Sukiyaki Focaccia
After sushi and ramen, sukiyaki might be one of the best known Japanese dishes - traditionally served in a huge stoneware pot, it’s homey, perfect for sharing and seems to almost magically lend itself well to all sorts of ingredient substitutions. No dashi? Try using a “Western”-style seafood stock, fish sauce or even just wakame seaweed simmered in water for a change. Beef (the main protein) arguably isn’t even necessary - there are plenty of excellent vegetarian sukiyakis out there.
As you can probably tell by now, I’m extremely fixated on sukiyaki at the moment - which, isn’t the best thing for the hot, sticky, summer we’re in. I am however, also in love with focaccia - its spongey texture and many holes makes it perfect for wiping up sauces, and it makes a great base for a killer sandwich. Now what if we combined the two?
Ingredients:
For the focaccia
7g active dry yeast
2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
625g strong flour
1 beef stock cube, crumbled (ideally a low salt version)
1 leek, finely diced
Plenty of sesame oil
(optional) 1 tsp instant dashi powder
For the soy-mirin glaze
1/2 cup of dark soy sauce
1/4 cup of mirin
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Whisk together the yeast, 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar with 2.5 cups of warm water in a bowl, and let sit for 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and frothy.
Add in the flour, beef stock cube, half of the leeks and if using, dashi powder, and mix with a silicon spatula until a dough is formed and no streaks remain.
Remove the dough from the bowl, and grease the bowl with plenty of sesame oil. Place the dough back into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to a day until doubled in size.
Whilst the dough is rising, prepare the soy-mirin glaze. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and granulated sugar in a bowl, and whisk to combine.
Once the dough has doubled, remove from the fridge. Grease a baking dish (at least 9x13” large) with plenty of sesame oil and set aside.
Gently deflate the dough by using a fork in each hand to lift the farthest edges of the dough up and over into the centre of the bowl. Turn the bowl clockwise by 90° (ie give it a quarter turn), and repeat 3 more times. The dough should now be slightly deflated, and rounder in shape.
Transfer the dough to the baking dish, and gently press out the edges of the dough with your fingers to stretch it out to the sides of the dish. Drizzle roughly half of the soy-mirin glaze over the surface of the dough, and sprinkle the rest of the leeks as well.
Let the dough rise uncovered in a warm spot (I personally like an oven, with a mug of hot water placed inside) until doubled in size, which will take about 2 hours. Once the dough is fully risen, it should spring back slowly when poked, leaving a small, visible indentation.
Preheat the oven to 230°C. Whilst waiting for the oven to heat up, dimple the dough all over with your fingers, creating deep depressions in the dough. Bake the focaccia until golden brown, which will take at least 30 minutes.
Once baked, let the focaccia cool in its pan, and then transfer to a rack to cool further before serving.
Optional - you can reduce the remaining soy-mirin glaze in a pan, until it is sticky and has been reduced by half. Drizzle on top of the focaccia, and serve.