GFRR: Focaccia Bread

Welcome to the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! I love the ratio rally, because the more I learn to bake by weight, and learn how things ingredients work in gluten free baking, the more confident I am to tackle new forms of baking that I’ve never tried before.This month, I get the honor of hosting the rally, and our challenge was focaccia bread. Since I’ve never made focaccia bread before, I knew this was going to be an interesting challenge. But I was also excited, because once I understood the basics of how to make good GF bread, I was brave enough to roll up my sleeves, head into the kitchen, and start throwing things together. If you know the right ratio, chances are, no matter how you create, it’s going to turn out good! 🙂

Here’s the entire list of creations for this month:
Carol | Goodness Gluten Free made Gluten Free Garlic and Parmesan Focaccia
Morri | Meals with Morri made Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread
mary fran | frannycakes made Gluten Free Sage Foccacia
~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) made Focaccia Bread
Silvana | Silvana’s Kitchen made Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Focaccia
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Gluten Free Cheesy Herb Focaccia

The more I researched and looked at other people’s recipes, I saw that the ratio for focaccia, as well as the way it is made, is very similar to pizza dough and other yeast breads. I learned some of the secrets of GF bread watching this video by Shauna at Gluten Free Girl…Let me just say I’ve never been this excited about gf bread. I feel like I can finally make “real” bread now!

Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia Bread
If you use a stand mixer with a bread attachment, some of these steps may be done slightly differently. However, I happen to think that mixing by hand is actually quite therapeutic 🙂

515 g. gluten-free All-Purpose flour blend
1 pkg. yeast
1 1/2 t. salt
25 g. psyllium husk powder
1 egg, at room temperature
2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted sweet butter, softened
warm water (see directions below)
olive oil
roasted garlic (from a jar, or you can make your own)
fresh or dried rosemary

Whisk together flours, yeast, salt, and psyllium husk powder. Add egg; stir in well.
Cut in the soft butter by tablespoons. Then cut in using two knives until the butter chunks are the size of peas. Add warm water gradually, stirring until the dough is the texture of waffle batter or thick cake batter. The amount of water may be different, depending on the temperature, or other interesting cooking chemistry things. I’ve made this 3 times, and have added anywhere between 500-750 g. of water.
Let the batter rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel, for 1 1/2 hours at room temperature. Or you can put the dough in the refrigerator overnight. The dough will have risen some, but not much. That’s okay; it’s the nature of gluten free bread.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two jelly roll pans with olive oil. Pour the batter into both pans evenly, and spread it out to the edges. Brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with the roasted garlic and rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on the edges.
Cut into strips, and enjoy with fresh Parmesan cheese, or homemade marinara sauce.
(Also shared on Allergy Free Wednesdays.)