Garlic Confit Focaccia #Breadbakers

Luscious garlic confit (and its oil) is the star of the show in this Garlic Focaccia. The crisp crust and pillowy soft interior is reminiscent of a perfect pizza, while pockets of sweet garlic will make you wonder why you ever made garlic bread any other way.

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There are a few scents that are guaranteed to make you hungry: baking bread, freshly made cookies, and garlic! Well, I don't have any cookies for you today, but this garlicky bread more than makes up for it - between making the garlic confit and baking the bread our house smelled like the best garlic bread for days.

 

My sister had spotted a garlic confit focaccia on social media one night, and immediately sent me the photo with the note "you need to make this". I mean, who am I to say no? Life got in the way however and the bread kept getting pushed to the back burner again...and again. By the time I got to it, she had forgotten about the email altogether! All was not lost though, because once the garlic started cooking she was all in for some new bread. 

 

Now, this loaf is a bit more time intensive than your standard sandwich bread, but the hands-on time is pretty minimal.The confit takes 2 hours in a slow oven to transform the sharp, in-your-face taste of raw garlic into a mellow, slightly sweet one. Luckily, while it cooks the dough can me made and have it's first rise, and while it cools down the dough will be doing a second, slower proof in the fridge. I was honestly worried about the garlic burning in the oven while the bread baked, but it stayed perfectly sweet and intact. The best part about this bread is not only does it get studded with garlic cloves and bathed in the garlic oil, but whatever's left (if anything!) is a perfect accompaniment if you love the allium as much as I do! We spread the confit cloves on chunks of the still-warm loaf and dipped it in the re-warmed oil.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. http://www.pinterest.com/flpl/bread-bakers/ Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/p/breadbakers.html 

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. 

 

 

• French Onion Soup Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Garlic Cloverleaf Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Garlic Confit Focaccia from What Smells So Good?
• Gluten-Free Millet Chives Flatbread (Bajra chives Paratha) from Cook with Renu
• Moroccan Rghaif from Sneha’s Recipe
• Onion and Bay Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Onion Garlic Loaf from Ambrosia
• Onion Lover Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Scallion and Sesame Rolls from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Whole Wheat Onion Kulcha from Magical Ingredients
  
  

Garlic Confit Focaccia

Serves 12
Adapted from Daens Kitchen

Garlic Confit

24 cloves (about 2 heads) garlic, peeled
2 cups canola oil
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Bread

2 1/2 cups water

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tbsp honey

2 cups all purpose flour

3 cups whole wheat bread flour

1/2 tbsp Fleur de Sel or flaky kosher salt

 

Garlic confit cloves and oil

1. In a small baking dish (I used a small enameled cast-iron cocotte) combine the garlic, oil and herbs. Garlic should be completely submerged in the oil.
2. Bake at 250F for 2 hours, until garlic is soft. Let cool to room temperature completely.
3. Meanwhile, combine all the bread ingredients in a large bowl until a shaggy, sticky dough forms and all the flour is absorbed. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.
4. With greased hands, fold the risen dough over itself in the bowl 3-4 times, working clockwise around the bowl. 
5. Coat a 9x13 pan with 3 tablespoons of the garlic confit oil and transfer the dough ball to it, patting it out into a rough rectangle (don't stretch it, just gently press). Drizzle the top with a little of the garlic oil.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. 
7. Heat the oven to 400F and remove dough from the fridge to warm up slightly while the oven heats.
8. Use damp fingers to dimple the dough all over, being careful not to push in too deeply.
9. Nestle some of the garlic confit cloves into the dimples and drizzle the dough all over with a tbsp of the garlic oil.
10. Sprinkle with Fleur de Sel or kosher salt.
11. Bake for 30 minutes, until the dough is crusty and golden brown.
12. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack (this keeps the rest of the bread crusty and not soggy!).