others (which is a GOOD thing… what’s not to like with melted cheese, right?) - Let us know how your tomorrow loaf turns out. Have fun- PJH