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Focaccia Is Easier Than You Think — Transcript

by Andy Cooks · 6,837 words · 919 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Ficasha, probably one of the most famous
0:02flatbreads out there. And it gave rise
0:04to one thing that we all love, the
0:06modern pizza. So why should you make
0:08your own ficasha? The main reason is
0:10it's a fantastic gateway into baking
0:12bread. It's super easy to make, requires
0:14only a few ingredients, but the best
0:16part, it's absolutely delicious. And
0:18what's even more delicious is the recipe
0:20that I'm going to show you last. It's an
0:22evolution of ficasha, the Sicilian
0:24pizza. It's [music] one of my absolute
0:25favorites. And shout out to Squarespace
0:27for sponsoring this video. It's the
0:29all-in-one platform that makes
0:30publishing your websites [music] an
0:32absolute breeze. Now, let's get making
0:34dough. Okay, so this is a video that's
0:38going to show you everything you need to
0:40know about ficasha. If you've baked no
0:42loaves or if you've baked 100 loaves of
0:44ficasha, I promise you, you're going to
0:46learn something from that. That's my
0:47promise to you, me to you. So, first up,
0:49I'm going to show you how to make a
0:50basic ficasha all the way through. And
0:53then I'm going to show you different
0:54variations of ficasha and where you can
0:56take this basic dough and elevate it or
0:58not because plain ficasha is also
1:01absolutely delicious. So surprise to no
1:03one, ficasha starts with flour and flour
1:07being the main ingredient is probably
1:09the most important ingredient. You want
1:10bread flour. You want strong flour, high
1:12protein flour. You can buy it in most
1:15supermarkets in Australia now. I'm sure
1:16you can buy it in supermarkets all over
1:17the world. Ideally something around 12%
1:20or higher in protein. It should say on
1:22the back of the packet how much protein
1:23it's got in it. And the protein is what
1:25kind it's the structure that holds
1:26everything together. If you don't have a
1:28high enough protein, your crumb
1:29structure or the interior of the bread
1:31is not going to be right. So high
1:33protein flour in the bowl. Next water.
1:37We talk about hydration or percentage of
1:39hydration a lot in in doese's and fra
1:42tends to be quite a high hydration
1:44dough. So this is around 80% uh
1:46hydration which I think you can go
1:48higher. Absolutely. I think once you get
1:50over 80%, you start kind of entering an
1:54area of baking that's quite technical
1:57and requires a lot of practice to get it
1:59right. So, I think this is the sweet
2:00spot for the amount of hydration for for
2:03anyone. I think it's kind of easy enough
2:04to handle, but you still get a really
2:06good crumb inside. Water is warm. The
2:08reason it's warm is cuz we want to
2:09activate our yeast faster. In the yeast
2:11goes to our water, and we'll give that a
2:13mix. We're just trying to dissolve the
2:15yeast here. Nothing crazy. Leave this to
2:17the side and make sure that the yeast is
2:19activated. Say you're in an Airbnb and
2:21you pull out some random yeast. You have
2:22no idea whether it works or not. That's
2:24probably worth doing. I know this yeast
2:26works because I use it all the time. So,
2:28I'm not going to stress about letting
2:29this kind of foam up. So, how do you
2:30know if your yeast is activated? Well,
2:32it will start foaming uh and bubbling at
2:34the top. It will look lively. So, this
2:35is instant yeast, not baker's yeast. So,
2:38baker's yeast is looks like a wet brick.
2:41That's a weird analogy. A wet brick.
2:43Fresh yeast. If you're using fresh
2:45yeast, you basically triple the amount
2:47of weight. So, if you're using 7 g like
2:49we are here, you're going to use 21 g of
2:52fresh yeast. However, I'll be very
2:53surprised if you're using fresh yeast,
2:55unless your loved one or a partner
2:58happens to be a baker, in which case
3:00just get them to make the bread cuz
3:01they're going to make it better than you
3:02anyway. Okay, so flour, our yeast that's
3:05dissolved into water, and olive oil. And
3:08the amount of olive oil we use is really
3:10important. We want a lot of fat in this.
3:12Uh, we use more olive oil later, but you
3:15need some on your dough. Now, this here
3:17is called a Danish dough whisk, and it's
3:19100% not necessary. If you don't have
3:21one of these, just use a wooden spoon.
