Authentic Italian, Bacon Focaccia
This is a Christmas tradition in my mom's family and home town of Tricarico, Italy. I prefer to serve this as a warm appetizer or side dish, but you can store it in an airtight container for up to five days and enjoy a little each day.
Ingredients
- 6 cups all purpose flour + flour for dusting
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons coarse, Kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 packet dry active yeast (or 2 and 1/2 teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 and 1/4 cup warm water set aside
- 1 pound bacon (about 12 pieces) pan fried until crisp, reserve the fat
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place 6 cups of flour and the coarse salt in a large ceramic or glass bowl. Set aside.Prepare the yeast. First, use a container to heat one cup of water in the microwave for 35 seconds. Add the sugar and the packet of active dry yeast. Stir and cover with a clean dishtowel. Allow to activate in 10 minutes.Heat 1 and 1/4 cups of water in the microwave for 40 seconds. Set it next to your bowl of flour.Make a well in the center of your bowl of flour.After your yeast has been activated, pour it completely into the center of the flour-well.Fold in the flour mixture. Add the one and 1/4 cup, one handful at a time until it's completely incorporated. It will make a "snap" sound as you are kneading it, when it's done.Dust with flour at the bottom of the dough mound and then sprinkle more flour on the top.Cover and set in a warm area of your home. Allow the dough to rise for one hour.
- When you are ready to bake the focaccia, it is time to prepare the bacon. Cut the pound of bacon into very small pieces. Fry it all in a pan until completely crisp. Reserve all of the bacon grease. When you are ready to add it to the dough, the bacon fat should be cooled, but still a liquid.
- Place the entire mound of risen dough into the pan you'll use to bake the focaccia. (I used a deep, 10" x 16" pan.)Pour in the bacon grease and knead it into the dough, stretching and folding the dough to work it in. Once most of the grease has been incorporated, add all of the crisp bacon pieces and the rest of the grease. Continue to stretch and fold the dough until every inch if the dough feels like it has bacon pieces in it.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.The dough should be shaped to cover the pan. Once it's in place, allow the dough to rest in the pan for an additional 10 minutes, before placing it into the oven. You will notice that it rises and plumps up a bit more.Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take it out of the oven and change your oven temperature to 500 degrees. Drizzle the top of the half-baked focaccia with extra virgin olive oil and place back into the oven for 3-5 minutes, or until golden brown.
