Cookbook Recipes

Cookbook Bread

Pesto garlic butter focaccia

A small overnight focaccia baked in a loaf tin, with pesto folded through the dough and garlic butter added part way through baking.

Prep
1 h
Cook
30 min
Total
1 h 30
Yield
Makes 1 loaf
Going in
Easy but long
Steps
16

This is sized for an 8.5 x 4.5 inch metal loaf tin, so it bakes tall and soft rather than wide and flat.

The dough is mixed with 00 pizza flour at roughly 82 percent hydration, folded twice, then left in the fridge for 18 hours. The long cold ferment builds flavour and the low yeast quantity keeps it from over proofing overnight.

Pesto goes into the dough after it is transferred to the tin, so it marbles through the crumb. The garlic butter is added at the halfway point of the bake, which stops the butter solids scorching and keeps the raw garlic from turning bitter.

Method 16 steps

  1. Bloom the yeast 10 min

    Warm 65 g of the water to 100 to 110 F, warm to the touch but not hot. Stir in the active dry yeast and the sugar. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy on top.

    Active dry yeast needs rehydrating, and the foam confirms it is alive before you commit 18 hours to the ferment. If it does not foam, start again with a fresh packet.

  2. Mix the dough 5 min

    Whisk the flour and fine salt together in a bowl. Add the bloomed yeast mixture and the remaining 135 g of water, then mix with a spatula or your hand until no dry flour remains.

    The dough will be shaggy, sticky and quite wet. It does not need kneading.

    At this hydration the dough is meant to look too wet to handle. That is correct for focaccia and not a sign it needs more flour.

  3. Short rest

    Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature for 20 minutes.

    This lets the flour fully hydrate before the first fold.

  4. First fold 2 min

    Wet your hand, reach under the dough and fold it over itself 4 to 6 times around the bowl. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

  5. Second fold 2 min

    Wet your hand again and repeat the fold, working around the bowl 4 to 6 times. The dough should feel tighter and stronger than after the first fold, even though it is still sticky.

    If it still feels very slack, rest for another 20 minutes and do a third fold.

    00 flour is more extensible and less elastic than bread flour, so the folds do most of the structure building here in place of kneading.

  6. Cold ferment overnight

    Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 18 hours. The dough will roughly double and become bubbly.

    The long cold ferment is where the flavour develops. The low yeast quantity keeps it from over proofing across that time.

  7. Oil the tin 1 min

    Pour about half the olive oil into the loaf tin and coat the base and sides generously.

  8. Transfer and stretch 3 min

    Scrape the cold dough gently into the oiled tin without knocking the air out of it. Turn it once to coat in oil, then stretch it gently towards the corners. It will not fill the tin yet.

  9. Fold in the pesto 3 min

    Dollop the pesto over the surface of the dough. With oiled fingers, fold the dough over itself a few times to swirl the pesto through, leaving visible streaks rather than mixing it in fully. Stretch it gently back towards the corners.

    Folding the pesto in before the rise bakes it into the crumb as marbling, instead of leaving it on top where the basil would darken and dry out.

  10. Second rise

    Cover loosely and leave at room temperature until puffy and nearly filling the tin, about 2 to 3 hours depending on the room.

    Judge this by how puffy the dough looks rather than by the clock. A warm kitchen will shorten it.

  11. Make the garlic butter 3 min

    Mash the softened butter and minced garlic together in a small bowl until evenly combined.

  12. Heat the oven

    About 30 minutes before baking, heat the oven to 425 F, 220 C.

  13. Dimple and top 3 min

    Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the dough. With oiled fingertips, press deep dimples all over the surface, down to the base of the tin. Sprinkle with the flaky salt.

  14. First bake

    Bake for 15 minutes, until the dough is starting to set and turn golden at the edges.

  15. Add the garlic butter and finish baking 2 min

    Take the tin out of the oven and dot the garlic butter over the top, spreading it into the dimples. Return to the oven and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until deep golden and crisp at the edges.

    Butter contains milk solids that brown far faster than oil, and raw garlic turns bitter over a long bake. Adding both at the halfway point avoids that.

  16. Cool

    Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and slice.