3:23If you do make a lot of bread, these
3:24things are super handy. They make it
3:26really easy to mix dough. So, we're just
3:28going to start mixing this. And at some
3:30point, pretty early on, we're going to
3:31add our salt. Also super important. Now,
3:34there's a lot of common misconceptions
3:36around adding salt to yeast. People will
3:39say, "Oh, it's going to kill your rise
3:41and all this stuff." And absolutely salt
3:43will kill yeast, but you need way more
3:46of it in direct content than what we're
3:48dealing with right now. So don't be
3:50afraid to add your salt in early. Um if
3:52you're baking bread or pizza dough, if
3:54you're making pizza dough, often you'll
3:56see us putting salt in later in the in
3:58the mix. And that's for a different
4:00reason. That's not cuz it's going to
4:01kill the yeast. That's cuz it uh it
4:03basically tightens up the dough um once
4:05you add the salt. So, don't be afraid to
4:06put the salt in nice and early, uh, cuz
4:10you might forget and it's just kind of
4:11easier in this scenario. We're not
4:13really mixing the dough much. So, all
4:14we're doing at this point is bringing
4:16everything together into a shaggy mess.
4:19We're pretty close already. Scrape down
4:21the sides. Make sure you get all that
4:23flour in there. And then once it's a
4:24mess like this, like a ball that kind of
4:26sticks together, put it in the center of
4:28your bowl. Hot tip, water is your
4:30friend. So, wet your hand and then get
4:32all that dough off and get it into the
4:34bowl. So from here, we're going to cover
4:36this with a tea towel. The reason we
4:37cover it with a tea towel is cuz we
4:38don't want breeze to get across this.
4:40It'll start drying out the outside. And
4:41then we'll start the stretch and fold
4:43technique after 30 minutes. Okay. So,
4:45it's been 30 minutes since we mixed this
4:47dough. And you can see here it looks
4:49like one big mass. And we've definitely
4:51getting um some action. Like you can see
4:53that there's bubbles forming, which is
4:55great. But all the flour is now nice and
4:57hydrated. We need to now do our first
4:59set of stretch and folds. So So
5:01technique for stretch and fold, we're
5:02going to do it four times. So, we're
5:04going to get under the dough. We're
5:05going to bring it towards ourselves. So,
5:06you need a wet hand for this. One of
5:08these little plastic scrapers is handy,
5:10too, for scraping down the sides, but I
5:12think kind of you can do it two ways.
5:14You can use the scraper or you can do it
5:16with your your bare hand. I prefer to do
5:17it with my hand. Um, so wiggle your
5:20fingers under one side of the dough, the
5:22side that's furthest away from you. Um,
5:25stretch the dough up and then bring it
5:27toward yourself. Turn the bowl a quarter
5:30of the way. And you're going to repeat
5:32that same step. Get your fingers behind
5:34the dough. Stretch the dough up as far
5:36as it will stretch and then pull it
5:38over. See there? It started to rip on
5:40that one. As soon as it starts to rip
5:41like that, you you've stretched the
5:42dough as far as you can. One more turn.
5:46Nice wet hand under the back. Stretch it
5:49up as far as it can over the top. And
5:52the last one. So, things to remember
5:54here. This dough is alive and active,
5:57right? And what we're trying to do here
5:59is both mix the flour in amongst the
6:01water nicely so we don't get any of
6:02these little dry bits. You'll feel it
6:04now. There's like dry bits of flour
6:05that's not not fully hydrated. We're
6:07also trying to incorporate air. So we
6:09want to be gentle. We're not just like
6:10up and over, up and over, up and over.
6:12We want to be gentle. Take our time.
6:14Stretch it as far as it will go and come
6:15over. As we keep doing this step, this
6:17dough is going to change dramatically.
6:19It's going to become smooth. It's going
6:20to become more elastic. You'll be able
6:22to stretch it further and it will start
6:24tightening up as well. So, at this
6:25point, just good hygiene. Scrape your
6:27sides down. Make sure it tucks it in so
6:29that it's got some moisture to feed off.
6:32And we're going to rest it for another
6:3330 minutes. 30 minutes is the time that
6:36works best for me here in Sydney,
6:39Australia. So, it's the start of summer
6:40here. It's about I'm guessing it's 24
6:4225° in this room. So, 30 minutes works
6:45well for this temperature. And I think
6:46anything kind of under 20° um where you
6:49are, you're going to let that time
6:51period kind of go out to 40 minutes. If
6:54it's really cold where you are, 45
6:56minutes. If you're above 25 26° C, go 20
7:0125 minutes. So, some people will do this
7:04section or they'll do proving in their
7:05oven and they'll say, "Turn your oven
7:07off, but have the light on." I don't
7:09think that's relevant anyone unless you
7:11got an old light bulb in there. It's
7:13like a hogen light bulb. The new light
7:14bulbs don't emit any heat. Second fold.
