Compare and Contrast Focaccia and Ortiz Bread

When I began culinary school my baking experience was very limited. I was familiar with mixing methods for quick breads: the muffin method and biscuit method. I was familiar with creaming to make cookies. I went through a stage years ago when I loved making pies, so I was familiar with the hazards of pie dough. I was never good at fluting the edges of my pie crust. ; ) When it came to yeast breads though, I lacked experience. I had become very proficient at making pizza dough and I am a home brewer of beer, so I understand how yeast works and what not to do in order to keep from killing it. I quite enjoyed baking bread in our basic baking and pastry class. I decided to take a closer look at two of the products we made in class and compare and contrast them; Ortiz bread and Focaccia. Ortiz bread is an artisan bread. It is a very simple, oven baked yeast bread that takes very little time to produce in comparison to other breads. The dough is very loose and can be baked free form on parchment paper right on the floor of a deck oven. The bread may be topped with additional ingredients for flavor or garnish as in the recipe below. Ortiz Bread-yield: 4lb 3 oz (4-6 free form loaves) Ingredients 2 lbs 2 oz Bread Flour2lbs water 1/4 oz instant yeast 3/4 oz salt 1/2 onion, 1/4 diced and tossed in olive oil (set aside) MOP 1. combine first four ingredients and mix, by hand, until flour is absorbed. 2. Stir vigorously, for one minute until dough pulls slightly away from sides of bowl. 3. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature. 4. Turn dough every twenty minutes, three times, for a total of 1 hour bulk ferment, then rise 20 minutes with no turn. 5. Place evenly sized blobs of dough, spaced apart, on a parchment-lined peel or bread board. 6. Top each blob with soaked onion and a sprinkling of Kosher salt. 7. Peel into 470 degree oven and bake with steam for 20 minutes.

Compare and Contrast Focaccia and Ortiz Bread

Focaccia is an Italian oven baked flat bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. Focaccia doughs are similar in style and texture to pizza dough but Focaccia contains more leavening agent than most pizza doughs, making the final product thicker and lighter than pizza. Focaccia is very popular in Italy and usually is seasoned with a number of herbs and may be topped with vegetables. Focaccia-yield: 5 lbs 10 oz (two 8 inch round cake pans @ 12 ounces plus 1/2 sheet pan) Ingredients Poolish 1lb 1.5 oz cold water 1lb 1.5 oz bread flour scant 1/8 tsp instant yeast Final dough 2 lbs bread flour 1lb 6 oz warm water 2 lbs 3 oz poolish (from day before) 1/4 oz instant yeast 1 tsp each Thyme, basil and oregano-fresh or dry 1 oz salt MOP-preferment method Poolish: 1. in a mixing bowl, mix together water, flour and yeast, by hand. Mix until thoroughly blended. Cover in plastic and allow to ferment at room temperature for about 12-16 hours. Final dough 1. in a 20 qt bowl, combine water, poolish and all dry ingredients: flour, salt, yeast and herbs. 2. Mix on 1st speed for 30 seconds with paddle, check consistency. Dough should be wet! 3. Mix on 2nd speed for 6 minutes or until dough pulls clean from the bowl. 4. Bulk ferment in oiled container. Turn dough every 20 minutes, 3 times, allowing for additional 30 minute rest after last turn for a total of 1.5 hours of fermentation. Dough will double in bulk. 5. When fermented, gently loosen the dough from the sides of the container and cut off two 12oz pieces of dough BEING CAREFUL NOT TO DEFLATE IT! Place the 12 oz pieces into oiled cake pans. 6. Carefully turn out remaining piece of dough onto well oiled 1/2 sheet pan. Spread dough out evenly, in pans using oiled fingertips. Be careful NOT TO DEFLATE the dough. 7. Dimple the tops of doughs with oiled fingertips and top the dough with desired ingredients: sliced tomatoes, and fresh rosemary are good choices. Drizzle top with olive oil. 8. Allow dough to rest for 20-30 minutes. 9. Bake at 450-500 degrees with steam until brown all over. This should take 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool and portion as desired.

Compare and Contrast Focaccia and Ortiz Bread

These two breads are very similar when you look at the finished product. Both have a very nice brown finish from being cooked with steam in a very hot oven. Also, both breads are topped with additional ingredients. The Ortiz bread we baked was topped with onions soaked in olive oil and the focaccia was topped with tomatoes and rosemary. If we had sliced the Ortiz bread in a similar fashion to the focaccia and placed it on the same tray, a person would have a hard time distinguishing between the two. They are very similar on the outside. The Ortiz bread was more airy on the inside and the focaccia was a little more dense. I think the thing that is most different in these two breads is the method in which they are prepared. The Ortiz bread takes very little time to produce. The dough can be thrown together in a matter of minutes and mixed by hand and requires a total of 1 hour bulk ferment. In contrast, the focaccia requires a starter (called a poolish) that is pre-fermented for 12-16 hours before you start putting the dough together. Also, the focaccia dough is put together in the mixer and beat with a paddle for about 6 and a half minutes total. The total fermentation time on the focaccia is a half hour more than required for the Ortiz bread. Both doughs do require to be turned during their fermentation. I enjoyed baking and eating both products. However, if I were going to make one of these breads at home, I would probably go with the Ortiz simply because of the shortened preparation time and because it is similar enough that I dont think anyone would complain about it. Who would complain about fresh baked bread?