Focaccia in bread machine?

[Deanna]

For the dinner I'm preparing next week (Lindrusso's Marinara, Italian Meatballs) I'm thinking of making Focaccia. I'm nowhere near expert at baking yeast breads so this recipe caught my eye.

Does anyone have another Focaccia recipe for the bread machine, or has anyone even made it that way? Any tips or suggestions will be appreciated.

Focaccia for the Bread Machine
Recipe By : Donna German The Bread Machine Cookbook II

--1 large loaf--

1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon basil -- or rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon yeast

--Topping--

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons basil -- or rosemary
1 teaspoon sea salt -- optional

--2 small loaves--

2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon basil -- or rosemary
2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

--Topping--

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon basil -- or rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt -- optional

Remove dough from machine and, using your fingers, press the dough onto a lightly greased pizza pan or baking sheet. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Spread topping over dough and bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 30 minutes.

[Wendy w]

Hi Deanna,

I have had great success with this one.

Fresh Rosemary Onion Focaccia
(from Lora Brody's Pizza, Focaccia, Flat and Filled Breads From Your Bread Machine-one "drooler" of a book, I may add)

Serves 6-8

Dough:
1 lg Spanish Onion (approx. 10 ozs.), peeled, cut into 8ths, and cooked in 2 T olive oil (see author's hints)
1 T yeast
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 cups all purpose flour
2 t. salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup fresh rosemary leaves

Place all ingredients excpet for the cooked onion in machine, program for dough and press start. At the end of the final knead, add the onion (but not liquid) to the machine. Restart and knead only until the onion is roughly mixed in. The dough will be wet (and how) and the onion will remain in clumps, sticking out of the dough. Turn the dough out on a well-floured board and knead briefly by hand to form a ball. This is peasant bread, and the dough will reflect this.

Oil a pizza pan or baking sheet. Place the dough on the prepared pan and pat into a 12-inch disk. Coat the top with onion juices. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise either at room temperature until doubled in bulk, or in the refrigerator overnight. A long cold rise in the refrigeraror will result in a more flavorful bread with a heartier interior (this is what I did and found it to be fool-proof).

Finishing:
1 to 2 T olive oil or garlic oil
coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 with the rqack in the center position. Just before baking the dough, use your fingertips to gently make indentations in the surface. Drizzle on the oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the o9ven to 350 and bake for another 12-15 minutue, or until the focaccia is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Author's hints:
Onion can be prepared in either a microwave or on the stove top. In the microwave: place the onion and oil in a microwavable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 8-12 minutes or until the onion is very soft and ihas just started to turn golden. Let the onion stay in the covered dish to cool. For stovetop: Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very soft and has just started to turn golden. Allow the onion to cool in the pan. When the onion is cooled, strain off the cooking liquid into a small bowl, prssing down on the garlic to release as much liquid as possible.

This can be served hot from the oven, or at room temperature slathered with goat cheese, or it can be used to make crostini. While focaccia is best eaten the day it's made, it's fine toasted the next day. The trick is to keep it at room temperature. If you wish to freeze, cool, then wrap airtight in plastic wrap-it can be frozen for 6 months. Defrost while still wrapped.

The dough can be made up to 48 hrs ahead of time -I did this.
Place in a large well-oiled bowl, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you are ready to roll out and bake. Or, you can roll out the dough, cover it with oiled plastic wrap, and refrigerate for the final rise, or even overnight.

[Deanna]

Wow, thanks Wendy! Your recipe sounds wonderful -- I like the addition of the cornmeal, gives it a more rustic taste and texture. I also like that you can make it ahead. I'll give it a try!

d

[pschambers]

This has always turned out well for me:

Focaccia
from More Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway

Dough
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp Red Star yeast

Place dough ingredients in bread pan and select dough cycle
Remove from pan when dough has risen long enough and turn onto a lightly floured counter. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Topping
2-3 Tbsps olive oil
1-2 cloves minced garlic
Kosher salt to taste

Combine the olive oil and garlic and set aside
Brush a 15x10x1 jelly-roll pan with a little olive oil. Gently stretch and press dough to fit pan.
Cover and let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Poke holes with finger all over dough. Drizzle garlic oil on top and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until brown.
Cool.

[Deanna]

Ooh! Another one to try! I love the addition of minced garlic on top...sounds great!

Thanks for sharing, pschambers!! (I think I'll do a trial run tomorrow; can't have too much focaccia!)

d

[123Alice]

In the More Bread Machine Magic book by Rehberg and Conway, they give many creative suggestions for foccacia bread. Also, I have a recipe I've made a couple of times and it always turned out nicely. It's from Bread Machine Magic by those same two authors. I've listed the creative suggestions and the recipe below.

