This morning I downloaded one of the many copy cat recipes on the web for
making Boboli bread. I had to convert it because it called for WAY too much
flour. Here's what I eventually tried:

560 g Bread flour 100%
006 g Instant yeast 1%
004 g Kosher salt .71%
380 g Water 68%

The flavor was okay, but not very interesting--I find focaccia a little
boring too. The biggest problem was that the holes in the crumb were more
bread-like in size and shape--not very Boboli-like. I'm thinking I will
need to raise the hydration to something like 75% water and kick-up the salt
and instant yeast to about 2% each.

After an initial fermentation of about one hour, I formed the bread and
punched down with my finger tips (like I would with focaccia) then let it
proof for about another hour. Then I placed the whole thing directly on a
pre-heated 550?F pizza stone for a few minutes until it reached an internal
temperature of 200?F. Actually the finished product looked more like a
round focaccia than it did like any kind of Boboli bread. I wonder if they
throw a little baking powder in there in addition to the yeast. Maybe the
extra water is all I need.

Ideas?

Thanks!

Rich Hollenbeck
Moreno Valley, CA