Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Focaccia
November 9th, 2010
This delicious, heart-warming Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Focaccia is a great dish to share with your guests during the holiday season! The recipe is brought to you by our wonderful bookkeeper, Ann, and her husband Pat, who used to own a bakery in California. When Pat brought this focaccia into the winery for our staff to try, we all fell in love with it. Additionally, we felt it paired impeccably with the 2008 Spitfire (a Super Tuscan Style Blend).
THE RECIPE
To make this wonderful bread requires 2 days…
BIGA (Make on Day 1)
Ingredients:
• 2/3 cup Room Temperature Water
• 1 3/4 cup Bread Flour
• 1 tsp. Dry Yeast
Instructions:
• Mix room temperature water and yeast until yeast is dissolved.
• Stir in flour by hand until ingredients are well combined.
• Dough will be lumpy (do not over mix – dough should not be smooth)
• Leave biga out in a towel covered (draft free area – you do not want the dough to form a crust) for 1 hour.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator over night.
TOMATO & RED PEPPER FOCACCIA TOPPING AND MARINADE
(Prepare on Day 2 Before Mixing Focaccia)
Tomato & Red Pepper Topping
Ingredients:
• 1 lb. 4 oz. Thin Sliced Roma Tomatoes
• 16 oz. Jar (drained) Roasted Red Peppers, sliced
• 4 Cloves Minced Garlic
• 1/4 cup Chopped (coarse) Italian Parsley (Leaves ONLY)
*Please Note: Set the chopped parsley aside until after focaccia is baked.
Marinade
Ingredients (Mix the following together):
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Lemon Juice
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Minced Garlic
*Please Note: If substituting the Olive Oil with Aprés Vin Garlic Grapeseed Oil,
omit the minced garlic from the marinade.
Instructions for Marinade & Toppings
• Set aside chopped parsley.
• Pour the marinade over the remainder of the toppings (tomatoes, red pepper, & garlic).
• Toss to thoroughly coat.
• Set aside the mixture of toppings & marinade until the focaccia is ready for baking (see focaccia instructions below).
• Drain excess liquid off the toppings and sprinkle toppings evenly over focaccia.
• Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the focaccia and toppings AFTER removing from the oven.
• Serve warm or cold.
FOCACCIA (Make on Day 2 after prepping the toppings & marinade)
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Ingredients:
• 1 7/8 cup Room Temperature Water
• Biga from the refrigerator
• 4 cups Bread Flour
• 2 tsp. Yeast
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar, packed
• 2 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions:
• Mix water, biga, bread flour, brown sugar and yeast on low speed in a Kitchen Aid mixer for two minutes.
• Add salt and mix for 1 minute on low speed.
• Mix for 3 minutes on medium speed and add olive oil.
• Mix an additional 3 minutes or until dough is smooth. Dough will be soft.
• Put dough in lightly oiled, (olive oil) 13″ X 18″ half sheet pan, loosely cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours.
• Pour 1/2 cup olive oil into a second 13″ X 18″ half sheet pan, transfer dough to this pan, and stretch and pull dough until dough evenly covers pan (the olive oil, for the most part, remains under the dough).
• Poke with fingers to get a bubbled look to dough. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until about double in size.
• Put toppings on at this point, if desired.
• Turn oven down to 420 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.
• Edges will be light golden brown.
• If using toppings, evenly sprinkle chopped Italian Parsley over focaccia and toppings.
• Cut with knife or pizza cutter to size desired and serve.
• May be served warm or cold.
Enjoy!