7:17Let's see what we're dealing with. Nice
7:18and jiggly. Okay, I'm going to start
7:20where we started the last time. Lift it
7:23up. And I can already feel it starting
7:25to get a lot more strength.
7:28Quarter turn. Lift it up. Now, you
7:31really want to try and get it as far
7:32over as you can, but don't stretch it.
7:34Don't like force it, if that makes
7:36sense. And the last one.
7:39See that last one is already so it's so
7:41much tighter than the first one. It's
7:43really important that we kind of we
7:44start where we left off. Little
7:46housekeeping. Keep that bowl clean. The
7:48keeping the bowl clean thing is like it
7:49might feel like a bit predantic, but the
7:51reason that we want to keep it clean is
7:53that if you have dough left here and it
7:55dries up, at some point there's a
7:58there's a chance that you can kind of
7:59fold it through and then you're going to
8:00get like a lumpy dry part, which no one
8:02wants. No one wants a lumpy dry one, do
8:04they? Another 30 minutes. We'll come
8:05back for the third stretch and fold.
8:06Okay, number three.
8:09Ding. Look at that. It's looking smooth.
8:11It's looking jiggly.
8:13There's like less and less dry bits.
8:15We're going to do this one more time.
8:16Then we'll see where we're at. You can
8:18do four or five depending on where where
8:20you think you're at. But we'll see how
8:21it feels. So under, get it up as far as
8:25you can and over.
8:27Quarter turn. Under. Over. Quarter turn.
8:29And she's starting to tighten up. I
8:31think that's probably going to be our
8:32last fold. As in last round of folds.
8:34You can see here we're already getting
8:35some bubbles, too. Like big bubbles. Do
8:38our housekeeping. Okay. We'll leave that
8:39for another 30 minutes and then we'll
8:41see. I think it'll be ready at that
8:42point to get into a dish and start
8:44proving. It's already kind of started
8:46proving, start the final proof. So, our
8:49[music] plain ficasha. Look at that.
8:52Smooth. It's got a lot of jiggle in it,
8:54so it's full of air, which we want to
8:55try and keep. So, the next step for us
8:57is to put this into the dish that we're
8:59going to cook it in. Uh, and then we're
9:01going to let it rise for the last time.
9:03So, I'm going to break this up into
9:05small ones, which I think works
9:07incredibly well. And it's also kind of
9:08like kind of cute. you know, you give
9:10everyone their own individual ficasha at
9:12the table, but you could also just put
9:14this in a big tray into like a oven tray
9:16uh or a cast iron pan. Um but not
9:20ceramic roasting dish. They take a long
9:22time to heat up, so you don't get that
9:23initial heat burst, which is really
9:25important when we're baking fashia. So,
9:27we're going to put these into these
9:28little enamel dishes here and make sure
9:31that they're oven safe. These ones
9:32definitely are. And we're going to add
9:34some oil. Olive oil. Good quality olive
9:36oil. Make sure it goes all the way up
9:37the sides. And you want excess. You
9:39should be there should be oil rolling
9:41around in the bottom of it. Olive oil is
9:42good for you. We've scoured the internet
9:44for people that are having issues with
9:45ficasha. And one of the most common
9:46things it feels like is that people are
9:48scared to use a lot of oil. They think
9:49it's going to be oily. This dough is
9:51going to soak up all this oil real
9:52quick. So I'm going to have it greasy
9:55hand. What we're trying to do here is
9:56create the same sizeish. Don't have to
9:59be perfect in each one. You can weigh
10:00this out so that they are exactly the
10:02same size. Let's do that. Let's be
10:04professional. Grease that up a little
10:06bit. What we're not trying to do is
10:08handle this dough. So, the least amount
10:09of handling possible. So, I'm going to
10:11use my bench scraper to cut a piece of
10:14dough that's roughly the same size that
10:16we want. Pull it out. So, that's 140 g.
10:21So, just take that dough and then kind
10:24of stretch it so it's a roughly the same
10:26size as the dish that you're putting it
10:27in. Just like that. If see, like in this
10:30one, I've gone 125 g, which isn't
10:32enough. So, I'm going to put some more.
10:34And now I've gone 150, which is too
10:36much. put some more. Take that extra
10:38piece and put it on the underneath.
10:41Okay? And then stretch it out. Cuz you
10:44want this top section as kind of smooth
10:45as it kind of can be. You really want
10:47this to fill these out. So you can kind
10:49of overstretch them. The other thing is
10:50to make sure that we're not putting too
10:52much dough in here. We want a really
10:53high fatcher. The answer isn't put heaps
10:56in a tin. You're going to struggle to
10:58cook it at that point. So the tin, this
11:00is about as full as you want these tins.
