Focaccia Bread

[Billett]

I'm starting to cook more and more at home these days, I tried a focaccia bread recipe from the latest River Cottage book but had a few problems so any help would be greatful.

I tried the recipe twice, the first i used a too small tin and the middle didn't cook, so the second time i halved the ingredients and used he same tin, but even after letting it rise twice and knocking it back when i finally cooked it, it hardly rose at all.

any ideas why this would happen?

[scaryjim]

The second time it sounds like you probably over-proved it - if you let it rise too long there's nothing left to do when it gets in the oven! Also, I assume you didn't knock it back after the second rise? If you did, you'll have knocked all the air out of it so it wouldn't rise anyway. The second rise should be done on the tray or tin you're going to bake it in...

What kind of oven you have and how hot you have it makes a big difference: I have an electric oven that also doubles as a grill so you get far too much radiant heat from the top element: my current trick is to stick a baking tray on the top shelf of the oven, above the baking bread, which reflects the radiant heat back upwards and around the oven, prevent the top of the bread burning.

You could try making little Foccaccia rolls: there's a better chance of getting some usable bread from a batch of small breads than a single large loaf.

[Billett]

I did knock it back after the second rise, although I did let it rise for a lot less time on the second rise. I'll give it another go altering the timings and only knocking it back the once.

I like the idea of the baking tray! cant say I've heard that one before.

I'l keep you posted how the next attempt goes

[Zak33]

I don't think you're supposed to knock it back twice.

Knocking back involves squishing the air pockets that HAVE grown from the warmth and the yeast/sugar, and that makes the pockets all stick otgether again creating a finer loaf.. smaller air pockets.

BUT to knock it back TWICE is too much I reckon.

My non-italian-blood guess is:

Knead.. prove (let it rise in the warmth with a wet towel over it) ,,,knock back, roll out, oil/salt/herbs... stick your fingers in all over the top so it's covered in dents to hold the flavours...colver with wet towel again and let it rise/prove... cook.

I think.

The thing about foaccia is that its flat.. and often has herbs, oil, salt on it's top, pushed into it.. so it won't go up like a loaf....

[stavroshamster]

When I do foccacia I don't do it in a tin, but roll it out fairly flat, then let it prove for about 30 minutes on a baking sheet before pushing dimples in the top with my fingers to hold the olive oil/garlic which you drizzle on top. It only ever ends up about an inch or so thick....

[scaryjim]

My non-italian-blood guess is:

...

Sounds about right, from a non-italian but keen breadmaking perspective

The baking tray trick is something my wife suggested when I mentioned to her I was concerned about the tops of the loaves burning. It certainly seemed to prevent the excessive direct heat from the "grill" section of the oven without significantly reducing the overall temperature in the oven.

The other trick that's worth trying is to use one of those spray bottles you can get to spray water into the oven when you put the loaf in - this helps to keep the temperature even in the oven and will also help to prevent the bread drying out too much - I think - anyway, I tried it last time I baked the bread came out pretty well

[Zak33]

my current trick is to stick a baking tray on the top shelf of the oven, above the baking bread, which reflects the radiant heat back upwards and around the oven, prevent the top of the bread burning.

I'm a lucky boy with a new Bosch double over, with not only Fan Oven, and Top and Bottom heat, (excellent for pizza) but a great rotisseria effect, which (clearly doesn't rotate my oven!!) puts the top element on until it's red hot.. then turns it OFf and turns on the fan,... blows the hot air about.. and then turns off the fan and on with the top heat again.

I use it loads.. tops off the colour of stuff and cooks the last 5-10 minutes of loaves too