Focaccia, no!

January 29, 2022 11:38 AM

Why does my focaccia keep sticking to the pan?

Samin Nosrat's recipe for Ligurian Focaccia is fantastic. Absolutely wonderful, super tasty.

The first few times I made it, I had no problem getting the bread out of the pan. I could easily lift the bread up to check the bottom for doneness, and it slid right out. No sticking at all!

The last three times, however, it's been sticking! It's not ruined, but I can't check it for doneness while it's still in the oven, and getting it out of the pan involves a lot of pushing and scraping with the spatula.

To the best of my knowledge, I've been following the recipe the exact same way each time! The most recent time, I tried putting more olive oil in the pan, but this didn't do any good (and, perhaps, may have made the sticking worse somehow?).

I love me this focaccia. It's great. What am I doing wrong?

posted by meese to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

That recipe calls for a very hot oven. I wonder if some olive oil has baked on - gone kind of brown and sticky and adhered to your pan? If the surface of your freshly-washed pan has any stains or feels like anything other than smooth, slippery metal, you might have a bit of an oil coating on it. It’s hard to get off but I’ve managed it with steel wool in the past. You could also try another pan as a test.

I’d be tempted to cheat and line the bottom of the pan with a bit of parchment first. You don’t have to get the sides or even perfectly cover the bottom to reduce the sticking drastically.
posted by pocams at 12:18 PM on January 29, 2022

I had something like what pocams is saying happen to the pan I make my bread in but I didn't want to bother trying to figure out how to clean it; I just put down a liner of nonstick aluminum foil and that's been working perfectly.
posted by vegartanipla at 12:50 PM on January 29, 2022

My first step to troubleshoot any bread is always to go back to the dough... is it rising as much as before ? Does it feel the same texture when you put in the pan ? Have you changed brands of flour ? Are you weighing the flour ? Cup measures in baking can be problematic, with the technique used to fill a cup possibly leading to quite significant variation in end weight.

The brine wash technique from the recipe could be another area to look at, if your dimples are deep could brine be soaking through to the pan and baking on like a glue ?
posted by protorp at 12:52 PM on January 29, 2022

If you're having the issue pocams described, some bar keepers friend will go a long way to removing the polymerized oil.
posted by meemzi at 1:34 PM on January 29, 2022

Use a silicone liner?
posted by dbmcd at 2:15 PM on January 29, 2022

We had the same trouble with a similarly high-hydration pizza bianca recipe baked on a stone from Cook's Illustrated. No amount of olive oil would fix it, but greasing with butter instead did.

(A silicone liner wasn't an option because the whole point was strong bottom heat from the stone; I don't use parchment paper because I've reacted apparently to curing agents in some silicones.)
posted by jocelmeow at 3:06 PM on January 29, 2022

I first heard about this recipe from this bon appetite youtube video and the foccacia stuck to the bottom of the pan. The video is quite long and I've linked to where they are trying to get it out of the pan. As Samin says in the video "it happens". It's also happened to me making this recipe. After the first time making it, I always put some parchment down.
posted by ice-cream forever at 7:02 PM on January 29, 2022

Oh my goodness, folks, I've solved the mystery. And, I'm sorry, but it turns out to be the stupidest mystery with the most obvious solution. I just hadn't recognized the pattern earlier.

I have three sheet pans. Two have flat surfaces, one has ridges. It doesn't stick when I use the pan with ridges.

I assume it should still be possible to get it to not stick when using a flat sheet pan... But, it may be, the best way to get super tasty and unstuck focaccia is to use a ridged pan.
posted by meese at 8:43 AM on March 11, 2022