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Focaccia with Fresh Mozzarella and Cherry Tomatoes

Servings 10 people
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Resting Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 600 grams all-purpose flour 4½ cups spooned and leveled
  • 2 tbsp olive oil plus 2-3 tbsp for proofing as needed
  • 2 cups warm water (38-40°C)
  • ¾ tsp coarse sea salt
  • ¼ tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
  • 1 235g Fresh Mozzerella Ball

For Cherry Tomatoes

  • 150 grams quarter cut cherry tomatoes 1 cup
  • ½ tsp coarse sea salt
  • 3 tbsp olive oil

For Baking Pan

  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil for greasing the pan and drizzling on top

Instructions

  • Combine your flour and yeast in a large bowl with a whisk or your hands. Make a deep well in the center of the bowl. Set aside
  • Add salt to warm water (38-40°C) until it dissolves then add it to our flour yeast mixture. Drizzle in the 2 tbsp of olive oil. Then, using your hands start to bring the mixture together. It will look and feel wet, that is exactly how it should be. You might need to add an extra tablespoon or 2 of room temperature water to get the desired consistency. Different climates and flour brands might respond differently. Remember we are looking for a well-hydrated dough here.

First Dough Rise:

  • Grease another medium-sized bowl with olive oil and gently push your dough mixture into it. Grab a quarter size section of the dough pull up and fold it onto itself. Continue in a circle until you made one full rotation. Then cover with a damp towel for 20 minutes. Remove the towel and repeat the circular folding this time going around 3 to 4 full rotations until the dough is smooth and resists when poked. (looks like a ball of mozzarella)*. Cover with a warm towel and let rest for one hour.
    *SEE NOTES FOR OVERNIGHT BULK FERMENTATION

Second Dough Rise

  • Remove the towel. And repeat the stretch and fold technique in a circular pattern for another 3 full rotations. If you cant see olive oil in your bowl drizzle another tablespoon or 2 on top of your dough. Cover again with the damp towel and let rest for another hour. The dough should have doubled in size by now. If not, let rest until doubled.

Third Rise in Baking Pan:

  • Prepare a 23 x 29 cm (9 x 13 inch ) baking pan with a generous amount of olive oil. Give the dough one more stretch and fold for 1 full rotation. Then gently drop the dough into the pan carefully, as we do not want to degas the dough. Generously cover your hands with olive oil and start gently working it into the corner of your pan. If your dough resists and keeps coming back to the center, ours did, cover again with a damp towel, and let rest for 10 min. Come back and try again repeating the 10 min resting if needed until you get it into the corners of your pan. Cover with a damp towel and let rise again for 1 hour.

Last Dough Rise:

  • Remove towel. Prepare a small bowl of water with a tablespoon of sea salt. Dip your fingers into the sea-salt water and start to poke your focaccia dough to help distribute the gas bubbles evenly. This is called dimpling and we need to dimple the whole dough. Cover one more time with a damp towel and preheat your oven to 230°C.
  • It takes about 20 to 30 min for the oven to get to the correct temperature. After 30 minutes remove the damp towel, the focaccia should have risen about ½ - ⅔ of the pan. Drizzle some ¼ cut cherry tomatoes with3 tablespoons of olive oil and ½ a teaspoon of coarse sea salt. Place the tomatoes one by one into the holes that we made earlier. Drizzle the focaccia with the residual olive oil from the bowl and add an extra drizzle all over. Top with flaky sea salt.
  • Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The bread is ready when it has formed a golden crust. To double-check, the internal temperature of the bread should hit at least 85° C. Immediately place pieces of fresh mozzarella on top of the focaccia so it can melt. Drizzle some extra olive oil on top, cut, and serve.

Notes

FOR OVERNIGHT BULK FERMENTATION: When you are done both rounds of stretch and folds cover your dough with tight cling film and place in your refrigerator to ferment overnight. If you chose this method skip the (Second Dough Rise) and go straight to the  (Third Rise in Baking Pan).
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Italian