The recipe for the Cooking Italy group I chose to make this week is Focaccia with Fresh Rosemary, found on pages 618-620 of the cookbook we are using: Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
I have made Focaccia before, in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, and while it took me forever to talk myself into that recipe (it was like 9 pages long), I finally did it, absolutely loved it, and have never ever tasted any Focaccia that I have liked as well as that recipe. So, it was with a great deal of gusto that I could not wait to undertake the recipe from this book and see how it would perform.
First of all, I really enjoyed the kneading technique that she describes in the book. It is just a little different from my usual style and I enjoyed the cadence of it very much. That said, I didn't enjoy the final product as much as the BBA one. This one was not light and fluffy like the other, did not impart the same wonderful deep flavors, melt in my mouth, etc.
I am wondering if the denseness of the bread was because of the flour that I used. I used a regular all-purpose flour as there was not a particular kind specified in the book. I am also thinking that perhaps the original recipe used Italian flour which is a bit softer than our flour, and that if I had managed to get ahold of that flour, that the results would have been much different. (Never underestimate the power of flour...if I have learned anything from baking, that would be front and center. All flour is not created equal.)
I am wondering if the denseness of the bread was because of the flour that I used. I used a regular all-purpose flour as there was not a particular kind specified in the book. I am also thinking that perhaps the original recipe used Italian flour which is a bit softer than our flour, and that if I had managed to get ahold of that flour, that the results would have been much different. (Never underestimate the power of flour...if I have learned anything from baking, that would be front and center. All flour is not created equal.)
The guys liked the bread and ate multiple pieces of it, saying how wonderful it was, so perhaps it is just me: but, that Peter Reinhart Focaccia recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprenticeis the BEST I have ever had.
Am going in search of Italian flour to give Hazan's recipe another chance, however. She has been so great at all the recipes I have made from this book, that surely the error must be mine. Eager to see how the others in the group made out on this one.
If you would like more information on the Cooking Italy group, want to see the menus and schedules, and want to see fabulous food and photos, visit Angela's site here.