Gluten-Free Focaccia Attempt #2

It turns out potato starch and potato flour are 2 distinctly different things, and subbing one for the other is not good idea. I found this out the hard way, despite the fact that the book does specifically say to NOT use potato flour. In my quest to find potato starch, I neglected to remember that key detail and grabbed the first bag of powder that had the word potato on it, which happened to be potato flour. That would be why my last attempt to make focaccia failed, in addition to a couple of other recipes from the Gluten-Free Baking cookbook that used flour blends containing potato starch--which just happens to be 3 of the 5 flour blends used. So, yeah. Not my proudest moment as a baker, but at least I figured out the problem.

   

In case you missed my first attempt at making gluten-free focaccia, check it out here: Focaccia Fail. I'm not going to re-post the recipe, and everything up until the mixing of the batter is pretty much the same. I knew this attempt would come out better because it looked totally different on the mixer.

Here it is in the pie dish. I had a heck of a time spreading it out evenly. The dough was a really sticky batter, which made me a bit unsure again and thinking I had done something wrong. Actually, I took this photo after it had proofed. I forgot to take a picture before, but it really didn't look that different as, once again, it didn't seem to want to rise, and I'm not sure why. The yellow spot in the middle is from where I covered it with wax paper lightly greased with olive oil.

But it looked okay once it came out of the oven, thank goodness! Also, there wasn't the pool of excess oil, and the sticking, while still an issue, wasn't nearly as bad this time around.

I did brush it with olive oil since it looked dry instead of greasy, sprinkled the top lightly with salt, and left it to cool on a rack as per instructions. Waiting was difficult, because once again the house smelled awesome, and I couldn't wait to try it.

  

Unfortunately, I think I under baked it. It sunk in the middle as it cooled, and while around the edges it was fine, towards the center it was still really dense and even a bit gummy. I'd really like to get the dough to rise before baking, as I think that would help, and I suppose next time I'll tack another 5-10 minutes on to the baking time. Still, at least it tasted good.