Baking Focaccia in a cast iron skillet

You won’t find any recipe card at the end of the post. It’s the same recipe for Foccacia I published two years ago.
Well, maybe not exactly the same. I have replaced rosemary and salt with thyme and anise, but apart from that, it’s the same old dough.

So Incredibly innovative perhaps you’re thinking now, a bit sarcastic.
But this is not a new recipe. This post is about how to bake Foccacia in a slightly simpler way. It’s about baking Focaccia in a cast-iron skillet.
I used to place the dough in a pan for the final rise. But it didn’t matter how much I oiled the pan. The Dough always found a place to get stuck on during baking.

I have also tried to place the dough directly onto the baking stone. But Focaccia requires a wet dough, and it tends to float out too much if there is no support on the sides.

MAKE USE OF YOUR CAST IRON SKILLET

So I decided to try to bake Focaccia in a cast iron skillet instead. I always keep my skillet well seasoned, but I decided to brush it with some extra olive oil, just in case.
It worked like a charm. When the Focaccia was ready, it slid out of the skillet without any problems.

Now, I do think it helps if your skillet is well seasoned. If it’s dry and even rusty, you may face some problems. But that problem can be solved quite easily. Just follow the routine about how to season a skillet described at Serious Eats, and never wash your skillet with dishwasher detergent again.
If you take care of your skillet, you will be richly rewarded.
It will last for a lifetime, and a well-seasoned skillet is one of the most valuable kitchen utensils there is.

BAKE ANYTHING IN YOUR CAST IRON SKILLET

You don’t have to limit yourself to Focaccia. You can bake any bread in a cast-iron skillet. Most cast iron skillets are thick-walled and can keep a lot of heat, which is good for the oven spring. You won’t get as good a result as in a Dutch oven or a cast iron combo cooker. The closed environment they provide that traps the steam around the loaf is hard to beat.
But it’s much better than an ordinary, thin-walled, baking sheet.

But what about a baking stone? Well, if you do like me and cover the loaf with a metal hood that traps the steam, a baking stone is probably a better choice. But if you don’t have anything big enough to cover with, I think the skillet is more practical. You just have to grab the handle of the skillet and lift out the bread when it’s ready.
Just don’t forget the oven mitt.

And when we are talking about the handle of your skillet. If it’s not made of cast iron, make sure it’s oven-proof. I know this is obvious, but I want to mention it anyhow, just in case.

BACK TO THE FOCACCIA

Making a conclusion about something that already had been done seems a bit redundant, so I skip that. But I recommend anise as a bread seasoning.  It’s quite common here in Sweden, but it also goes well with Focaccia.
And thyme is thyme. It tastes great most of the time.