Focaccia Master Class Video | Part 4: Topping And Baking

Wow! We’re getting very close to a true gourmet experience. The aroma of freshly baked bread makes everyone hungry – and served with a little butter it’s a meal in itself. So, here are the final touches…

You could put the dough piece immediately onto the oiled baking sheet or tray, but I find that it is easier to spread out the focaccia if it has relaxed. Pat, stretch or manipulate the dough so that it fills up the baking sheet. Thicker focaccia is better than thinner, because you can slice it open and use it for sandwiches.

How you top it is up to you. Just keep it simple. If you add too much tomato sauce and other toppings, you have pizza, which is really OK, I guess, since there is no well defined line where focaccia stops and pizza begins.

I let the focaccia proof for 45 minutes, and bake very hot at 500 degrees for 18 minutes and turn the oven temp down to 350 for the last 5 minutes.

That’s it! If on a Saturday I start the preferment at 6, I mix the dough around 11 or 12, and have the focaccia out of the oven at 5 to 5:30. If I’m going to a party, sometimes I take the focaccia on the baking tray and bake it at the house. There are unlimited variations of toppings and possible ways to change this process. But the fundamental technique is to keep the dough wet or slack, and do everything that you can to encourage fermentation, either with yeast only, or probiotic enhanced. I guarantee that it will work and that it will taste great!