Focaccia Bread on the boat
Ingredients:
6 grams of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar
700 grams of flour
600 ml of water
For a long time, we wanted to make bread on the boat. Mark bought an "Omnia", which is an on-the-gas-hob kind of oven, and made some bread while I was away but I believe the product was very good, just never repeated.
While in the Faroe Islands we were invited for a dinner to our friends' home and they served the most delicious home-made focaccia. I wanted to learn how to make it and luckily Ronia, the amazing baker, invited me for a bread-baking workshop and the results were great and possible to recreate on the boat, what I am about to share.
The flour we used for the focaccia bread is a type of flour suitable for pizza, ciabatta, focaccia, or pasta.
Different countries and retailers will have their own brands.
We used the one in the photo but I'll have to research what flour is good for focaccia in the UK.
Preparation:
1. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the 6 grams of yeast and wait until it melts together.
2. Add 600 ml of water (cold tap water) and stir together.
3. Add the 750 grams of flour and mix until the ingredients blend together. It is recommended to do it on a flat surface, adding a bit of flour so the dough doesn't stick to the surface but I blend it in the bowl. It is a quick process and the dough doesn't require kneading.
4. Form a ball and leave the dough in a bowl under a tea cloth in a warm place for 45 minutes. I am not able to be specific about how warm it has to be, but I noticed that the dough isn't very sensitive to the temperature as we sail around northern latitudes and it was fine every time I made it. I imagine it should be lower than 15 degrees.
5. Add 15 grams of salt and 2 tablespoons of water, knead the dough until the ingredients are combined, and leave it for 30 minutes.
6. Pull the edges of the dough, stretching them to the side and folding them over the top of the ball but without breaking them off. Go once around the ball of the dough, then flip it over and leave it for 1 hour.
7. Repeat step 6. Pour some olive oil over the dough and make sure it gets underneath the dough as well so it doesn't get stuck to the bowl. It is important for later when the dough needs to be transferred to a baking dish.
8. Leave the dough overnight in a cool place.
Baking the bread at home with a "normal" oven:
1. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
2. Line the baking tray with baking paper.
3. Gently transfer the dough keeping it intact so the bubbles formed in the dough do not burst.
4. Make dimples in the dough with your fingers without fully perforating the dough.
5. Sprinkle it with some rosemary, or add some olives or sundried tomatoes.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Baking in Omnia
As our boat over is not suitable for baking in high temperatures we bake the bread in the Omnia. The dough as per the recipe above needs to be divided in half to fit in the Omnia. I dive the dough at the second stage and make two bread loaves.
It takes 1 hour and 15 minutes on a low setting to bake the bread.
That's the bread we baked with Ronja in a house oven.
And the Omnia version.