I no longer I have a big KitchenAid stand mixer, so I wanted to try making the dough in my Bosch Multitalent 8 food processor. In the US, I made Focaccia bread in US “half sheet” pans, but our oven in Barcelona is much smaller. Even the built-in tray is smaller, so I scaled my recipe by 77% to fit the reduced size:

Half-Sheet: 33x18 inch = 45x33 cm = 1485 cm^2 area Oven tray: 38x30 cm = 1140 cm^2 area – 77% of a half sheet pan

690 g Flour

514 g Water

9 g Yeast

12 g Salt

115 ml Olive Oil, extra virgin

12 g Rosemary, fresh, chopped fine, for topping

7 g Salt, coarse, for topping

Add the Water and Flour to the processor and whiz on slowest speed to combine.

Let rest 30 minutes to autolize (allow enzymes to convert starch to sugar, develop gluten, and slacken dough).

Add Yeast and whiz at lowest speed for 1 minute.

Add Salt and whiz at lowest speed for 2 minutes; the motor started smelling hot, and after a minute it shutdown due to thermal overload. Worse, the dough had escaped down the drive tube into the drive shaft. I scooped out all the dough into a bowl, covered, and let rise 45 minutes until about doubled.

Cover oven tray with foil and pour in all the oil.

Spread the dough as much as you can, but it will spring back.

Refrigerate 10 minutes and spread again, ensuring you get oil under all the dough.

Repeat twice.

Top with chopped Rosemary and coarse Salt, dimple, and let rise an hour.

Bake 45 minutes at 180C.

Before and after:

Despite the trauma with the dough and the food processor, it turned out OK: a little more chewy than I’d like, perhaps a bit under risen and bubbly.

Next time:

I’d like to make this again, avoiding problems and with some improvements.

The Manual for the MC812M844 on Page 9 shows a maximum of 750 g Flour and 2 minutes low speed for the dough hook; I was under both of those.

Try adding the Flour first, then while spinning (on slowest setting) drizzle in the Water, and stop when combined. I probably do not need the 1 and 2 minute whiz after adding Yeast and Salt, especially since it’s a high-hydration dough; perhaps just spin to combine. Add Yeast and spin briefly, then Salt and spin again – don’t add at same time or the Salt will kill the Yeast (this discussion of the autolyse technique includes the Yeast in that step, delaying only the addition of Salt).

Use higher hydration percentage to encourage more bubbles and lighter texture. The ratio here is already high at 74%, how much higher can we push it?

While pushing the oil under the dough, the foil tore – irritating. I used foil in my sheet pans because the bread stuck fiercely, but maybe I can get away without it in this oven tray.

In the USA, I used no/low-knead techniques with very little yeast and multi-day refrigerated ferments. Could I do the same here? Would it help?

If I have to reduce the volume of Flour, consider getting a new sheet pan to fit our small oven; the ones I have are dinky and really dinky. Size it for the maximum dough I can get in the food processor.