Focaccia
From Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Yields: 18″x13″ sheet pan of focaccia
Prep Time: 5 hours, 30 minutes + overnight proof
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours, 50 minutes, + overnight proof

5 cups (637 g) unbleached bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
6 tbs olive oil
2 cups water, room temperature

For the herb oil:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup assorted chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, oregano, rosemary, and thyme)
4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
¼ scant tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Stir together the flour, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, incorporate in the water and oil. Mix on low until all the ingredients are well combined into a sticky ball.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium for 5 to 7 minutes, or until your dough passes the windowpane test to show that sufficient gluten has developed (this took about 12 minutes on my mixer). The dough will still be sticky, but it should pull clear of the bowl’s sides and only be stuck on to the bottom. If it’s overly sticky, add in more flour a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency.

If you’d rather knead this by hand, I recommend kneading it inside the mixing bowl because of how sticky it is. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Sprinkle flour generously onto a counter top and turn the dough out onto it. Pat this into a rectangle shape and dust it with more flour. Let it rest there for 5 minutes.

Coat your hands with flour and grab one of the short ends of the rectangle. Gently lift and pull to stretch that end out, about double its original length. Do the same for the other short end and fold it over into thirds like a letter. Spray this with a bit of oil (like PAM), sprinkle with more flour, and pat it into a rectangle shape again. Cover this loosely with cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Coat your hands with flour and repeat the pulling and folding again. Spray it again with oil, sprinkle with more flour, and pat it into a rectangle. Cover this loosely again and let it rest for another 30 minutes.

Coat your hands with flour and repeat the pulling and folding one more time. But now, after covering with the cling wrap, let it rest for a full hour. It will swell up, but will likely not double in size (and that’s okay!).

While it’s resting, combine the herb oil ingredients in a small saucepan and heat on low. When the oil is warm, keep it there for 10 minutes and then switch off the heat to let the flavors steep. You don’t want the oil to be hot, just warm to get those flavors infusing (but not cooking).

Line a baking sheet with parchment and drizzle about 1/4 cup of olive oil over the paper. Spread it around with your hands. Gently lift the rested dough off the counter and on to the prepped baking sheet, keeping it as intact in its rectangle shape as possible. You may need to use a bench scraper to encourage the dough to release its embrace on your counter.

Spoon half of the (now cooled or barely warm) herb oil on to the dough, but leave the garlic cloves out. Using only your fingertips, poke, prod, and dimple the dough, gently stretching it as you do to fill as much of the baking sheet as possible. The oil will puddle into some of the dimples, and that’s fine.

Loosely cover all of this with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Three hours before you bake this the next day, take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit on your counter top in room temperature. Pour on the rest of the herb oil (again reserving the garlic cloves) and dimple the dough some more to get it to fill more of the pan.

Let it rest here for three hours, covered loosely in cling wrap. During this time, it will double in size until it’s about an inch thick.

Preheat the oven to 500* F, with the oven rack in the middle. When the oven is ready, take off the cling wrap, put the pan in the oven, and immediately lower the temperature to 450* F. Bake for 10 minutes.

Rotate the pan and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until it is a deep golden brown and the internal temperature is about 200* F.

Move the bread immediately out of the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack, and let it cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting into it.

This will keep tightly wrapped (or in an airtight container) for two days unrefrigerated.