11:02These are going to rise up pretty high
11:03anyway. But you definitely don't want
11:05the ficasha to go over the side of the
11:06tin. As soon as it goes in the hot oven,
11:08this dough is going to start rising
11:09quickly. And if you don't give it enough
11:11space to kind of breathe and open up, it
11:13will start collapsing on itself. So I'm
11:14going to do the rest of this in this
11:16little cast iron. I think cast irons
11:17work really well for for cashes. Same as
11:20before. Lots of oil all up the sides.
11:23Okay. So final proof. We'll let those
11:25sit there for another 30 minutes until
11:27they've grown at least another kind of
11:2830%. And then we'll turn the final step
11:31before we put them in the oven. Also
11:32worth mentioning your oven. If you
11:34haven't preheated your oven, then do it
11:36now. Ideally, you turn your oven on 45
11:39minutes before you're baking ficasha cuz
11:41you want to give it a good amount of
11:42time to preheat. Preheat your oven to
11:43220° C, which is like 430 fah. All
11:47right, let's have a look. See if they're
11:48good to go in the oven. Oh, they're
11:50looking good. So, put your ficasha into
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12:34word, all caps lock. Now, let's get back
12:36to that dough.
12:38So, from this point, we need to dimple
12:40it. Put a bit of salt on the top and
12:41then we're going to get it in the oven.
12:42So, more olive oil on the top. Get a
12:44little bit on your fingers. Going to
12:46push right in pretty much all the way to
12:48the bottom. We don't want to try and
12:49pierce the dough at the bottom, but we
12:51do want to push to the bottom. and just
12:53jiggle your fingers around a bit. So,
12:55why do we do these dimples? Well, a
12:57couple of reasons. One of the reasons is
12:58it gives lovely little creets for oil
13:00and flavor to kind of somewhere for them
13:02to land. And more importantly, uh it
13:04kind of evens out the air bubbles and it
13:06stops it rising like a loaf and do
13:08doming over. So, it kind of pushes the
13:09big air bubbles out and it gives us
13:11somewhere for those for those air
13:12bubbles to go. The last thing we need to
13:14do is good quality flaky sea salt all
13:16over the top to the oven.
13:19Oh no, disaster. We'll deal with that
13:21later.
13:24There we go. So, like I was talking
13:26about earlier, that is set to 220° C.
13:29Oo, excuse you. Which is like 430
13:31Fahrenheit. And now, why I think that
13:33temperature works really well is I think
13:35it's nice and hot, but it's not too hot
13:37that you start to kind of really darken
13:39up the top too much before the the scent
13:41is cooked, especially in thicker
13:42fkashes. Often online, I've seen people
13:44say, "Put your oven as hot as you can
13:45go," which I've been guilty of saying
13:47myself in the past as well. I think
13:49having a constant temperature that
13:50everyone can get to is really important.
13:52Some ovens will go to 230, some will go
13:54to 250, some will go hotter than that.
13:55So saying a blanket, put your oven as
13:57hot as you can, I think is not a great
13:59kind of it's not great recipe writing.
14:00So I'm going to check these after 20
14:01minutes. I reckon the small ones will
14:03probably be ready about then. I think
14:05the one bigger one down below will
14:06probably take closer to 25 to 30
14:08minutes. Um, and that's important to
14:10remember, too. Times for baking can vary
14:12greatly depending on how warm your dough
14:15is before you put it in, how good your
14:16oven's airflow is. There's lots of
14:18things. It's not kind of Bible. It's not
14:19gospel. Check it after 20 minutes. You
14:21don't even have to open the oven. Just
14:22have a look in and see if it needs any
14:24longer. All right, 20 minutes. And these
14:26little ones
14:28are looking stunning. That for me, I
14:32reckon that's the a nice amount of
14:34color. And then this bigger one looks
14:36like it's cooked, but it doesn't have
14:37quite as much color. So, we're going to
14:39put that in for another I'm going to say
14:416 minutes. Okay. So, now both of them
14:44are out of the oven. You want to let
14:45these rest as they are for like 30
14:47minutes. You want to serve them hot, but
14:48you just want to kind of let them just
14:50come down temperature a bit before you
14:52even touch them, before you try and turn
14:53them out. All right, it's been 26
14:55minutes, but I can't wait a second
14:57longer. So, it might just require a
14:59little bit of finesse to get out of
15:01there. Just get something thin. Just
15:03going to loosen it up. Oh, look at that.
15:06There you go. I'll serve it with just
15:09olive oil. If you want to annoy the
15:11Italians, you could do it with butter,
15:12but uh olive oil is the way to go, I
15:14think. All right, let's rip into this.
