Focaccia on the barbeque (braai)

South Africans like to braai. You may name it a barbeque or BBQ, however our phrase for it’s braai! A braai might not even be what you anticipate by way of meat grilling on a grid. Once we go tenting typically we make one thing which we name a ‘potjie’ pronounced ‘poy-kie’, or potjiekos.

Potjiekos, is a conventional South African dish cooked in a spherical, cast-iron, three-legged pot referred to as a “potjie”. That means “small pot meals” in Afrikaans, it’s a slow-cooked, layered stew made outdoor over an open fireplace, historically with meat, greens, and starches. As soon as the lid is on, it’s not stirred, permitting the flavours to meld collectively in distinct layers.  

I just lately obtained roped into collaborating in a ‘potjiekos’ competitors because the bread baker on the staff. We additionally had a dessert maker, along with the principle dish which was the potjie. All made outdoor on the BBQ. For the bread I made a decision to make focaccia with a give attention to flavourful toppings. The principle focus was on the meat stew although, with the bread meant as an accompaniment and even, dare I say it, as one thing to eat with the gravy.

Our staff positioned a whole lot of give attention to how we had been going to bake the focaccia over the open fireplace. Prior to now my greatest outcomes with focaccia on the BBQ had been from utilizing my baking metal within the Weber, with warmth offered by charcoal positioned across the edge in a circle, giving the centre area an space with oblique warmth. As a pan, I used a stainless-steel ‘lodge pan’ on prime of the metal with the Weber lid on, with about Half-hour bake time, 10 minutes lined with foil. This methodology works, however the negatives are that normally the underside crust is crispier than the highest.

Conventional ‘barrel’ braai with two Dutch ovens, the highest one with the lifter knob had the stew in it, whereas the underside one was used for baking focaccia:

For this competitors we obtained it proper with a greater system although. We used a flat bottomed Dutch oven sitting on a mattress of fireplace bricks that had been heated with coals first. Coals had been from each wooden and charcoal. The bread was lowered in on parchment into the Dutch oven, after which coals had been positioned on the lid of the pot to supply further prime warmth which gave a superb rise, and extra importantly we achieved an analogous degree of prime and backside warmth within the pot, with the end result that each the highest and backside crust had been cooked accurately. Bake time was 20-Half-hour, with 1 / 4 flip of the pot each 5 minutes. It’s essential to regulate it and choose accordingly, and when checking to fastidiously elevate the lid taking care that no ash falls onto the bread.

The right amount of coals to have on the lid of the Dutch oven to bake focaccia:

The focaccia was made with a 48 hour fridge ferment, ~30% of the flour was used to make an preliminary poolish with a small quantity of instantaneous yeast, then 24 hours later the remaining flour and water was added. The flour used was Caputo Nuvola 00. About 500-550g of dough for every focaccia. 

I paid a whole lot of consideration to the toppings used to present the utmost flavour impression, and wasn’t stingy with peppadews (candy/savoury tiny bell peppers), feta cheese (from goats milk and cows milk), cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, oven roasted garlic, and herbs consisting of contemporary chopped rosemary, chives, parsley, Maldon salt, pepper and olive oil had been additionally generously used.

Fairly proud that the thriller of how greatest to bake a focaccia when tenting, gave the impression to be solved with this one which had a stunning spring with nice open crumb and did not stint on the flavours.