Creative Suggestions

Add to the topping fresh herbs of choice, such as rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme or parsley.

Omit topping. In a large covered skillet on low heat, saute 2 large sliced onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add some minced garlic and freshly ground black pepper during the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Top the foccacia dough with the onion mixture and fresh rosemary; bake as directed.

To the topping add a layer of thinly sliced onion rings and a layer of thinly sliced fresh tomatoes, freshly ground black pepper to taste, chopped fresh basil, and freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese.

Omit topping. Brush the dough with 3 tablespoons of a good Italian salad dressing, sprinkle with some Italian herb seasoning and chopped sun-dried tomatoes to taste.

Omit topping. Bake foccacia dough plain. Meanwhile, combine 1 cup very soft butter or margarine with 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley; 1 large garlic clove, minced; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Remove baked foccacia from the oven and allow to cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Spread with butter mixture. Place under the broiler just briefly to brown. Watch closely to prevent burning.

Add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the topping.

Omit the kosher salt in the topping. Add 1/3 cup coarsely chopped black olives, 1/3 cup chopped roasted red peppers, and 3 ounces of crumbled feta, goat, or smoked mozzarella cheese.

To the topping add 1/4 cup finely julienned sun-dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions, 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

To the dough add 1/4 cup chopped fresh onion and 2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning.

I've also seen foccacia with thinly sliced bell pepper rings on top at grocery stores.




Foccacia

Dough

1 cup water (for Welbilt/Dak machines add 2 tablespoons more water)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 & 1/2 teaspoons yeast, except 1 & 1/2 pound Panasonic/National machines (use 3 teaspoons yeast) and 1 & 1/2 pound Welbilt/Dak machines (use 2 teaspoons yeast)

Topping

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup (2 ounces) freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Place dough ingredients in bread pan, select Dough setting, and press start.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a floured countertop or cutting board.

Oil a 10x15x1 inch jelly-roll pan. With your hands, gently stretch and press dough to fit evenly into pan.

Cover and let rise in warm oven 30 to 40 minutes until doubled. (Hint: To warm oven slightly, turn oven on Warm setting for 2 minutes, then turn it off, and place covered dough in oven to rise. Remove pan from oven to preheat.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

With 2 fingers, poke holes all over the dough. In a medium bowl, combine the oil and garlic; drizzle over top of dough. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until brown. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack or cut into squares and serve warm. Wrapped in plastic, it will keep fresh at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

[Deanna]

Wow, thanks Alice -- those are some GREAT topping suggestions. I happen to have some fresh basil and sun dried tomatoes, I will try one with that.

One question, though. When the dough is ready to come out of the machine, it says to put on a floured board. Are we then to knead it, or just let it rest there while oiling the baking sheet?

thanks for taking the time to enter all this information, I promis it will go to good use!

d

[123Alice]

My understanding is that you just let it rest on the floured surface while oiling the pan.

[Deanna]

great! thanks for the answer.

d

[Deanna]

Another question...if I'm going to use the sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (bought the jar and then discovered they have a lot of oil) would you suggest I heat them or drain them to get rid of excess oil? I don't want a greasy mess atop my focaccia!

tks

d

[123Alice]

That's a bit tricky...are you just adding the tomatoes to the topping mix of 3 T olive oil, garlic and parmesan? I'd think that you could just use less olive oil in this mix since the tomatoes will add some of their own. (I don't know what type of oil the tomatoes are kept in and if it would matter if it wasn't olive oil.) If you are just using the tomatoes and basil for the topping, I'd think that it would be okay to keep the oil, because I think the bread is really a lot better with a little oil on top. I personally wouldn't want my foccacia too oily either! But, I bet that a lot of people love it more the more oil it has. It might be really easy to just place the tomatoes between some paper towels and press the oil out if you're too worried about it being oily. I don't think you can go too wrong any way you do it, but do let me know your results, because I've never tried using sundried tomatoes before, and I'm sure it will taste great!

Alice

[Deanna]

Thanks for the quick response, Alice. Will let you know how it turns out!

d

[Deanna]

Wendy, I'm using the recipe you posted...

I didn't add the onion because I was afraid to! It is in really large pieces, since you only cut the onion into eighths. I wish I could watch you make this! I think I will put the onion on top.

When the dough comes out of the bread machine, boy oh boy is it wet! Am I supposed to add a fair amount of flour to this when I knead to dry the dough somewhat? At the moment, it's just pressed out on a baking sheet, in the oven rising.

Will keep you posted on the progress. But it's really WET!

d