Naturally Vegan Ramp Focaccia

Naturally Vegan Ramp Focaccia
Recipe courtesy of Mary Hospodarsky, founder and owner of Sweet Mary's Bakery in Akron

The bakery sold individual focaccia rolls at the inaugural Ramp Up Peninsula festival in 2013. The recipe below outlines how to make ramp focaccia bread on a baking sheet, cutting it into individual pieces. Click here to read our April 2014 issue story about the tasty-yet-odoriferous wild onion known as the ramp and the annual northeast Ohio event that celebrates it.

INGREDIENTS
7 cups unbleached bread flour plus more for work surface
3 1/2 cups warm water (no hotter than 110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons course salt
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
chopped ramps to taste (1/2 cup to 1 cup), divided in half
sea salt for sprinkling  

DIRECTIONS
In large glass bowl, whisk together flour and yeast. Add warm water and mix into a soft dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until tripled in bulk and full of spongelike bubbles (about two hours).

Scrape dough into bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add coarse salt and half of the ramps. Mix on low speed 3 to 5 minutes. Dough will be very wet and sticky. When it begins to cling and climb the sides of he bowl, raise speed to medium-high and beat for another minute.

Flour work surface. Using dough scraper or stiff spatula, scrape dough onto floured surface. Do not flour top of dough. Keep scraper and fingers well floured. Fold dough like a letter: Using scraper, gather bottom edge of the dough and fold 2/3 way, slightly over the middle. Lightly brush off any excess flour. Fold top edge down in the same manner. Edges should overlap. Repeat with sides, brushing off excess flour as you go. Gently scoop up dough and place seam side down in a lightly floured bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk (about one hour).

Lightly turn dough back onto floured surface, but do not punch down. Repeat the above folding process. Re-flour bowl and return the dough, seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled (another hour).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Pour 1/3 cup olive oil into rimmed baking sheet and set aside. Once dough has risen, turn it out onto the oiled 12-by-17-inch baking sheet. Use your hands to flip it over and make sure all sides are well oiled. Use fingertips to lightly push dough into edges of pan, letting it rest occasionally (5 to 10 minutes) to relax the dough.

Once dough fills pan, drizzle remaining olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and remaining ramps.

Bake focaccia until evenly browned and sounds hollow when tapped (about 25 to 30 minutes). When done, immediately slide bread onto a wire rack set over a second rimmed baking sheet. Pour any remaining olive oil from pan over the bread, Slice into bars and serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: Makes one 17 inch by 12 inch baking pan or 24 standard size rolls.

For more information about Sweet Mary's Bakery, visit sweetmarysbakery.com.