Pizza Dough – Roman Focaccia

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

From:   Ted Taylor
The following recipe is for "focaccia Romana," or Roman focaccia, from Jeff
Smith's "The Frigal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines."  He recommends
it as the best dough for a pizza crust he's run across, and I must say it
is both
very easy and VERY good to eat.  I halved the following recipe (but used
the full amount of garlic, plus 2 c of meaty red sauce, about 4 oz. of
pepperoni, 8-9 fresh mushrooms and 8 ounces of whole-milk mozzarella) and
the results were great. Lacking quick-rise yeast, I used regular yeast and
just ate a little later -- no problem there. And of course, I made the
dough into a pizza instead of a plain focaccia (which is like a thick pizza
(also round, but thicker) but without toppings.
Dissolve the yeast in the tepid water.  Add the sugar, olive oil, oil, and
salt.  Mix in 3 c of the flour and whip until the dough begins to leave the
sides of the mixing bowl, about ten minutes [!!]. I [Smith] use my
KitchenAid mixer for the whole process.
Mix in the remaining flour by hand or with a dough hook and knead the dough
until it is smooth.  Allow the dough to rise twice, right in the bowl, and
punch down after each rising.
Oil 2 baking sheets, each 13 inches by 18 inches, and divide the dough
between the 2 pans.  Using your fingers, press the dough out to the edges
of each pan. Allow to rise for about 30 minutes and brush with the crushed
garlic mixed with the oil for topping. Sprinkle the rosemary and kosher
salt on top.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.
File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/kids.zip

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