Pull Apart Focaccia
FROM VEG FORWARD
This pull-apart version of focaccia brings a sense of fun to the traditional Italian flatbread. It's got to be the easiest homemade bread ever and can turn any veg- based dish into a square meal. Try it alongside Summer Vegetable Soup (page 89), Simple Gazpacho (page 83), or Grilled Zucchini with Whipped Ricotta, Calabrian Chili, and Almonds (page 111). As with any yeast dough, you have a lot of flexibility with timing. I find it very easy to mix up the dough a day or two before I want to bake it and just forget about it in the fridge, but if you aren't a planner and want to speed things up, you can make the dough on the same day you want to bake. You can also transfer the dough to the pan in one piece for a traditional focaccia, instead of dividing it for the pull-apart version.
Serves 8 to 10
2 ½ cups/ 562 g lukewarm water
1 ½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
5 cups/640 g all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons/12 g kosher salt
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
⅓ fluffy cup/20 g grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh rosemary
Flaky salt, for sprinkling
Pour the water into a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top and stir to combine; let sit for about 5 minutes.
Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a rubber spatula, stir the flour and the salt into the yeast and water mixture, combining thoroughly. Drizzle about a tablespoon of oil around the edges of the bowl, pick up the mass of dough so you can oil underneath, and turn it over a few times to coat. Drizzle another tablespoon of oil on top, seal tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and as many as 48. If you want to bake it the same day, let the dough rise on the counter for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Dampen your hands, and make 4 folds, scooping from underneath and turning the dough over onto itself, turning the bowl a quarter turn each time. This will simultaneously deflate the dough and create some structure.
Pour 2 tablespoons of oil in a 9 by 13-inch metal baking pan and tilt the pan to spread it out evenly. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the countertop. Oil your hands lightly using the oil on the surface of the dough, and using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Then cut each quarter into 5 or 6 pieces. It’s not important that they are all exactly the same size. Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball and place in the pan, arranging them randomly with roughly equal amounts of space around the balls. Any gaps will close up as the dough rises.
Cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap and let rise in a not-too-cold place, until doubled, 1½ to 2 ½ hours. It could take longer if the room is very cold. If you’re working with dough that hasn’t been refrigerated, this rise will take 1 to 1 ½ hours.
When you’re ready to bake, heat oven to 450℉ with an oven rack in the center. If you have a baking stone or steel, place it on the rack. Drizzle the dough with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and lightly oil your fingers with it. Dimple the entire surface of the dough deeply, all the way down to the bottom of the pan, as if you were playing a concerto. Sprinkle with the cheese, rosemary, and flaky salt and bake 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden brown on top. As soon as the pan is cool enough to handle, use a spatula to slide out onto a cooling rack so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.