Revisiting Anthony Falco's Onion & Olive Bread

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters (if you're in Apple Podcasts, swipe up on the episode player page—the podcast chapters will be at the bottom).  

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Anthony starts listing them at 2:16) before starting the episode.

Onion & Olive Bread
makes 1 (12-by-16-inch) pan pizza

Sicilian grandma dough

• 900 grams high-protein flour
• 100 grams whole-grain flour, preferably freshly milled
• 30 grams sea salt
• 720 grams (3 cups) water, at 65°F (18°C)
• 100 grams starter (3 to 5 hours after feeding it at room temperature), or see note about using pre-ferment
• 60 grams extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the pans

Onion & olive bread

• 45 grams green Castelvetrano olives, pitted and sliced (about 8 olives)
• 44 grams Taggiasca olives, pitted and sliced (about 23 olives)
• 45 grams red onion, thinly sliced (about 1/4 medium)
• 12" round pan or 1 half sheet pan (900 grams) Sicilian Grandma Dough
• 40 grams (3 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil
• Large flake or coarse sea salt for garnishSicilian grandma dough

Sicilian grandma dough

1. Weigh all the ingredients in separate containers. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt and mix thoroughly with clean hands.
2. In another large mixing bowl, combine the water and starter.
3. Create a crater in the flour and pour the liquids in the center.
4. Begin mixing with your dominant hand. Start in the center of the bowl and mix in a clockwise fashion until the dough comes together, at this point add 60 grams of olive oil and continue to mix until the dough is fully incorporated. Stop mixing, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Perform a series of stretch and folds by stretching and folding the dough onto itself for about 6 minutes.
6. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container with a lid (or a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap) and let it rest at room temperature. Stretch and fold the dough for 1 minute every 30 minutes for 3 hours (six times).
7. Rest at room temperature (covered) for 30 minutes.
8. Using about 40 grams of olive oil, lightly oil two or three baking pans.
9. Lightly flour your hands, and using a dough cutter and scale, portion then shape the dough (three 700-gram or two 900-gram pieces) into rectangles by folding the edges into themselves.
10. Transfer each dough to the center of a pre-oiled baking pan. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
11. Lift the dough and press out any air from the bottom of the pan. Carefully stretch the dough to the pan's edges. Using your fingertips, gently dimple the entire length of the dough. Place the onions and olives onto the dough and very gently press until they sink in the dough. Cover and let proof at room temperature for 6-12 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Onion & olive bread

1. Preheat the oven with pizza stones to 475°F (250°C).
2. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the dough and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, if desired.
3. Put the pan in the oven directly on the stone, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
4. Remove the pizza from the pan with an offset spatula and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

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Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/