Focaccia: Dough didn't rise!??!?!?
 

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