15:16Look at that. Nice crumb. Nice and
15:19light, crunchy outside. Just go straight
15:22and see what it's like.
15:26Can't beat fresh bread.
15:30That's delicious. Absolutely delicious.
15:32I should not do it with my mouth full.
15:34But now we know how to make a basic
15:35fkatcha. Let's start riffing on this
15:37idea a little bit.
15:40So, Ficasha, as ancient as it is, it's
15:42really cool to start seeing people
15:44innovate with it again. Shout out to
15:46Soul Snack. She'll be linked below.
15:48She's blowing up lately and for good
15:49reason. Her videos are incredible. But I
15:51started seeing her do this where she's
15:52substituting water for other things
15:55other than water like stock. So, she did
15:57one she did like a burrier version. She
15:59did a f version. She did like a tomato
16:01soup version. And it's one of those
16:02things that you see and you go, why
16:04didn't I think of that? It seems so
16:06simple, yet it's so innovative in
16:08innovative innovative dyslexia. So,
16:12we're going to make one with chicken
16:13stock today cuz it looks sick. Uh, and I
16:15think it's going to be delicious. Same
16:16as before, same amount of flour, same
16:19amount of warm water. So, this is at
16:20like 40° C. In goes the yeast. Give it a
16:24mix. Same amount of stock, not water,
16:27Andrew. And then same process as before.
16:29Into the flour. Olive oil. And you could
16:33go crazy with this. Like, actually, I've
16:34just had a genius idea and it's too
16:36late. But you could use an infused olive
16:38oil, huh? You know, like you could use
16:39like a basil infused olive oil or I've
16:42even got like a garlic infused olive oil
16:43out there. Salt. Quick, mix it before
16:46your yeast dies. Don't be silly, Andrew.
16:48Your yeast's not going to die.
16:51There's no water in that.
16:54So, we are just going to leave this
16:55similar to the plain one uh and keep it
16:58very simple just to see how much flavor
17:00adding that stock changes compared to
17:02just water. 30 minutes, we'll start
17:04stretching and folding.
17:12So, our chicken stock bread is almost
17:15ready to go. It's had its four stretch
17:17and folds. Um, we're going to get it
17:19into a dish and then we'll prove it one
17:20last time. So, I'm not going to put too
17:22much flavor on this, but I guess putting
17:24it with chicken stock made me think of
17:26one of my all-time favorite chicken
17:27dishes, a classic roast chicken. So,
17:30we're going to flavor it with some thyme
17:32and some garlic infused oil. This is
17:34actually garlic and parmmesan infused
17:36oil, but hey, palmesan's delicious. Not
17:39sure what it has to do with roast
17:40chickens, but anyway. So, same as
17:42before, I'm going to grease up our tray
17:44really well. Spread it around up the
17:46sides. Get it on your fingers. Does
17:48smell like parmesan. And we'll get our
17:50dough in there.
17:52This dough certainly behaves different
17:54to other doughs. It feels a lot tighter.
17:56And I'm not sure why. I'm guessing I'm
17:58guessing the protein in the stock has
18:00something to do with it. Maybe there's
18:02some extra salt in there. Who knows? I'm
18:04going to stretch this out further just
18:06so it fills out our tray. 30 minutes.
18:09We'll come back. Give it some dimples.
18:10Put some time in it. A little bit of
18:12extra olive oil. Job's a good one. All
18:14right. So, to get this ready for the
18:16oven, we are going to do it slightly
18:18differently because this herb is so
18:20small. We're actually going to Well,
18:22actually, we're going to pour a little
18:23bit more oil on first and then we're
18:25going to just put the herb in on top and
18:29then do our dimples cuz I don't really
18:31want to do it after. I think you're
18:32going to be struggle to actually push it
18:33all in anyway. So, we can get some of it
18:35in when we're pushing our dimples and
18:37some of it we'll just have to sacrifice.
18:39All right, ready for our dimples. Get a
18:41little bit of grease up our fingies a
18:43little bit.
18:46Same as before. All the way to the
18:48bottom. Give them a wiggle and pull them
18:50out. Little sprinkle of flaky salt to
18:52the oven. All right, so the chicken
18:55stock fasha this we baked this for 35
18:57minutes. Uh and then I pulled it out and
18:59I've let it rest for about 35 minutes as
19:01well. But I'm super interested to see
19:03what this tastes like. The crumb is
19:05still pretty good and it did feel a lot
19:07tighter even when I was doing the
19:08stretch and folds. Does have a mild kind
19:11of chickeny smell to it. Let's see what
19:14it tastes like.
