Monday 27 April 2015

Daring Bakers - April 2015!

It is the 27th today and I am supposed to post my take on this month's challenge. I am not really looking forward to this, though...

But first thing's first.

This month our challenge was to make Focaccia and our hosts were Rachael of pizzarossa and Sawsan of Chef in Disguise.

 I wanted to make a gluten free sweet focaccia, so I chose the basic recipe and left out the spices.

Sweet Focaccia

385 gm all-purpose gluten free flour
6 gm salt
15 gm white sugar
15 gm confectioner's sugar
8½ gm active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
15 ml vegetable oil
300 ml milk
chocolate sprinkles

white sugar
chocolate chips
butterscotch chips
cinnamon

* Warm the milk and mix it with the yeast and sugar and wait until it becomes foamy and bubbly.
* Stir together the flour, salt and confectioner's sugar
* Mix in the vegetable oil, then add the milk-yeast mixture.
* Stir until the dough comes together and then knead until smooth and elastic.
* Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in and turn to coat it with oil.
* Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place until it is doubled
* Preheat oven to 230°C.
* Deflate the dough down and place it on greased baking sheet. Pat into a thick circle.
* To give the dough the dimples effect, use your fingertips, pushing gently all over the surface of the dough.
* Lightly oil it with a brush and sprinkle your toppings.
* Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
* Bake for about 15 min.

This process, as I have described it above is the theory.
The outcome? Well, I don't know what went wrong, because my dough didn't rise at all, even though the yeast was OK. I had purchased it that same day and it did foam.
I always, always help my yeasted doughs rise, using my neck warmer(!!) with a lot of success. Not this time...

So, I simply made a round shape with my hands, placed the toppings and baked.
It didn't rise at all, even during baking.

When I cut it, it was bread-y, not very sweet (as I suspect a sweet bread should be), but since there was no rise, this focaccia was dry.
Naturally we didn't like it and I ended up eating the chips from on top the focaccia.

Anyway, these are my pictures...















To tell you the truth, I didn't try to make it again. I was a bit disappointed and didn't want to waste any more ingredients...

I guess better luck next time?


Louise