Pain à l'Ancienne Focaccia
A high-hydration, cold-fermented dough shaped with multiple stretch-and-folds, then proofed and baked in a pan.
Ingredients
unbleached bread flour
4½ cups (20 oz / 567 g)
salt (or 2½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt)
1¾ teaspoons (0.4 oz / 11 g)
instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons (0.14 oz / 4 g)
chilled water (about 55°F or 13°C)
2 cups (16 oz / 454 g)
olive oil (plus more for the pan)
1 tablespoon (0.5 oz / 14 g)
Instructions
1
Prepare the dough
Make the dough according to the Rustic Bread recipe above (mixing, stretch and folds, overnight cold retard).
2
Warm up and pan the dough
About 2.5 hours before you plan to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator. If not already in the pan, spread the dough onto a portion of the sheet pan as instructed.
3
First press
Preheat the oven briefly for a few minutes then turn it off; if using a gas oven with a pilot light, no heating is needed. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on the surface of the dough and use your fingertips to press the dough outward from the center toward the edges. After about one minute of pressing the dough will spring back; stop at that point. The dough should cover 70% to 80% of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the warm oven (heating source off). Leave for 5 minutes in a gas oven with a pilot light, or about 8 minutes in other ovens.
4
Second press
About 10 minutes after removing from the oven, uncover, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and press again. At this point the dough should cover about 90% of the pan. Re-cover and return to the warm oven. Leave for 5 minutes in a gas oven with a pilot light, or 10 to 20 minutes in other ovens.
5
Third press and proof
Perform a third press (or a second if the previous one was not completed); the dough should evenly fill the entire pan. If the dough shrinks back from the corners due to the oil, don't worry—it will fill in during proofing. Cover with plastic wrap and proof in the slightly warm oven, then remove after 5 to 10 minutes and finish proofing at room temperature. The dough should rise about 1 inch over 1 to 1.5 hours.
