When Annalena was a ragazzo, she and her sisters used to torment their Nonna whenever she made focaccia. It LOOKED like a pizza, but there was no tomato on it, and no mozzarella. Nana called it focaccia, and of course, the bambini renamed it, because "Nana fogotta da tomatoes."
Annalena never said she was good as a child. While she doesn't regret being a child and doing that (Nana eventually started calling it fogotta pizza too), she wishes she had watched her Nana make it. Because focaccia is NOT pizza. And Annalena has tried at least a dozen recipes claiming to be the "definitive" one, and has found them all lacking. BUT... Ms. Clark of the New York Times published a recipe this week, which has supplanted all in Annalena's mind. What follows is Annalena's interpretation of that recipe.
A big difference between focaccia and pizza, is the amount of oil in focaccia. That is what makes it so substantial, and why you will see slices of it in the baskets of mixed bread, in good Italian restaurants. Because tomato sauce is not used, you have a great deal of liberty in making the stuff. Some restaurants and bakers do in fact add tomato back to the focaccia dough, usually in the form of paste or dried tomatoes, but generally, you will find herbs, olives, things of this nature. The amount of oil, however, means that focaccia does not keep well, and this becomes a problem, because it is usually baked in huge sheets. So if there are two, or three, or even four of you, you will make too much focaccia, and wind up tossing it.
Another issue is that focaccia should taste different from pizza. At its base, it is almost a mix of fried, and baked bread. So, how do we address these issues.
Ms Clark's solution, if Annalena does say so herself, is brilliant" rather than bake the focaccia in a large sheet, she suggests baking rounds of it, in 9 inch cake pans. Also, rather than do what is a tradition in focaccia making, which is dimpling the dough and making puddles of oil in it (which inevitably spill on you when you eat it), she adds a good quantity of oil to the bottom of the pan. This, too, is brilliant, both for "bake frying" the dough, and also for distributing the oil throughout the dough, as we shall see.
Ok, so let's get started. We need 1.5 cups of water, 4 teaspoons (which is one tablespoon, and one teaspoon) of dry yeast, 3/4 cup of olive oil a talbespoon of salt, 4 cups of regular white flour, and one of whole wheat. Put all of this in a big bowl, and with your mixer, get it going. Do be warned that with all the oil in the dough, this is not going to cohere like a loaf of bread, or a pizza dough. It IS going to be a bit problematic, if that's what you look for. Don't. Just look for an even combining of everything. Then, put it aside, covered, for a good two hours. (the recipe said one hour. This is way too short a time).
Keep checking the dough by poking a finger deep into it, and then coming back in ten minutes. If the hole fills, it is not ready. If it does not, it is. When it is ready, you need to divide it into three pieces, and either freeze it if you are not using it, or use it right away.
This later point is important, because as Annalena found out, if you let the focaccia dough rise, it becomes very delicate, which is good, but prone to tearing, which is not. So she suggests you put two of the portions into your freezer, and work with the third one.
Annalena's topping here, was ramps (get em while you can), and a very soft sheeps milk cheese which she had left over from dinner with Ginger peachy. You can use whatever you like, but if you do the ramp topping, get a small bunch of leeks, wash them, and then chop the leaves into slices. As usual, we do not need surgical precision here. Put a tablespoon of oil in a small pan (olive oil, please) and at medium heat, saute' the whole bulb portion of the ramps until they begin to brown (careful readers will see that you can use green garlic, scallions, or any member of the lily family we have discussed. You could even use chopped garlic cloves). You need about two minutes. Then add the leaves, stir them in the hot oil, and your topping is finished, except for maybe a bit of salt and hot pepper.
Put another 3 tablespoons of oil into a 9 inch cake pan, and then start pressing the dough into it. This is NOT an easy dough to work with, so perservere. You will notice that while you do this, the oil oozes over the entire surface of the dough. This is PRECISELY what you want to happen.
When you have it spread out as much as you think you can, then put the topping on, and put it in a 450 oven, for fifteen minutes (Ms. Clark's recommended time of 30 minutes would have burned Annalena's focaccia to a crisp). Keep an eye on it. You want some uneven browning, but browning is indeed what you want. Not tan, BROWN. and when you're there, if you wish to use a soft cheese, put it over the top, turn off the oven, and let it sit for about five minutes.
All the oil in the pan will make this very easy to take out and serve forth. You COULD cut it into pieces in the pan, but if you like your baking ware, you won't do this.
How many does this serve? How hungry are you ? Truly, Annalena can eat a whole one herself. Plan accordingly ragazzi, and watch your Nanas cook. You won't regret it.
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