Cold Vs Room-Temperature Proofing For Focaccia: An Expert Explains The Difference

Focaccia has so many craveable qualities, whether made with a heavy drizzle of olive oil and baked with rosemary, or topped with marinara sauce and cheese for a special type of pizza. Yet, making your own can feel intimidating. The rising process is especially nerve-racking since fermentation is what creates the air bubbles so integral to a perfect focaccia's personality. Fortunately, there are experts willing to offer advice. Chef Luca Corazzina, chef de cuisine at OLIO E PIÙ, a celebrated Italian restaurant with locations in New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C., shared some of his wisdom exclusively with Chowhound.

One of the major questions when making focaccia is whether you should let your dough proof at room temperature or pop it in the fridge and ferment cold. The answer is nuanced, however, and depends on your desired outcome. That's because the temperature at which you ferment your dough will serve different purposes, which raises another question: Is your proofing priority a speedier process, or a more flavorful finished product?

"Room-temperature proofing is faster, while a chilled rise requires patience but rewards with a deeper flavor," Corazzina explains. The science at play here is that yeast gets busy more quickly at warmer temperatures, be it in beer or bread, and that factor plays out in your focaccia production. This means that when you set out to make this bread, you first have to make a crucial decision.

The beauty of this conditional answer is that you have flexibility when making focaccia, the specifics of which Luca Corazzina breaks down for both methods. "The ideal rise for focaccia is at a warm, stable temperature," he says. You can use a proofer if you've got one, but setting your dough on top of your oven also works. The goal is for the dough to double in size, which should take about an hour to an hour and a half at room temperature.

On the other hand, there's a chilly alternative. "A cold rise slows fermentation, which enhances flavor complexity and creates a more structured crumb," Corazzina says. If this is the path you're planning to take, you'll want to store your focaccia dough in the fridge overnight or for about eight to 12 hours. During this time, your future focaccia develops flavor and depth, which it can't quite achieve with the shorter, warmer method.

The bottom line is that whether you decide to bake your bread or bend to the case for making focaccia in your cast iron skillet, eat it in squares fresh from the oven or make it into sandwiches, or even store it in the freezer for future meals, the way your finished product will taste is directly tied to the time and temperature at which you decide to ferment the dough. But thanks to this expert explanation, you can be sure that your focaccia will be perfectly delicious no matter the method you use to make it.