This Foccacia bread is adapted from a recipe made at the California Culinary Academy at a "Weekends At The Academy" class that I took 17 years ago. This course was on Pizza & Flatbreads. We made four different breads all of which are excellent. Sadly they no longer offer these classes for the home chef; they were great fun and an excellent way to learn from accredited chef instructors at the CCA in San Francisco.
I used a slow rise overnight in the refrigerator which we did not do in the course. If you are not inclined to wait this long a standard two rise method will work. The slow rise adds a bit of depth to the final product. I also added dried basil and granulated garlic. I kept the dough a bit more moist and used a bit more yeast than we did in the class. I elected to make one MEGA Foccacia sheet as I want to use the bread for Paninni and Sandwiches as well. In the class we made two loaves in 12x18 half sheet pans which works fine if you want less thickness.
You can top the final proofed dough with toppings of your choice. You can also dimple and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt before goiing into the oven. I opted not to do any of this as my intent for final product was a bit unconventional. This makes a lot of bread. Fortunately both the dough and the baked bread freeze well. It makes a great dipping bread for olive oil, reduced balsamic, fresh chopped herbs, etc. with an Italian meal.
I try to use weight rather than volume measurements for main ingredients when baking if possible. I have included both methods of measure for those who may not want to scale ingredients.
Nothing like the smell of freshly cooked bread coming out of the oven.