Is more always better or the crust doesn’t matter? Let’s try focaccia bread that’s nothing else but what matters!

More is always better. Except if that more is on us, like unnecessary weight to carry around. Unfortunately though, we can’t really do much about what nature wired into our brain right at birth.

Millennia of evolution taught humans to gather as much food as possible to live through the changing of seasons. If that wasn’t enough, fables like “The Ant and the Grasshopper” throughout centuries reinforced our primal urges to have as much as possible is good.

Sure, it helped our species survive the unforgiving world around, but since the invention of the fridge a lot of things have changed. Women have been freed from cooking day in and day out, food could be bought in large quantities without spoiling and we have no longer need to put on weight as a long-term energy storage for the winter months.

Yet, apparently no one has briefed the primitive part of our brain, which is responsible for keeping us alive, about the changes in our environment.

We are still the same need driven animals as before who’s sole purpose in life is just to survive by all means possible. It doesn’t help much that a few of us have been told stories where the ant is the antagonist, and the moral of the story is about how bad collecting the fruit of other people’s labor and storing things up for himself only.

To be fair, a couple of men tried to raise the issue during the past centuries like Jesus, Buddha or Lenin but one of them got crucified and the teachings of the rest of them didn’t really appeal to the masses. At least not visibly, judging by the accumulation of wealth displayed by followers of various ideologies.

Nowadays, we’ve not just been celebrated to accumulate more wealth, but we are also sneakily manipulated to do so. Bigger cars, homes or boobs are all the results of cleverly executed marketing campaigns, targeting our survival instincts, convincing us that we need more.

Sure, we need certain things to survive in this modern era like food, clothing, shelter or someone to share life precious moments with, much like we needed in the past. But probably we could live just as well without a third floor, a horse logo on our tee or the oversized pizza crusts.

Well, maybe we couldn’t live without oversized pizza crust, which is actually just a focaccia with tomato sauce, but we could definitely do well without saying yes to extra-large drinks and fries.

Focaccia is a flat yeast leavened bread. Sometimes, it is also called white pizza, most likely because both have the same ingredients in identical or in very similar quantities.

Probably this led to the confusion in some people who later created Detroit style pizza where the crust is more likely resemble a focaccia than the supposedly thin pizza.

Focaccia is, of course, Italian and the word itself refers to the method of preparing the bread using the hearth as of opposed to an outside masonry brick oven.

The main difference between a pizza and focaccia is that focaccia is left to raise before baking, while pizza is tossed into the oven immediately after stretching and topping. The extra time gives focaccia bread time to expand in volume resulting in a thick fluffy bread.

There are no rules or limits of what could go onto a focaccia once it comes out of the oven. Since it uses extra virgin olive oil and salt as its defining ingredients, sweet toppings aren’t always the most popular choices, although sweet focaccia is not unheard of even in Italy.

And yes, adding tomato sauce and cheese on focaccia, essentially makes it a Detroit style pizza, so yes, we can make pizza from focaccia if need drives us to it.

Cutting the focaccia in half horizontally allows us to use it as sandwich bread that only a few can resist who like gluten and carbs, even just half-heartedly.

Rosemary or sage are very popular herbs to top focaccia, so it is adding potato to the dough in various amount. Potato makes the dough softer and moistier which some people like while others detest so if we make it for a special person who is also Italian, it’s better ask if focaccia should have any potatoes or not.

Ingredients

Starter

⅞ cup / 100g Flour
½ cup / 100ml Water
¼ teaspoon / 1g Fresh yeast

Dough

2½ cup / 325g Flour
⅔ cup / 150g Water
2 tablespoons / 30g Extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons / 10g Salt
1 teaspoon / 5g Fresh yeast
1 sprig / 3g Rosemary

How to make Focaccia bread

Starter

Making a starter is not absolutely necessary but it will provide a more complex flavor for the dough. Combine flour, water and the yeast in an airtight container and put it into the fridge for 4 – 6 hours. It will double in size so choose a big enough box.

Dough

Measure flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh yeast into a kneading bowl. Add the starter in too. It tends to stick to the box but mixing it with some flour from the bowl will help salvage every bit without much effort. If starter is not used, add the equivalent amount of flour and water to the bowl.
Knead until a uniform texture forms.
Stretch the dough into a baking sheet. Rub it with a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil so it won’t dry out.
Cover the dough then let it rise at a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C temperature place until doubles, about 45 – 90 minutes. Sprinkle rosemary leaves on top of the risen dough. Poke holes through the dough until our fingers touch the bottom of the baking sheet.
Place the dough on the upper medium rack of a preheated 480°F / 250°C oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top, for about 10 – 15 minutes.
Brush some extra virgin olive oil on top for extra softness and flavor. Slice and serve!