Bishop's Focaccia Bread

 

I picked up signed copy of famed Vancouver restauranteur John Bishop's cookbook on the weekend from Companion Books in North Burnaby.  It's called, Bishop's, the cookbook. Sadly his restaurant shut down due to increasing rent rates in Vancouver after a 37 year run last year.  It truly is unfortunate that iconic restaurants whether it's in Vancouver or around the world are shut down due to this reason.  Happily I have his book with his world renowned recipes and have got to tell you, I made the best focaccia bread I've ever had thanks to his recipe.  It is beyond easy and the kneading for 20 minutes is worth it.  The bread texture is crunchy on the top and gloriously chewy inside. When the dough is raw, it feels absolutely perfect.

I served this at lunch today and the whole family LOVED it!  It's a good sized loaf and will fill a good sized pan!

Let's Make Focaccia!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees 

2 3/4 cups warm water, 2 Tbsp. dry yeast, 4 Tbsp. sugar, 7 cups flour, 2 Tbsp. salt, 1/4 cup olive oil

Cornmeal, fresh rosemary leaves.

In a bowl, mix together the warm water, yeast and sugar.  Let sit until it becomes frothy.

In another bowl, combine the flour and the salt.  Stir in the yeast mixture, then mix in the olive oil.

Knead the dough for the 20 minutes (it's worth it) to develop the gluten.  Place in a bowl and cover. Let rest in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume.  Depending on the room temperature, this may take from 40 minutes, to 5 hours.

When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and let it rise for another 20 minutes. 

Roll out dough to fit a baking sheet, 12 X 24 inches. Brush a baking sheet with olive oil and sprinkle it with cornmeal.  Place the dough on the baking sheet and let the dough rise until it doubles in volume, then rub it lightly with olive oil, poke holes in it with your fingers  and sprinkle with rosemary and a pinch of sea salt.

Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until the bread turns golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.  Remove from oven and cool....though we cut into it when it was fresh and hot out of the oven.