19:20It's not super pronounced. You can
19:22definitely taste a bit of, you know,
19:23like chickeny flavor on in the at the
19:25back, but the texture is not quite as
19:27good. It's a bit tighter in the crumb.
19:28And I don't know whether that's because
19:30of the stock or something that I did
19:32wrong. But I think to get a better
19:33result or a better flavor, you're going
19:34to need to use something punchier than
19:35just straight up stock. Maybe that's why
19:37Soul Snack always did things like fur
19:39and burrier. Definitely not bad, just
19:41different. So flavoring ficashes is an
19:44incredible way to not only add flavor to
19:47your ficasha, it's also a great way to
19:49use up little bits of ingredients. Uh
19:51and it's a great way to kind of just
19:52change things up. So I've got a dough
19:54here that I prepared earlier and it's
19:56good to go. I have a I think this is
19:58around a 35 cm I guess maybe 30 cm um
20:04cast iron pan that's enamel coated.
20:08Doesn't need to be that. It's also
20:09round, which I like doing ficashes
20:11round. Um, I think they make great
20:13sandwiches. Lots of olive oil as usual.
20:17Up the sides. Make sure my hands nice
20:19and oily. Now, we're going to really
20:20carefully pull this whole piece of dough
20:23out. Give it a stretch. And in the dish,
20:26over stretch it. We want to try and keep
20:27it like round. We want it to fill the
20:29dish. You also want to try and keep it
20:31even. So, if you've done it like here,
20:32it's a bit bigger. Going to stretch it
20:34some more in that part. So, we're going
20:35to need to prove that for another half
20:37an hour. See, I've just picked that
20:38piece of dough up and I don't want to
20:39waste it. So, I'm just going to get it
20:40underneath there like that. Prove that
20:42for another 30 minutes. You can do it
20:43with the lid on or a tea towel. I prefer
20:44to do it with a tea towel cuz in case
20:46that goes kind of crazy. It's not going
20:47to stick to the tea towel as much as it
20:49would a lid. And then while that's doing
20:50that, we can get our flavorings ready.
20:52So, the flavoring we're going with today
20:54is some like green Sicilian olives.
20:56These are pipped olives. You can keep
20:57them whole or I like to kind of just do
20:59that and drop it on the floor. I kind of
21:01like to pull them apart. And I don't
21:02like to cut them. I like to break them.
21:03I think they just kind of I don't know.
21:06This isn't like a straight edge type of
21:09thing, even though I am straight edge.
21:11It's more a rustic thing. So, just rip
21:14them apart. You also could just leave
21:15them whole, too. And then we're going to
21:17do some preserved lemon, which we're
21:18just going to take the flesh out and
21:19just kind of chifonard um the actual
21:21lemon itself. And we got some some fresh
21:23oregano, but go crazy with this. I've
21:26done them with sundried tomato, comfy
21:28garlic, and onion. They got where we
21:30went all crispy and dark on the top, and
21:32everyone roasted me online for it even
21:33though it was delicious. internet. Hey,
21:35you can do pesto and bokachini, artich
21:37choke and anchovi. You could do like a
21:39quadro from RJ. So like four cheese one.
21:42Literally anything will go really well
21:43on this. I also love doing potato like
21:46potato and rosemary works really well.
21:47And there's even a sweet version of this
21:49dish. So when we're doing flavor
21:51ficasha, it's just like the plain one.
21:53We're going to grease up our fingers and
21:54then we're going to push our fingers in
21:55to create the dimples before we start
21:57adding the flavors. So the trick when
21:59we're putting ingredients into ficashes
22:01is that we have to make sure that we
22:04push it in and kind of in it becomes a
22:06part of the dough. And the reason we do
22:08that is cuz we cook it at such a high
22:09temperature. If we don't, you're going
22:11to burn it. So the you know 220° for 30
22:15minutes potentially this will cook for
22:16will 100% completely scorch the olives
22:19or anything that's kind of sitting above
22:21the line. Now I don't mind a bit of
22:23char, but you don't want the whole thing
22:24to be burnt. So a little bit's fine.
22:26Obviously you don't want all of it. So,
22:27I I put the soft stuff on first and then
22:30work up to the harder stuff and try and
22:32clump it together. And that way when you
22:34push it in, it's all going to kind of go
22:36in and kind of get pushed under the
22:38dough line as one thing. So, there's the
22:40oregano first. Now, I'm putting pieces
22:42of reserved lemon on top. And now the
22:44green olives. So, now we need to try and
22:47push this in. Doesn't need to be
22:49completely sealed, but you do want it in
22:51pretty far. As the bread rises, it
22:53should come in and enclose it a little
22:55bit. Finally, just a little sprinkle of
22:56sea salt
22:58into the oven. One of the other things I
23:00like to do sometimes, especially if like
23:03I'm making this for friends or about for
23:06dinner party, is I will drizzle some
23:07more olive oil on the top as soon as it
23:10comes out the oven. It should absorb it
23:11all in. Get it around the edges, too.
