Nancy Silverton's Focaccia

I'm not sure what the forum rules are about posting articles and copyright protected things, but did anyone else catch yesterday's LA Times article by Nancy Silverton on making focaccia?

I have the basic recipe rising right now, and can't wait for it to be finished. (I wish there were a drool smilie.)

If it's OK, I'll post a link or the recipe.

[Robin Garr]

Hi, Kate, and a warm welcome to the forum! Thanks for your sensitivity ... A link is always appropriate. We try to avoid pasting in the complete text of articles from the media, in respect of copyright, although it's certainly all right to summarize the contents, or to post the first paragraph or two to set context, and then link to the rest.

Glad you found your way here, and we look forward to talking with you about good things to eat and drink.

I'm not sure what the forum rules are about posting articles and copyright protected things, but did anyone else catch yesterday's LA Times article by Nancy Silverton on making focaccia?

I have the basic recipe rising right now, and can't wait for it to be finished. (I wish there were a drool smilie.)

If it's OK, I'll post a link or the recipe.

Hi Kate -

I'll add a big "welcome" and a request that you do please post the recipe and your opinion on how it turned out. I've made focaccia from a couple of different recipes, so I'd be interested in how this one works out.

Thanks!!

Thanks for the welcome, gents.

The result wasn't as spectacular as I expected, but I think the fault may be mine and not the recipe. For one thing, Nancy Silverton uses 10 inch round cake pans for the final proof and baking. I only have 8 inch, so it was a bit thicker than ideal. The crumb was a bit more uniform and regular in texture than I had hoped. I suspect it's because I left the dough a bit too slack, which she said to do, so it didn't hold the structure as well as it might have otherwise. The flavor and crust were excellent, however. My dinner guests loved it and thought it was the best they've had stateside. I added cherry tomatoes and whole milk mozzarella to the one we had tonight, but I also have a plain with rosemary and sea salt for tomorrow.

I've made focaccia before, using Peter Reinhart's and Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipes. The crumb was nicer on the Silverton than either, even with my messing it up. (I use Bernabaum's recipe for ciabatta which has a resulting crumb closer to the Silverton focaccia.)

Here is the link to the article. (I hope I did that correctly. Yes, it seems to be OK when previewing.) The recipes are right before the narrative.

Enjoy!

Thanks, Kate! The recipe I've used most often for this is from Carol Fields's book The Italian Baker. It's quite different and doesn't use a sponge, as per Silverton's. I'll try hers for our block party tomorrow and report back.

Uh-oh! You're going to be one of those cookbook enablers, aren't you, Mike?

Now I must have "The Italian Baker!"

[Jenise]

Hi, Kate, and a warm welcome to the forum! Thanks for your sensitivity ... A link is always appropriate. We try to avoid pasting in the complete text of articles from the media, in respect of copyright, although it's certainly all right to summarize the contents, or to post the first paragraph or two to set context, and then link to the rest.

Glad you found your way here, and we look forward to talking with you about good things to eat and drink.

I'm not sure what the forum rules are about posting articles and copyright protected things, but did anyone else catch yesterday's LA Times article by Nancy Silverton on making focaccia?

I have the basic recipe rising right now, and can't wait for it to be finished. (I wish there were a drool smilie.)

If it's OK, I'll post a link or the recipe.

However, Robin, it's always allright to post recipes which are not copyright protected, especially when credit is given to the originator as Kate obviously intended to do.

[Jenise]

Uh-oh! You're going to be one of those cookbook enablers, aren't you, Mike?

Now I must have "The Italian Baker!"

You won't be sorry; I have it too!

I made this yesterday for our first-ever block party. It's an interesting recipe, and not much like the one in the Italian Baker. I was pretty sure I'd messed it up after the first rise as it was incredibly loose and sticky. I added a bit more flour and hoped for the best. After the second rise, it was still almost un-handleable, so I threw in some more flour and let it sit in the cake pans for some extra time to try and re-inflate the dough a bit. All I topped it with was Maldon and just a small scattering of fresh rosemary. Results were quite good, though! This is a pretty decadent focaccia, what with baking it up in what amounts to a small pool of olive oil. Very tasty and crispy crust to it. I will definitely try it again, probably mixing it a while longer prior to the first rise.

It is a really, really slack dough, isn't it? I also think I'll add a bit more flour next time. I might start some tonight, in fact.

The pool of olive oil really makes all the difference, I think.

Jenise, thanks for seconding the rec on "The Italian Baker." Amazon tells me there is a new edition coming out in November. Now I'm not sure whether to order the original, or wait.

[Jenise]

Kate, speaking of Nancy and doughs, have you eaten at Pizzeria Mozza?

I haven't, Jenise. That would require going to LA or Singapore, neither of which is a regular stop for me! Have you been? Everything I've heard about it is amazing, and the website sure makes it look fantastic. Of course, with the partnership at play, one would expect it to completely rock.

The Pizzeria Mozza in Singapore's good, but nothing particularly special. (Lots of better dining places around the city. Though I don't see the point of going after pizza in Singapore... seems unnecessary.)

[Jenise]

I haven't, Jenise. That would require going to LA or Singapore, neither of which is a regular stop for me! Have you been? Everything I've heard about it is amazing, and the website sure makes it look fantastic. Of course, with the partnership at play, one would expect it to completely rock.

The pizzas are fantastic, as are the antipasti and the well-chosen wine list. The restaurant deserves all the hooplah it gets. Not bad sitting at tables between Claire Danes and Harrison Ford, either.

I didn't realize she/they had opened one in Singapore! Why there, of all places?