Is Focaccia the Easiest Bread?

[@brucetominello7440]

I’ve made Focaccia many times but not with the sourdough so I am looking forward to it. I add some pitted Moroccan Olives and chopped rosemary to the to in addition to the Malden Salt and it’s great!

[@thestrengthkitchen]

Olives and rosemary are a great addition!

[@jacquihook9167]

Looks delish! Great demo!

[@thestrengthkitchen]

@@jacquihook9167 Thanks!

[@kathrynmoll86]

Love how you explain your methods! As I am a sourdough lover, I am going to try this, too! Thanks!

[@thestrengthkitchen]

@@kathrynmoll86 Thank you! Let me know how it works out.

[@tylergraham4308]

Looks amazing, great demo! I’m going to try it out soon

[@thestrengthkitchen]

Thanks. Let me know if you have any questions.

[@hopsonarceneaux8303]

I would love your input on this if you have time. In this video you said that a pizza steel is superior to a ceramic stone. I'm just wondering why, if that's the case why do all the modern day manufacturers of home based pizza ovens use ceramic or whatever that material is instead of steel. What's your take on this? Thanks for all the great videos. I'm learning a lot from you.

[@thestrengthkitchen]

A commercial wood burning pizza oven should have a stone cooking surface. A home “pizza oven” that has a ceramic cooking surface is not the same as putting a ceramic pizza stone in a conventional oven. I would bet that an oven that is designed specifically to cook pizza at home would have a decently hot cooking surface. I suppose you could try to bake focaccia in a home pizza oven but I would bet that you would end up with a very dark surface crust. There are lots of home pizza ovens on the market. I have only seen a couple in person. Both of them provided too much flame and not enough heat to the ceramic surface, resulting in a blond bottom and a burnt surface. I’m sure there are good options for a home pizza oven, but the lodge cast iron pizza “stone” is very reliable. A pizza oven is supposed to get very hot, I think a metal cooking surface could get way too hot in a pizza oven. Ceramic and stone are more stable cooking surfaces with the type of heating element of a wood burning or gas pizza oven wether home or commercial. In the video I am referring to the heat conductivity of a ceramic pizza stone in a conventional home oven. They just don’t get hot enough. The lodge cast iron pizza “stone” rocks. It gets super hot and delivers a nice golden crust on the bottom of pizza. I use it under the tray of focaccia to get better coloring on the bottom. You can see in the video, when I show the bottom of the focaccia that it’s got nice color. Without the cast iron, it would be much much lighter in color. Does this make sense? A pizza oven is a different tool than a home oven with a ceramic stone in it. Thoughts? Thanks.

[@hopsonarceneaux8303]

@@thestrengthkitchen Yes absolutely it does make sense. The commercial pizza ovens I'm referring to get up to 900 degrees. Thanks for your input, I understand completely now.

[@chrisdickson1813]

I keep baking steels in my oven (we rent and the oven is very much not great!) for more even heat. I do have a pizza stone as well. Will the steels be sufficient or do I need to add the baking stone?

[@thestrengthkitchen]

@@chrisdickson1813 Good thinking! Adding some steels is a great way to increase and even out the heat. Try it and see how it goes with what you currently have. If you don’t like the results then get the Lodge 16” pizza pan/stone. It’s not expensive. Thoughts? Thanks.

[@chrisdickson1813]

@@thestrengthkitchen I do love my steels. Only draw back is that it take my oven forever to cool down - I live in Texas so winters aren't usually cold enough and summers are way to hot to enjoy all that extra heat. They also may the oven racks very heavy when you have to pull or push them - especially with a heavy pan adding to the weight. However, the quality of bake makes up for all of those draw backs.

[@thestrengthkitchen]

@@chrisdickson1813 It sounds like you have some significant environmental adaptations to make throughout the year, which makes bread baking more of an art than a science. what brand are the steels? Would you recommend them? If so, can you share a link? Thanks.