Whole Wheat Raisin Focaccia

Raisin Focaccia
 
Recipe from Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart

Notes: I've made the focaccia recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice before, in the raisin variation, and enjoyed it immensely. However, it's been 6 or 7 years (I know this, since I brought a slice to a date), so I felt it was time to try it again. This time 'round, I made the "transitional" version from Reinhart's whole grain book. That's his term for a non-100% whole grain product, to ease the "transition" to a whole grain diet.

On Sunday morning, I prepared the soft dough in a mixer, then spread it out on a sheet pan, pressing the raisins as I was dimpling it. It went into the refrigerator to ferment for the day. Do make sure to oil the surface liberally, and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, to avoid any part of it sticking to the wrap or drying out at the edges. Later that day, I took it out around 16:00, and dimpled the surface some more, trying to get it to fill the entire sheet pan. I added a few more raisins at this point.

An hour before bedtime, after I had forgotten about the gently puffed dough, I turned on my oven. The focaccia had risen somewhat, and filled 95% of the pan. At the minimum baking time, I took out as it had gotten quite brown. The edges were a bit dry and crisp, but the inside pieces were fine. The focaccia is a bit on the dry side, but has a nice chew. I attribute this to letting it dry out too much, and perhaps overbaking. These transitional breads are pretty good, and I'll continue to bake through the book.

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