23:14Yum. Let that sit there for 30 minutes
23:16before we take it out. Carve it open.
23:18Carve it open. You don't carve bread.
23:20You slice bread, Andy. You silly duffer.
23:22All right, been 30 minutes. So, we're
23:24going to get this thing out of here and
23:26see what it tastes like. I reckon it's
23:28going to be delicious.
23:31You ready? You ready? Oops. Look at the
23:35bubbles. Take this. You cut it this way.
23:38Put some mortadella in here. Some
23:40stretchella. Some basil. Mate, that's a
23:43sandwich to feed the family. I checked
23:45my fridge. I have some stretchella, but
23:46I don't have any mortal. So, we'll just
23:48have a slice. Look at the crumb on it.
23:50Beautiful.
23:52M. Yeah. This is the first time I've
23:54done it with preserved lemon and it's
23:56delicious. It tastes like light and
23:58fresh and summery. Honestly, that
24:00stretchella mortadella,
24:03some basil, delicious. Okay, on to my
24:07favorite and genuinely one of my
24:09favorite recipes of all time. I've eaten
24:10this pizza a lot. When I ate it in
24:13Sicily, I don't know whether it's like
24:14cuz I was there, it was sunny, I was
24:16with Caitlyn, but it changed my life. It
24:19was delicious. So, we're going to make a
24:21Sicilian style pizza from the same
24:23dough. So, exactly the same process as
24:25before. We're going to mix our dough.
24:26We're going to do the rounds of stretch
24:28and folds. And then we'll come back to
24:29that later. While that's proofing, let's
24:31make the tomato sauce. Okay, so it's a
24:33very simple tomato sauce. Like all good
24:35things in life. It's simple, but we cook
24:37it unlike you would for like a
24:39Neapolitan pizza, which is always done
24:41raw. For this one, we cook the sauce
24:44first. You'll see why we need to cook it
24:46in a minute. So, good quality tin
24:48tomatoes, whole and peeled. The whole is
24:51um necessary. Get better quality
24:53tomatoes. I think we're going to crush
24:54them ourselves as well. I've got a piece
24:56of basil here in the bottom of my pot.
24:58In go the tomatoes.
25:01We don't want to like add water to this
25:03tin and and rinse it out cuz you're
25:05going to like water your tomatoes down,
25:07which we don't want. So, just get as
25:09much as you can out. Clean hand, crush
25:11your tomatoes. put the tomatoes in your
25:13hand and squeeze
25:16to get all that delicious juice out. And
25:18you want to do this for like four or
25:19five minutes because we really want you
25:21don't want any big pieces. Don't be
25:22afraid to kind of squeeze that basil
25:24around as well and get all the oils out
25:26of it. Now, only other thing we're going
25:27to add to that is just a little bit of
25:28dried oregano. We don't want heaps,
25:30otherwise it just starts to taste like
25:32like that fake herb flavor. And of
25:35course, a pinch of salt onto the heat.
25:36We're going to cook that for like once
25:38it simmers 10 minutes. We're just trying
25:40to cook the tomatoes out and that's good
25:42to go. Okay. So, the cheese, super
25:44important. If you're using a Florida
25:46latte or a buffalo mozzarella for the
25:49top, which I do encourage you, you
25:50probably should be. Um, it's a lot
25:53higher moisture or hydration um than
25:57like a a a pizza mozzarella or like I
26:00guess a an American or an Australian
26:02mozzarella that's designed for pizza.
26:04So, what we need to do, I got a a tray
26:07here with a rack over the top and some
26:08paper. We're going to dry this out a
26:11little bit. You can do this the day
26:12before or a couple of hours. It doesn't
26:14really matter. Cut your slices and put
26:16it onto the paper and let it dry out.
26:19And then when this cheese melts, it's
26:21going to have less moisture in it. So,
26:22it's going to make our dough that we've
26:24made so much effort to keep nice and
26:25crispy not go soggy. So, do it like that
26:28in the fridge at least 2 hours or
26:30overnight even better. All right, tomato
26:32sauce is done.
