Signature Challenge – Focaccia Bread

Bread week, of the current season of The Great British Baking Show, featured a signature challenge of focaccia bread. A signature challenge is one where the bakers are asked in advance to take a traditional food item and give it their own twist. Of course the signature challenge was won by an Italian, Giuseppe, who used his grandmother’s recipe. His focaccia was so good, Paul Hollywood shook Giuseppe’s hand and asked for his recipe.

Andrew and I enjoy watching the GBBS and challenging ourselves to make some of the food featured on the show. Focaccia seemed easy so we tried it. With Halloween approaching the bread seemed to be the perfect thing to give to our neighbors. In past years we have made cupcakes and cookies, but this year we wanted to forgo sweets in favor of something savory.

Our first stop was a trip to the vegetable garden, where the remnants of the season still yielded some basil, chivies rosemary and sage. We found a recipe for focaccia on-line, ostensibly Paul Hollywood’s own recipe. Having never made focaccia, we were a little bewildered at the wetness of the dough. We didn’t need to worry as it was simple to make and delicious to eat.

Our signature spin is the Halloween theme. We used black olives and halved tomatoes to create a pattern of spiders and splotches of blood. Bloody spider focaccia looked good and was a pleasure to eat. Here is how we made it:

Olive Oil

2.5 Cups Bread Flour

360 ml Cool Water

2 teaspoons salt

10 grams of yeast

Can of large black olives

Chopped Sage, Rosemary, Chives and Basil

Small tomatoes

Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 110 degrees (Fahrenheit)

Ingredients:

1. Oil a glass bowl with olive oil.
2. In a metal bowl, place the flour in the center. On one side place the yeast and on the other side place the salt. Make a well in the center. Into the well pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil and 3/4 cup of the water.
3. Using a circular motion with your index finger, initially on the edge of the bowl, combine the ingredients. When the ingredients are coming together add the remaining water.
4. Pour some olive oil on the counter top.
5. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it for 10 minutes.
6. Place the dough in the oiled glass bowl, cover with a cloth and place it in the warm oven for 1 hour.
7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle olive oil on the parchment paper.
8. Remove the dough from the oven. Carefully take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the parchment paper. Do not handle the dough too much, as you do not want to knock too much air out of it. Gently spread the dough out to form a rectangle.
9. Cover the baking sheet. A plastic bag could be used to cover the dough, but we used a second same sized baking sheet to make a cover for the dough.
10. Return the dough to the oven for 1 hour.
11. While the dough is rising, cut the olives in half. Keep one half, slice the remaining half into fourths (these will be the legs of the spider). Cut enough to make the number of spiders you want on your bread. Cut the tomatoes in half and use the blunt end of a dinner knife to remove the pulp and seeds.
12. Remove the dough from the oven and immediately set the oven temperature to 425 degrees (Fahrenheit).
13. The focaccia dough should be roughly twice the size of what it was when it went into the oven. Gently, using your finger tips, press the down to create dimples.
14. Sprinkle the chopped herbs on top of the dough. Scatter the parmesan cheese on top of the herbs. Arrange the olive halves on the dough and use the quartered halves to create legs. Place the tomatoes, cut side down, randomly around the spiders.
15. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Focaccia is easy to make. While it takes time to make it, the time is largely just waiting for the dough to rise. An important note about the yeast. A package of yeast from the grocery store is 7 grams. The recipe calls for 10 grams. We have made it with just 7 grams, but the dough does not rise to the desired height. The taste was generally fine, but the appearance is improved by using the full 10 grams. When making the focaccia to give as gifts we bought aluminum trays, with plastic lids, from the dollar store. We baked the lined the aluminum trays with parchment paper and used the plastic lid in the second prove to provide the sealed environment (of course we removed the plastic lids when we baked them – the 425 degree oven would have melted the plastic). The signature challenge episode of the baking show demonstrated, focaccia bread is easy to customize using different herbs and vegetables.

As a Halloween gift we smiled when we told people we were serving them bloody spiders. Who doesn’t like the sound of something creepy that you can eat. Our neighbors humored us and told us it tasted delicious. Now we need to start thinking of an idea for next Halloween. What will you put on your focaccia? Happy baking!

“There is not a thing that is more positive than bread.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky