Fighting with Focaccia

My focus still remains on bread. After working with the basic no-knead recipe from Jim Lahey's my bread, I was eager to move on to more complex recipes. I started small and made wheat bread. Wheat bread is fundamentally the same as basic white bread, except it is a mixture of wheat flour and bread flour. Like my previous loafs, it was a success. The mixture of flours allows for more flavor, without the typical overwhelming wheat flavor. I am usually not a fan of store-bought wheat bread, so I assumed that I just didn't like wheat bread. If this is you, make your own. It is a very different experience. Since I was feeling all high and mighty about my bread, I decided to skip far ahead into the book and try to make focaccia. Focaccia is one of my favorite breads. Pair it with olive oil, salt, and rosemary, and there is nothing better in the world. So, why not try it? To my surprise, the recipe called for two medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes. I didn't know what on earth you would be using them for, but as I read on he explains that he uses the potatoes as the liquid to lighten the bread. You boil the potatoes until they are able to be penetrated by a fork and then blend the potatoes and water together. Once it cools, that is added to your flour mixture to form your dough. Unlike the other recipes, this bread only takes a total of 3-4 hours to rise. This helped me later on when trying to make it so many times. I made the dough, let it rise, and put it in the oven. The first (of many) was a failure. It hadn't risen at all and burned until crisp. Surprisingly, I tasted kind of good; but, that was most likely due to the immense amounts of olive oil and salt on it. However, I did not lose hope. I figured I just needed to be more focused. So, I tried again. This time I figured I should change a few things, since obviously there was something wrong with the way I did it before. I switched out the baking sheet that I used for a lighter color, because it is possible that the black pan that I had used may have attributed to its burning. I also added more yeast to the dough hoping for a more successful rise. But to my dismay, it turned out basically the same. It was a little less burnt, but that is only because I took it out sooner. I was going to write this post yesterday hoping that I would have a solution to my problem, but it did not turn out like I had planned. However, I still did not give up. Today I tried again. This time I let the dough rise in a ceramic bowl instead of a metal one, proofed the dough in the oven, hoping for a more stable environment, and added 1/4 of a teaspoon more yeast. I let the dough rise and to my amazement it looked great. This dough looked nothing like any of my other attempts, which gave me a sense of hope. It had tripled in size, was light and airy, and looked very moist. I was way more excited than I should have been just in seeing a bowl of bread dough. As I pulled the dough out of the bowl onto the baking sheet, you could see an array of gluten strands. I also got way too excited to see those. I put the dough back into the oven to finish rising and it got even taller, which is a great sign. Once the last rise was complete I put it in the oven, and anxiously awaited it completion. I bet you are thinking right about now that there is going to be a happy end to this story. Well there isn't. I pulled it out of the oven 15 minutes before the lowest recommended time, and still it was completely stuck to the pan, and crispy on the top. I am sharing this with you not to show you how I have failed 5 times but to show that things take time. Patience really is key. I am still not discouraged, a little frustrated, but not defeated. This is just a new challenge. One I am fully confident that I will overcome. And then immediately share with you. Bread is truly amazing. I strongly encourage everyone to try making bread. Its not hard. I promise. Maybe just don't start with focaccia.