26:34Just going to pour this out into another
26:35container. Make a mess. We want this
26:38kind of room temperature when we put it
26:40on the pizza. So, it's only going to
26:41take an hour or something to cool down,
26:43but you don't really want to put it
26:44straight on while it's still hot. You
26:45also don't really want fridge cold
26:47either. So, if it's from the fridge, you
26:48may the day before, pull it out to let
26:50it come to room temperature. If you've
26:52just cooked it like I have, just going
26:53to leave it out to cool down for like an
26:55hour till you can put your finger in it
26:56without burning your finger. Ah, it's
26:59also worth mentioning at this point, I
27:01don't think I have yet, this is not a
27:02traditional style dough for Sicilian
27:04style pizza. This is taking a ficasha
27:07dough and turning it into or being
27:09inspired by the Sicilian style of pizza.
27:12Just wanted to get that out there.
27:15So, we need to get that in there and we
27:18need to fill the tin. Same as before,
27:20olive oil. Don't be shy. On your hands,
27:21too. Make sure you get the sides. So,
27:24this is a a baking dish. It's a really
27:26heavy cast iron one. And it's really
27:28good for this. Gives you a nice crusty
27:30edges. But any kind of baking dish will
27:32work. So now we're going to take our
27:33dough and we're going to We really want
27:36to stretch this before we get it in the
27:38tray if we can. Just like you would a
27:40pizza. You get gravity to help you.
27:42Okay. And that goes. Now we're going to
27:44overstretch it and then put it back in.
27:46Make sure it's kind of even. We got this
27:47like we can see right here. We got a
27:50thicker area. So we want to we want to
27:52kind of distribute some of that dough.
27:54Ideally, we don't want to put a hole in
27:55it like I just did, but not it's not as
27:57much of an issue as a normal pizza. So,
28:00press it into the corners. You really
28:02want this to fool this tray before we
28:05let it sit there and prove. If you have
28:07got a hole like that, just pinch it
28:08together and it'll be fine. All right,
28:10I'm happy with that. We're going to
28:11cover it with a tea towel. Same as
28:13before, we're going to let it prove for
28:1430 minutes. So, our dough is almost
28:16ready for our pizza. So, the difference
28:19between this is that we're going to par
28:20cook this before we put our toppings on.
28:22And that's important cuz unlike the
28:24flavor ficashes, we don't want to push
28:26things in. So if we put the toppings on
28:28now, they're just going to burn. So I
28:30want a little bit of oil here. Not too
28:32much. We are going to dimple this, but
28:33not crazy. So just little dimples in
28:36here. So then we're going to go into the
28:37oven. 220° like the other ones. After 15
28:40minutes, we'll pull it back out. All
28:42right. It's been going for 50. O, she's
28:44smoky.
28:46Steam burn. Be careful. It hurts. 15
28:48minutes. Out they come. They hit. Okay.
28:50You really want to work fast there. Now,
28:53don't rush. Don't hurt yourself. Excuse
28:55you. But you don't want to kind of muck
28:57around. And Sicily, they kind of just
28:59spread the um it doesn't have to be like
29:01perfectly covered in sauce. They kind of
29:04like dotted around. And I you probably
29:06noticed that I do have the basil on here
29:08that was in the sauce, too. Next, I'm
29:09going to put the basil. You could also
29:11do the basil after, so it's fresh and
29:12green. This will go brownish. I don't
29:15mind it. I prefer it cooked cuz I think
29:16you get the oils from the the herb going
29:18into the bread itself. Okay. Next, we're
29:20actually going to do the palmesan next.
29:23And I like to kind of give extra
29:26attention to the sides cuz you get these
29:28crusty like golden paly bits all down
29:30the sides. A little bit over the top.
29:33And finally, the mozzac
29:36evenly. Done. Back to the oven.
29:40Okay, another 15 minutes or until the
29:42cheese is all golden and delicious. I
29:44can't wait to eat that. All right, it's
29:46been about 15 minutes. The cheese is
29:48looking nice and starting to get some
29:50color. All right, it smells delicious.
29:53You really have to resist temptation.
29:54Just let this chill out for 10 minutes
29:57before you try and take it out of the
29:58tin. All right, let's get this out of
30:00here. Let's see what it tastes like.
30:06One bite. Everyone knows the rules.
30:07Delicious. It's light and fluffy on the
30:09inside. Lovely crunchy exterior. There's
30:12nothing wrong with that at all. And that
30:13is probably the easiest slice of pizza
30:14you could ever make at home, especially.
30:16But I've eaten enough bread to sink
30:18someone. There you go. I hope you've
30:20learned something if you are a ficasha
30:22expert. And if you're not, I encourage
30:24you to try some stuff. It's the easiest
30:25bread to pull off and you can take it in
30:27so many journeys like we're showing
30:29today. If you try a new flavor and you
30:30think it's delicious, let me know in the
30:32comments below. Thanks for watching,
30:33legends. We'll see you next week for
30:34another recipe. Peace.

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