I tried to make focaccia. I followed this recipe:

http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/3cheese_focc.html

I made the dough almost according to the directions, except I put the
yeast in the water for a few minutes first, then added that to the flour
and salt.

But in the mixer, it never clumped together from the edges onto the dough
hook as a large mass.

After resting for 1-1/2 hours, the dough didn't double in size (not at
all!), nor did it double again after formed to the pan after 45 minutes.

I knew something was wrong.

After cooking, the crust was rock hard. Almost laughably awful for a
first attempt. The topping came out OK at least.

Is the dough recipe wrong or what did I do wrong?

Please advise,

Andy

P.S. I did cut the kosher salt and the pepper way back to maybe 1 tbls
each. --A

"Andy" > wrote in message
...
> I tried to make focaccia. I followed this recipe:
>
> http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/3cheese_focc.html
>
> I made the dough almost according to the directions, except I put the
> yeast in the water for a few minutes first, then added that to the flour
> and salt.
>
> But in the mixer, it never clumped together from the edges onto the dough
> hook as a large mass.
>
> After resting for 1-1/2 hours, the dough didn't double in size (not at
> all!), nor did it double again after formed to the pan after 45 minutes.
>
> I knew something was wrong.
>
> After cooking, the crust was rock hard. Almost laughably awful for a
> first attempt. The topping came out OK at least.
>
> Is the dough recipe wrong or what did I do wrong?
>
> Please advise,
>
> Andy
>

The recipe looks fine. Perhaps the yeast was old and weak? Perhaps the water
you mixed it with was too hot and killed it? As for the mixing, you'll find
that baking recipes usually cannot be followed to the letter because
different kinds/batches of flour are slightly different. From your
description it sounds like you needed a bit more flour. I would have added a
couple of TB at a time until the dough formed a mass around the hook. Baking
takes some experience-there are somethings that simply cannot be described
in print.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.