Las Vegas Undressed

How to Make Italian Flatbread

How to make flatbreads; in particular Italian flatbreads? The Neighborhoods Undressed network of bloggers are great; and I love James Lupori’s posts. He has out done himself on this post; a step by step description of how it is done with photos!

Jim is a blogger in the State of Washington; the Kenmore neighborhood just north of Seattle. Like most of our boggers he is a real estate agent; a agent with a good heart and it appears that he is a good cook as well.

I’m bringing you his recent post on making Italian flatbread with the thought that you might want to give it a try.

Baking Bread is Easy

There’s something special about home made bread

The huge variety of artisan breads at our local grocery stores pretty much makes the art of baking home made bread seem a little absurd. After all, we can buy some very delicious bread these days. But you know what? I LOVE baking my own bread and now that Summer has arrived (with all the fresh vegetables) it’s time to make Italian Flatbread commonly known as focaccia. Focaccia is one of the easier yeast-based breads to make. This particular recipe will make a medium-size flat bread. If you don’t have a special pan, don’t worry. All you need is a flat cookie sheet. So let’s get started:

Ingredients – Simplicity Itself

Bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water….that’s it!

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 Cup of warm water – OK, the recipe always says 110º – 115° but here’s the bottom line: the water simply needs to be tepid or barely warm to the touch.

1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

3 1/4 cups bread flour (you can use all-purpose flour/semolina/a combination

1 teaspoon salt (preferrably non-iodized)

1/4 Cup olive oil (if you don’t have olive oil, use vegetable oil)

The Technique

I use a Kitchen Aid mixer but kneading the dough works as well

Step One – Proofing the yeast

Fill the measuring cup with tepid water from your faucet. If the water is barely warm, it’s hot enough. Pour the water into the bowl of your mixer and immediately dissolve the tablespoon of sugar into it. Then add the yeast and stir it gently just to mix.

Tepid water, yeast and salt (I prefer kosher)

Allow the yeast to activate in the sugar water for a few minutes. You’ll know if your yeast is alive when it looks like this:

These yeasties are ready to go!

Once the yeast is foamy, add 1 cup of the flour into the yeast water and then blend the mixture for 4 or 5 minutes. Let this mixture rest for 1/2 hour (if it rests for an hour that’s good). The purpose of this resting period is to let the gluten (protein) in the flour develop the long strands that will ultimately give the bread character.

Blend for four or five minutes

Time to add the rest of the flour, salt and oil

You can find the rest of the post by clicking here.