Focaccia
We make three styles of focaccia at il Buco. The first, technically called pizza bianca, is ubiquitous in Rome where you will see people with folded pieces of this “white pizza” simply sprinkled with coarse salt and sometimes rosemary, either plain or filled, often with a couple slices of prosciutto or mortadella. That’s this focaccia: thin, with puffy air bubbles that make it crunchy and delicious. The second type we call focaccia fino, which is made with the very same dough, though we double the recipe, stretch it over a baking sheet, and score it into loaves. We use this at the Alimentari as our delicious sandwich bread. The third is our ancient grain focaccia, more of a technical challenge due to the peculiarities of the ancient grains, but well worth a trip to Ibiza, where it’s our staple at Bottega il Buco.
Makes 1 (17-inch) pizza bianca
500 grams all-purpose flour
375 grams warm water (between 78°F and 90°F)
150 grams Sourdough Starter
3 grams yeast
10 grams fine sea salt
5 grams granulated sugar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 sprig rosemary, leaves stripped
Special equipment needed: stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, plastic bowl scraper
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if working by hand), place the flour, water, sourdough starter, and yeast. Using the dough hook attachment of the stand mixer, mix at low speed for 5 minutes until a dough forms. Increase the speed to medium and mix for an additional 4 to 5 minutes, until the dough begins to form a satiny finish and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (If mixing by hand, use a bowl scraper to mix until a dough forms, approximately 10 minutes.) Let the dough rest in the bowl, covered with a kitchen towel, for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the fine sea salt and sugar. After the dough has rested, sprinkle the salt and sugar mixture over the dough and cut it in using a bowl scraper until well incorporated and you don’t feel any granules in the dough.
3. Coat a half sheet pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Form the dough into a round, then add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the top of the dough, spreading it over the entire surface of the dough to prevent it from drying out. Place the dough round on the prepared sheet tray, cover in plastic, and place in the refrigerator to proof overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Drizzle the dough with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Then use your fingers to gently dimple the dough, pressing your fingers down to the bottom of the sheet pan, being careful not to pierce the dough. There should be lots of bubbles, hills, and valleys, and the dough should be relatively even across the round. Drizzle the dimpled dough with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt and rosemary leaves.
5. Place the sheet pan in the middle of the oven. Let bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and continue baking until puffed, golden, and crispy at the edges, about 15 minutes more. Using an offset spatula or a knife, check the bottom of the focaccia; if it’s golden brown, then it is ready. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack.
FOCACCIA FINO VARIATION
Makes 3 loaves
Double the ingredients for the focaccia recipe on the opposite page, but keep the olive oil at 5 tablespoons and note that the coarse sea salt and rosemary are optional.
Proceed with steps 1 and 2 in the focaccia recipe, then proceed with the following steps.
Coat a half sheet pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Press the dough into the sheet pan, stretching the dough as close to the sides as possible. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the top of the dough, spreading it over the entire surface of the dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover the dough with plastic and place in refrigerator to proof overnight. Thirty minutes before baking, remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Gently stretch the dough to the sides of the sheet pan, taking care not to de-gas the dough. Use your bowl scraper to cut the dough lengthwise into 3 even strips, leaving intact inside the sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt and rosemary if desired. Continue with the baking instructions in step 5 of the focaccia recipe. Let it cool completely on the cooling rack, then separate into 3 loaves.
“We can’t count the number of times we’ve been to il Buco for the infused crudos, perfect porchetta, and housemade bread and olive oil combo that screams scarpetta, connecting us back to Italy . . .”
—SIMONA VIGNA & ANDREA CALIFANO