Focaccia Salamoia

There are of course as many ways of making focaccia as there are crusts and toppings to invent.  Nevertheless, while attending a bread conference at Johnson and Wales culinary school, I learned this life changing recipe.  Salamoia is a salt-preservation technique used in parts of Italy.

The crust is a basic white bread crust and you can use whatever recipe you are most comfortable with. I employed my Cripple Creek sourdough and mixed in some spelt flour.  The trick to making a focaccia is to fill a shallow baking pan with olive oil and then to press the leavened dough toward the edges with your fingertips.  It will not reach the edges on the first pressing so after another hour or two a second pressing will get it closer.  A third fingertip nudge may also be helpful.  I could have used more dough in the pan since a thicker crust would have been nice, but crust thickness is really a matter of preference.

You need to plan ahead.  To make the salamoia, mix together

• 1000 ml of water
• 200 ml of olive oil
• 80 g of salt (that's nearly a cup full)
• 4 - 6 sliced onions

Agitate the onions from time to time and the salt will soften them.  It will take about three or four hours.

To assemble.

Grab liberal handfuls of the salamoia onions and spread them evenly across the dough.  Here's the trick.  The water slopped onto the dough with the onions will seep into the dough and keep it moist in the oven.  The salamoia olive oil will float on top of the dough.  Now there is olive oil on top of the crust as well as beneath it.  

When it bakes it will get crisp on both top and bottom because of the olive oil.

Crush fresh Roma tomatoes in your hands right over the crust so the juices spill onto the crust.

That's Karl DeSmedt of Puratos demonstrating.

Sprinkle with oregano.  Add other kinds of toppings when you feel adventurous, but I don't recommend olives.  Combined with the salamoia onions it will be too salty.