Focaccia Bread

One of my favorite memories from Italy is the morning that we had fresh Focaccia bread for breakfast.  All I remember is not being able to stop eating it!  When I was flipping through my Michael White cook book and saw the recipe for Focaccia bread, I knew I had to try it.  Now, I am not really a very good baker, since everything has to be precise with baking, but I figured I would give it a shot... and I nailed it.
So, for Thanksgiving, I decided to go big and try Focaccia stuffing. Go big or go home, right?  haha

The recipe is broken down into 2 parts because you have to let the dough sit in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients;

For the poolish;
1 c water
1 1/2 cups King Arthur bread flour
3/4 tsp active dry yeast

For the dough;
1/4 cup water
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c King Arthur bread flour
2 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/6 c Olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl and brushing the dough
Flakey sea salt

For the poolish;
Add the bread flour, water and yeast in a mixing bowl and whisk together.  Let it proof at room temperature for 3 hours, then seal completely and securely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For the dough;
Stir together the water and yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment until the yeast dissolves.

With the mixer off, add the poolish, bread flour, and salt in that order then turn on the mixer, starting at a low speed and increasing to a high speed.

Continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.  Lower the speed to medium and slowly add the olive oil and continue mixing until the dough again pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 8 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a large, lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with a damp towel and let it sit for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Fold over first from left to right and then top to bottom to form a square.  Line a 12x17 baking sheet with parchment paper and brush lightly with olive oil.  Set the sough in the center of the baking sheet, brush the top, very lightly, with olive oil, cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Let the dough proof for 40 minutes or until the dough can be pulled without retracting.

Position the rack in the oven to the center and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Remove the plastic wrap and stretch out the dough to fit the pan.  Prick it with a fork and drizzle it lightly with additional oil.  Let the dough rise for 15 minutes.

Bake the focaccia for about 30 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown, almost fried.  Remove the sheet from the oven, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes  Transfer to cutting board and serve.
I added rosemary to the top to give it a nice taste.  You can vary what you add on top of the bread.

Thyme 2 Taste...