Barbeque's Galore Cooking Experience

As I wind down my time as Chef Sal's Bitchin' Assistant at Barbeque's Galore, I find it only fitting to pay homage to the time I spent manning the grill, and to the subsequent gallons of sweat I lost in doing so.  The knowledge I gained working there I will keep in my back pocket for a long time to come.  I learned volumes about meat cookery and public speaking, and I gained a lot of self confidence preparing and presenting food to an audience of 12 every evening.  Also, taking a recipe that was meant for the oven, and asking myself the question "How can I make this work on the grill???" was always an enjoyable challenge for me.

I cannot properly pay tribute to this brief stop on my journey without telling you about the foccacia bread I made everyday -- on the grill of course.  Baking bread on a daily basis, you can't help but learn about the science behind playing with yeast dough.  Here is the recipe:

 Foccacia Bread on the Grill
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3-1/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 pounds 12 ounces of all purpose flour (or half AP & half bread flour)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons prepared or store bought rub of choice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Additional extra virgin olive oil, as needed for oiling bowl, pan & drizzing on finished loaf
Kosher salt, as needed for seasoning after baking

The most important step in bread baking is properly blooming the yeast.  If you have ever ended up with a dead, rock-like, lifeless loaf, this is probably where you screwed up.  I put the yeast in the work-bowl of my standmixer with a little bit of sugar.  To that, you need to add WARM water.  It HAS to be between 105-115 degrees.  Yeast is a living organism -- a single-celled fungus, actually.  When it's in the little packet or jar, it is sleeping.  If your water is not warm enough, it's going to stay sleeping; if it's too hot, you are going to kill it.  Either way, your yeast will not bloom and your bread will not rise.  Once you add the water, you want to whisk it so the yeast and sugar dissolve.  The warm water will activate the yeast, and when it wakes up, it's HUNGRY.  What happens is that it starts to eat the carbohydrates in the sugar.  As it takes in those carbs, it exhales carbon dioxide.  That's what makes the top of your water bubbly (not to mention your beer!), and that's what will eventually give your dough its lift. 

After about 5 minutes, you will start to see a lot of those bubbles on top of the water.  That's when you know it's time to incorporate the dry ingredients, and the olive oil. 

You want to knead the dough on your standmixer with the dough-hook attachment on low speed until it comes together and begins to pull away from the sides of the the work bowl.  It will actually start to climb up the sides of the dough-hook -- this is when  you know  it wants OUT.  It's OK if it still looks a little raggedy. 

Next, continue to knead it by hand until it is smooth and elastic, like a baby's bottom.  At that point, you put it into a bowl that is lightly greased with olive oil.  Cover it with a damp towel, or with a sheet of plastic wrap then set it in a warm, draft-free corner in your kitchen.  When I am at home, I like to put it in my oven with the oven light turned on.  This makes it a little warmer than room temperature, and the warmer it is, the faster those yeast cells will react.

After 1-1/2 - 2 hours, your dough will double in size.  If you have used plastic wrap, you can see the biproduct of those hungry yeast cells!  It traps the carbon dioxide in, and you end up with a big bubble.



If you bloomed your yeast properly, you should have a nicely risen ball of dough now.  Next, you want to gently press the air out of it with your fingertips.  By doing this, you are achieving a couple of things.  First, you are relaxing the gluten strands.  Those strands trap the carbon dioxide in the dough, giving you the "bubbles" in the bread when you bake it.  Second, you are redistributing nutrients in the dough to the yeast cells. You are also equalizing the temperature of the dough.  It's cooler on the outside than on the inside.  These things reset the feeding frenzy for the yeast.

I let the dough rest like this for 5 or 10 minutes while I oil up an 18"X13" cookie sheet with 1" sides.  Ever so gently, remove the dough from the bowl, and press it out into the pan. 

Let the dough rise a second time until it doubles in size again.  This step is called "proofing", and should only take about an hour.  While you are waiting for that to rise, go ahead and preheat your outdoor grill to high.  Once your dough has finished proofing and your grill is as hot as it can get,  you are ready to bake it.

Turn the burners of your grill off on one side.  Set the pan containing the bread over the indirect heat, and close the hood of your grill.  Your are essentially turning your barbeque into a convection oven, and the hot air will circulate around your dough.  Let it bake for about 6-7 minutes, until one side of the loaf is nice and toasty brown.  Rotate the pan 180-degrees, close the hood and continue to cook another 6-7 minutes.  The surface of the bread should be well crusted and an even, nutty color.

Remove the bread from the grill and brush it with a little extra virgin olive oil.  Sprinkle it with a little salt and you are ready to dig in! 


To all of my friends at Barbeque's Galore, and without a doubt to my Chef ....... Thank you so much for everything:  for the laughter, for the confidence in my ability, for the freedom to be creative and occasionally share the spotlight in the kitchen ...... I will miss you all very much.  It was an honor and a pleasure.  Respectfully yours, Beth.