Ligurian Focaccia (and Recipe Planner)

This recipe is my adaptation of Samin Nosrat’s Ligurian Focaccia, rewritten in a style loosely inspired by literate programming.

Why rearrange it so? I know how to make this recipe and I know I have all the ingredients, but I always forget the timings and orderings. Here, the timing is the most prominent organizing principle (as opposed to, say, the ingredients list) so that you can at-a-glance see how much work needs to be done when, thereby making it easier to both plan around it and jump back into it when your timer goes off.

In addition to organizing the whole recipe around the timings, I’ve also replaced an up-front ingredient list with prominent per-step lists (for a recipe that takes this long, it doesn’t always make sense to pull everything out at the beginning), streamlined some of the content (by removing some volume measurements and changing text related to timing) and added my own tweaks (like how to make it soft-bottomed).

As always with any recipe, you should read the entire thing before starting. While the steps as written are spaced precisely (5 minutes here, 15 minutes there), some gaps between steps are actually ranges and are noted as such in the step’s text. For organizing, I use the lower end of the range so that you don’t accidentally overshoot, but it also means that the time estimates provided are not exact.

Lastly, the times shown in each step are all linked to one another and you can adjust any of them to see how all the steps can fit around your meetings or chores. That is, assuming you aren’t reading this in an RSS reader or a browser from 1994, in which case you’ll see no times at all (sorry!).

Enjoy!

part 1 (10 minutes total)

10 minutes of work

In a medium bowl, stir together

600 grams lukewarm water
½ teaspoon dry yeast
15 grams honey

until dissolved.

In a very large bowl, whisk together

800 grams all-purpose flour
18 grams salt

Add yeast mixture and

50 grams olive oil

to flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until just incorporated, then scrape the sides of the bowl clean and cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature to ferment for 8 to 12 hours until at least doubled in volume.

flexible wait (8-12 hours)

part 2 (2 hours total)

5 minutes of work

Spread

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

evenly onto a 18-by-13 inch (46-by-33 cm) rimmed baking sheet. Use a spatula or your hand to release it from the sides of the bowl and pour out onto pan. Pour an additional

2 tablespoons olive oil

over dough and gently spread across. Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward. The dough will shrink a bit, so rest it for 15 minutes, then repeat stretching.

15 minutes later

1 minute of work

Repeat gentle stretching of dough. Rest another 15 minutes.

15 minutes later

5 minutes of work

Dimple the dough by pressing the pads of your first three fingers in at an angle. Make the brine by stirring together

80 grams lukewarm water
5 grams salt

until salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the dough to fill dimples. Proof focaccia until light and bubbly, about 45 minutes.

30 minutes later

1 minute of work

Adjust oven rack to center position.

If you prefer a crispy bottom, place a baking stone or inverted, sturdy baking sheet on the rack and allow it to preheat with the oven until very hot.

If you prefer a soft bottom, place another rack below the first and put an empty baking sheet on it to insulate the upper rack from the heat source below.

Preheat oven to 450°F (235°C).

15 minutes later

1 minute of work

Sprinkle focaccia with

flaky salt

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes directly on top of stone or inverted pan (if using) until bottom crust is crisp and golden brown when checked with a metal spatula.