Overnight foccacia - the only foccacia recipe you’ll need

This recipe has 6-8 servings

Ingredients

– 450 g All-purpose flour

-400 g Room temp water

– 25g Salt

– 2,5 g Instant dry yeast

Method

1. Start by adding 350 ml of water to your mixer, then pour in all the flour. Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms, scraping down the sides as needed.Cover the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour to relax – this is called autolyse (scroll down for more)

2. While the dough rests, dissolve the yeast in the remaining 50 ml of lukewarm water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Afterward, pour the yeast mixture into the mixer bowl with the dough and mix on low speed until absorbed. Then add the salt and mix on medium speed until the dough is elastic and sticky.

3. Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover it, and let it rise in a warm spot (23-25° C) until doubled in size, about 3-4 hours.

4. After rising, gently press the air out of the dough, do a stretch and fold, and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours.

5. When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your baking dish with baking paper.

6. Transfer the dough to the prepared dish, cover it, and let it rise in a warm spot for 3 hours at 23-25° C.

7. After rising, gently stretch the dough to fill the pan if necessary, cover it, and let it relax for another hour.

8. Stretch the dough again to fill the pan evenly if needed, and let it rest for an additional hour before proceeding.

9. Once stretched, top the dough with green pesto, vegan feta and olives. Let it sit for 15 minutes before baking.

10. Finally, preheat your oven to 220° C and bake the foccacia until the surface is golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

Why let it rise for 5 hours at room temp?

The longer the resting time, the better and more diversified the microorganisms will be, which will enhance the taste, aroma and consistency of the dough.

Why let it rise in the fridge?

Cold rise is letting the dough rest in the fridge, for up to 72 h, typically after the warm rise and also followed by a warm rise. Long, slow fermentation allows both yeasts and bacteria more time to generate flavor compounds. And the cycle of cooling and rewarming redistributes the dough gasses (from small bubbles into the water phase, then back out into larger bubbles), and encourages the development of a more open, irregular crumb structure, which is so magical to see. As a rule, the less yeast goes into the dough, and the longer the rise, the better the flavor of the finished product and more easily digestible it will be.

What is autolyse?

Autolyse involves mixing flour and water together and allowing them to rest before adding other ingredients like salt and yeast. During this resting period, enzymes in the flour begin to break down starches into simpler sugars, and gluten formation begins without the addition of yeast or salt.

Autolyse serves several purposes:

1. Improved Dough Texture: Allowing the flour and water to hydrate fully before

kneading helps develop gluten more efficiently, resulting in a smoother, more

extensible dough.

2. Enhanced Flavor: The enzymatic activity during autolyse contributes to the

development of complex flavors in the dough, enhancing its overall taste profile.

3. Reduced Kneading Time: By allowing the dough to rest during autolyse, the

subsequent kneading time can be reduced, as the gluten network has already

begun to develop.

4. Better Dough Handling: Autolyse improves dough extensibility, making it easier to handle during shaping and stretching.

Overall, autolyse is a valuable technique in bread and pizza dough making, contributing to better texture, flavor, and handling characteristics of the final product.

Overnight foccacia – the only foccacia recipe you’ll need