Cook Chatty Cathy wrote:
I once went to a restaurant that served the most wonderful foccacia bread I have ever tasted. I have yet to find a recipe that came near this bread. It was round, full of bubble holes and a dense bread almost like an English Muffin....but not. Can anyone help me out here?
Thank you, CCCathy
In our family we always made foccacia completely by hand for the restaurants as well as for home.
Today things are a lot different. Flours are different, many come from a sack and all you need to add is water - or depending on the mix - possibly another ingredient or two. One sack of "dry mix" will make several different things. It's cheaper for the restaurants. Many times the dough is prepared (once again using a commercial mix) by a baker or bread company and it is flash frozen and sent to restaurants and pizzerias. You think you are getting a "homemade" dough when you aren't. A dear friend of mine sells tons of "doughs" that have been flash frozen to all parts of the states. And no one knows it comes from a bread bakery. These doughs even go into the large supermarket chains and as you watch the dough "proof" you think they made it themselves - they didn't - it came in frozen. But they fool you. You have to work in the industry to actually see what is done and all the tricks there are out there.
Don't be discouraged if you're recipe is not the exact texture, flavor, etc. as what you ate in a restaurant or got in a supermarket, pizzeria, deli, etc. If after trying the recipe posted you want to try others - just let me know.
Mama