Focaccia with Toppings

2008

Genzano Potato Pizza

Adapted from Local Breads: SourDough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers by Daniel Leader

Breads in this book as the sub-title says are based on breads being baked in European Artisan Bakeries. This one is based on a bread recipe (Genzao Country Bread) at Sergio Bocchini’s bakery on via Italo Belardi in Genzano, Italy.

This is a recipe that calls for some preplanning as it uses a sourdough and a biga. Not a big deal. Sourdough, biga, pre-ferment . . . yada, yada . . . they all just mean there’s a bowl with flour, water and yeast from the air or a package mixed and given some time to develop some flavor. Some part of what I love about this one is that the crust as well as being light and airy texture also has some flavor and chew.

Since we’ve been working with Mary’s SourDough starter I used 2 tablespoons of the toss off for starting this dough.

Biga Naturale

2 tablespoons (1oz) (28g) liquid levain

2/3 cup (4.9oz) (140g) water (70 - 78°)

1 2/3 cups (7.1 oz) (200g) unbleached bread flour (preferably hi-gluten)

I used the toss off from our SourDough for the liquid levain but any liquid started would work. There are several in the book if anyone would like I can email a copy.

Mix the liquid levain and water together. Stir in the flour. I used my hand to knead it together into a rough ball.

Cover and allow to stand at room temperature 8 to 12 hours. At the end of that time it will have probably doubled in size and should be sweet smelling and have a tangy taste.

The biga is now ready to use. Since I mixed mine in the morning and wasn’t aiming for baking until the next day, I refrigerated the biga at this point.

Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cup (13 oz) (368g) biga naturale

1 3/4 cups (14.1 oz) (400g) water (70 - 78°F)

3 1/4 cups (17.6 oz) (500g) unbleached bread flour (preferably hi-gluten)

3/4 teaspoon (.2 oz) (4g) instant yeast

2 teaspoons (.5 oz) (15 g) salt

If you’ve refrigerated the biga, allow it to sit at room temperature for at least an hour before mixing.

Mix the biga and water. Mix in the flour, salt and yeast. Yes, this one puts the salt in with the yeast.

This will be much easier with a stand mixer or prepare your arm for a workout!

Use the dough hook.

Mix the dough on medium to high speed (8 on a KitchenAid) for about 10 minutes. With the 5 quart machine, you might get some “walking” from your mixer so see to it it doesn’t walk off your counter. You may need to scrap down the side. In this first 8 to 10 minutes the dough will not clear the sides of the bowl and may tend to climb up the hook.

After 10 minutes, increase the speed and then should begin to pull away from the sides. When the dough hook is pulled out, you should see long thick strands of dough.

RISE: Leave the dough covered at room temperature for about 90 minutes. Push it down gently in the center and pull it up around the sides. Cover again and allow to rise another 90 minutes or until doubled in volume.

Preheat oven to 500°F for 45 minutes to an hour with the baking stone or tiles.

Shape the pizza

Oil the baking sheet. Stretch the dough to cover the pan, being gentle so as not to burst too many air pockets. I had to let the dough rest 10 minutes to do this.

Potato Topping

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 potatoes (about 2 pounds) very thinly sliced

1 onion ( 1/2 cup) (4.4 oz) (125g) half-moon sliced

1/4 cup (.4oz) (12g) fresh rosemary chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

Slice the potatoes and onions. Chop the rosemary. Toss together with olive oil and salt. (This does not use the salt and then dry the potatoes found in the Sullivan Street recipe).