And finally PART 3 which wraps up the summer tomato mini-series. Yup, it’s about time ! This time, the “freshest hand-crushed & no-cook heirloom tomato sauce and/or spread” (see the last 2 posts here & here) is strained to its maximum to utterly become a chunky "spread” that is used as a topping for the picnic-style foccacia (in Italian) or fougasse (in French) or lagana (in Greek) flatbread.

The bread is square, thicker and softer than a typical pizza (unless it’s Sicilian “sfincione”). My version is a pale-orange colored leavened flatbread dough that is actually made with the 2 tomato waters strained from the solids. The 1^stwater is from straining the hand-crushed tomatoes to initially separate the liquids from the solids and the 2^ndwater is from after straining the infused sauce solids with the complementary subtle flavors of different herbs and fronds, sliced vegetables, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, salt & sugar.

Very simple toppings are added after the 2 rises of the dough and before baking. There’s the tomato sauce that has become a denser and thicker spread, some added oregano or other summery dried herbs and some freshly-grated hard cheeses. It’s a non-fussy, simple and compact flatbread that’s easy to pack, easy to carry and easy to eat away from home.

You may be wondering why I didn’t just add the tomato sauce spread on top after baking the focaccia for a fresher end result ? Of course you could do that way instead if you’re eating it at home straight out of the oven or your kitchen, but for a picnic and for packing and travelling purposes, everything would slip and slide off and make a mess. The baking of the toppings on the bread welds everything together and bypasses the inevitable clean-up right after. To be honest, it’s better eaten at room-temperature as opposed to hot, because it still is or it was or it will be HOT again out there soon.. You know I love 30°C-35°C temperatures and I’m hoping for a nice return of an “Indian summer”.

Anyways, it”s a very short story because I’m typing this up (and translating it) a few hours before leaving the house to go to the airport and flying overseas to escape the doomed return of most of the vacationers flocking back to the city probably this weekend !

I’ll see them (and all of you) in September.

May your timely return to regular life, work and/or school be serene and stress-free . . . :)

picnic focaccia with tomato-water dough & the 'freshest hand-crushed & no-cook heirloom tomato sauce' topping

24.08.2018

4-8

ingredients

*for 1 baking half-sheet measuring 32 cm x 24 cm x 3 cm

tomato sauce/spread (see recipe & instructions here) :

175-200 grams (¾ cup) very strained fresh tomato sauce/spread

dough (all ingredients at room temperature) :

250 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour (or a mix with 25% whole wheat flour)
10 grams (2 tsp) sugar
6 grams (1 ½ tsp) dried instant yeast
2,5 grams (½ tsp) fine sea salt
180 ml (¾ cup) tomato water (half will be the 1^stplainer tomato water + the other half will be the 2^ndvery flavored tomato water from straining the sauce the 1^stand 2^ndtime)
60 ml (4 tbsp) olive oil (1 tbsp for the dough + ½ tbsp for brushing the bowl and dough for the 1^strise + 2 tbsp for brushing the baking pan & drizzling the dough for the 2^ndrise)

extra garnishes to add on top of the tomato sauce/spread :

45-60 grams (4-5 tbsp) freshly grated hard cheeses like italian parmesan or pecorino or greek kefalograviera or kefalotiri
3 grams (1 tbsp) dried oregano (or mixed dried herbs like “herbes de provence”)

instructions

to make the tomato sauce/spread, begin 12-24 hours before, follow the ingredients and instructions and use the same quantities of 1 kg of tomatoes, etc., as indicated (click here to see the recipe) but at the end, strain the sauce to its maximum until it becomes a denser and thicker spread weighing 175-200 grams (¾ cup) and reserve everything including the strained tomato-waters separately because you’ll need both for the dough
to make the dough, measure out all the ingredients and mix the flours and dried yeast together and set aside
combine the 2 tomato waters using 90 ml the 1^stand 90 ml of the 2^nd(because the 1^sttomato water is too plain and the 2^ndtomato water is too strong, salty and acidic to only use one or the other), add all the sugar, the salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil and mix
combine the wet ingredients of the dough with the dry ingredients until it forms a shaggy dough, let rest for 5 minutes, then knead by hand for 2-3 minutes and place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours until doubled in size
brushed the baking pan with 1 ½ tbsp of olive oil until well coated, transfer the soft dough into the pan, let it spread out , then flatten it out with oiled hands (with ½ tbsp olive oil) until it almost reaches the edges, cover and let rise in a warm place for an additional 60-90 minutes until doubled
preheat the oven to 230°C with the rack closest to the bottom
gently poke the dough with your fingers but leave a 1 cm edge all the way around, spread the tomato sauce evenly on top, add the dried herbs and the freshly grated hard cheese and bake for 18-20 minutes
remove from the oven, let cool down completely before removing it from the pan and slicing it into squares or rectangles and serve at room temperature.

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picnic focaccia with tomato-water dough & the 'freshest hand-crushed & no-cook heirloom tomato sauce' topping

4-8

ingredients

instructions

picnic focaccia with tomato-water dough & the 'freshest hand-crushed & no-cook heirloom tomato sauce' topping

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