Home made Focaccia and Buns From Scratch.




Good morning everybody hope you had a good night's sleep. I know I did because I tell you, this writing on the computer is literally a pain in the good ol' bum. I cut the recipe short.....
yesterday because first, I was tired and second it would have been too much for you young fellas out there to assimilate in on day. I am going to repeat the steps for the dough  to help you read and not have to refer back to the previous post.

To make the dough:

Ingredients:
  • 1 kg all purpose flour.
  • 620 ml warm water divided in two.
  • 30 gr fresh yeast + 30 gr custor sugar dissolved in half of the warm water.
  • 15 gr salt added to the flour.
Method:
  • Use a stand-up mixer, any person who likes to cook will have some kind of stand-up mixer with a bowl and different paddles.
  • Put your 1 kg flour in the bowl and add the salt to it. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
  • Make a hole in the middle.
  • Add the warm water with the yeast and sugar into the hole.
  • Start mixing using the "hook" paddle of your mixer.
  • When all the yeast/sugar water has been absorbed by the flour start adding slowly the other half of the still warm water.
  • Continue to mix at speed 2 until the dough wraps itself around the hook leaving the walls of the bowl clean. At this point the dough is ready. 
  • Maybe all the water has not been used up... just throw it away . It all depends on the brand of the flour, weather, how old is the flour.
  • Take it off the hook and knead it by hand for about 5 minutes on a floured surface and make a ball.
  • Return to the bowl and insert in your oven with the light on. No heat.
  • Let prove for 1½ hours. It should double in volume.
  • Once time is up, deflate, knead by hand for another 5 minutes and put back into the bowl.
  • Return to oven and let prove for 45 minutes.
  • Once time is up your dough should have doubled in size.
  • Take out from the bowl, deflate punch it a couple of time!
At this point you can use the dough to make : Focaccia - buns - or just plain baguette.







Focaccia - pronounced foh-ka-tshia. 

This is thicker flat bread, with holes done by punching it with your fingers topped with origano, black or green olives, sliced sun dried tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, sage. It is just a savory flat bread with herbs to give it a taste to accompany BBQ's, casseroles, chicken, fish, pork, whatever.

Method:

  • Use the special mold with holes in it as shown in picture, baked in the lowest level of the oven at high temperature for a short time.

  • Use 600 - 800 gr of dough, wet your hands with oil, and spread it to the diameter of the mold. 
  • Let prove till your oven is ready to use.
  • Flatten it. Punch holes with your fingers.
  • Add whatever spices or herbs you wish.
  • Add some oil and bake at 200 - 220 degrees C 15 to 20 minutes till golden brown.
  • Let cool.
  • Slice like a pizza or in strips and enjoy.
Buns:

Take around 800 gr of the dough with olive oil wet hand and cut into golf balls like round spheres. Place them about 2½ cms apart in a round mold and put them in a no draft place in your kitchen closet or the microwave oven till your oven is ready to use. The dough must have proven by then.
  • Brush with milk or egg the surface of the small balls.
  • Sprinkle top with some cumin seeds or poppy seeds.
Bake for 20 minutes in a 200 - 220 degree C oven in the lowest level till the top is golden. By the time they are ready and cooked they will look like in the picture.



Enjoy!
Stelio

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bamia Mafroukeh--Ladies fingers with beef or lamg -Taste of Sudan.

S udan is the largest country in Africa. Lately there was a quarrel between the North and South (Juba). The reason: Oil. Chevron and other Petroleum companies found lots of Oil reserves in the South and so the fight started. I personally visited the village of Bentu, in the South during one of my visits to Chevron Oil Company in the South. As all countries, the Sudan also has its local foods. A very popular one is Molokhia which grows only in summer. Bamia, in Arabic, lady's fingers or internationally known as Okra can be readily found all year round. Bamia Mafroukeh is a delicious food eaten with the Sudanese bread called Kisra. The term Mafroukeh is act of breaking down the bamia when it well cooked to turn it into a thick, soup. There is special wooden utensil the Sudanese use. Ingredients: - 1 kg bamia Lady's fingers or Okra. - 1 kg beef or lamb bone free. - 1/2 kg fresh tomatoes cut in quarters. - 1 big onion roughly cut. - 6 cloves of garlic finely cut. - 
Read more

Brandade de Morue - Cod / Potato Mash Gratin.

Image
T his recipe is based on Jacques Pepin's with a slight twist from myself to suit Greek taste. This recipe is for 4 persons as a starter. Ingredients : - 1 kg of salted cod fillet. - 1 kg of potatoes skinned. - 1.5 cups full fat milk. - At least 6 large cloves of garlic - 2 tsp. grated lemon zest. - 4 tsp, lemon juice. - Cayenne pepper to taste. - 1 cup of olive oil. - Freshly ground black pepper to taste - Freshly grated Parmigiano cheese. Procedure : - Preheat oven to 200 deg. C. - Skin the cod fillet and immerse into cold water and refrigerate. - Change water as many times as possible over the next 24 hours to desalinate. - Meanwhile boil the potatoes till tender (fork easily pearces potato).Peel and cut into pieces when cool. - When the cod is desalinated, cook in water by lightly simmering water until fork easily pearces the fish. Do not over cook the fish lest it becomes too hard. - Once cooled, make sure to the best of your ability to omit all the bon
Read more

Spaghetti with Portobello mushrooms, garlic, and Gorgonzola Cheese.

Image
B arilla No. 7 Spaghetti is the best type to use for this recipe because they are thick and fill your mouth very pleasantly with the ingredients. The parmesan cheese gives a general fantastic taste.   Ingredients:    Serves 5 - 500 gms Spaghetti no. 7 - 500 gms of Portobello mushrooms cubed big. - 150 gms Gorgonzola cheese room temperature. - 4 big cloves of garlic smashed and passed thru the garlic press. - 500 ml of fresh cream 35% fat. - 50 gms of fresh butter. - Salt and pepper to taste. - Ground nutmeg to taste. - Parmesan cheese. Procedure: - First make the sauce then the spaghetti. - In a small pan dissolve the Gorgonzola in the cream and keep hot. - In a big pan melt butter, add the cubed mushrooms, and saute slightly 1 minute. The mushrooms must not soften. - Add garlic and stir 1/2 minute. - At this point boil the water for the spaghetti (100 ml of water per 100 gms of spaghetti). - Add the cream/Gorgonzola mixture to the mushrooms a
Read more