Recipe - Focaccia Dough

3 cup Warm water
1 One half tablespoon Dry yeast
1 Pinches sugar
7 cup Allpurpose flour
One fourth cup Olive oil
1 tablespoon Kosher salt

Recipe by: Lori Andres First, make the sponge: Dissolve the yeast and sugar
in the water with a few whisks. Add 3 cups of flour, beating until smooth.
Take additional 4 cups of flour and gently sprinkle this over the mixture,
not yet mixing it in. This keeps the air from the sponge and allows it to
grow. Let it sit, covered, until the sponge bubbles up around the flour.
After about an hour, add One fourth cup olive oil and 1 TBS Kosher salt."Kosher
salt is the best but cut the amount in half if you are using regular salt."
Mix until a soft, shaggy dough is achieved which starts to clear the side
of the bowl. Knead it lightly until smooth and place in a greased bowl for
an hour, covered, until it doubles in size. Gently deflate the dough and
put on a cornmeal covered baking sheet, pushing it into a thick and uneven
mass. "Dimple" the dough to catch the oil and toppings. Smear olive oil and
desired toppings on the dough. Dimple once more with the fingertips and let
the focaccia relax for a few minutes before sliding into a 400 degree oven.
Within 2025 minutes, the golden focaccia is done.

MC formatted and busted by Martha Hicks 4/98

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by "Megabytes" megabytes@email.msn.com on
Apr 13, 1998