Focaccia Caprese
 
 
Author:
Recipe type: Bakes
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
For the Dough
  • 2 tsp instant yeast
  • 1½ tbsp sugar
  • 3½ cups bread flour*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ cup oil (preferably olive oil)
  • 1 to 1½ cups warm water
  • A little more olive oil for brushing dough
For the Topping
  • 4-5 larg-ish tomatoes, sliced thin
  • 6"-7” round piece of fresh buffalo mozzarella** (cut into ¼” slices
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
For the Herbed Oil
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • ¼ to ½ tsp red chilli flakes
  • ½ tsp finely minced garlic/ paste
  • Salt to taste
  • Fresh basil leaves for garnishing
Instructions
To make the herbed oil
  1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together. Keep this mixture aside till required.
To make the dough:
  1. Put the instant yeast, sugar, flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl and mix well.
  2. Then add 1 cup of warm water (and as much more as you need) and knead until you have a soft elastic dough which is just short of being sticky.
  3. Shape the dough into a round and place it in a well-oiled bowl.
  4. Turn it around for a bit so that the oil coats the dough.
  5. Cover and let it rise till it almost doubles in volume. This should take about 60-75 minutes.
  6. With this dough you can make two medium sized Focaccias.
  7. For the rectangular Focaccia, take two rectangular pans (approx 11" by 7") and oil them well.
  8. Divide the dough into two equal portions and lightly roll them till it is about ¾" thick.
  9. Place the rolled out dough on the baking pan and push the dough with your fingers to keep it evenly thick throughout.
  10. Keep the rolled out dough aside for about 20 minutes.
  11. Lightly oil your fingertips and press into the dough creating dimples on it.
  12. Brush the surface of the dough liberally with oil.
  13. Bake the focaccia at 210C for about 18 to 20 minutes till it is almost done and is beginning to turn golden brown.
  14. Take the Focaccia out and increase the temperature of your oven to 230C.
  15. Lightly drizzle some of the herbed oil over the Focaccia.
  16. Now arrange mozarella sliced on the bread, leaving very little space between the slices. Arrange the tomato slices over this and a little sprinkle the chopped basil over this. The topping should cover most of the surface of the bread.
  17. Drizzle some more of the Herbed Oil over the topping and bake the bread again for about 5 minutes or so till the cheese melts.
  18. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
  19. While it is hot, cut the Focaccia into slices.
  20. Serve when warm or at room temperature!!
Notes
If you cannot find bread flour, you can add 1 tbsp of Vital Wheat Gluten to 3½ cups of all-purpose flour and mix it well together. If you do have access to either bread flour or vital wheat gluten, use 3½ cups all-purpose flour.
If you don’t get fresh buffalo mozzarella you can use any regular mozzarella instead, or any stringy kind of cheese.
The dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand or using a food processor. I kneaded the bread by hand and i was a little apprehensive about the outcome. But my fears were unfounded, the bread turned out nice and spongy.
I placed an aluminium foil on the base of the tray and then oiled the foil as i have a dark baking tray and did not want to risk burning the base of the bread.
Recipe by Spice Counter at http://spicecounter.com/bakes/focaccia-caprese/