MAISON DE KENNEDY

Parmesan Focaccia Braid

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (5/5) Tested by Cass — ~8 hrs · One 20–22" braid

Divide the dough into three equal ropes, braid them into one long three-strand braid, and bake on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Optional: pinch off a small piece for a flattened boule that bakes beside it as punctuation — someone gets to claim it whole. Soft tender interior, glossy oil-brushed top, parmesan-and-rosemary crown. Pulls apart along the braid joints into rustic chunks. Designed to live in the middle of the table next to pasta or soup.

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 g Bread Flour — 4 cups
• 350 g Warm Water — ~95°F, scant 1½ cups (1½ cups minus 1 tbsp)
• 10 g Fine Sea Salt — 1¾ tsp
• 7 g Instant Active Dry Yeast — 2¼ tsp, one standard packet
• 40 g Olive Oil — 3 tbsp, in the dough
• 100 g Parmesan — 1 cup finely grated, in the dough

Pan, Topping & Finish

• Parchment Paper — for the sheet pan
• ½ tbsp Olive Oil — to lightly grease the parchment, optional insurance
• 80 g Parmesan — ¾ cup grated medium-coarse, for tops and gaps
• 20 g Parmesan — 3 tbsp extra, for finishing
• Flaky Sea Salt — generous
• Fresh Rosemary — picked into short sprigs, generous
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil — for drizzling pre-bake
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil or Melted Butter — for brushing post-bake
• ½ cup Just-Boiled Water — for oven steam
• Foil — keep a sheet within reach for tenting

Method

1. Wet first: Whisk the yeast into the warm water in a jug until dissolved, then stir in the 3 tbsp olive oil.
2. Dry into the mixer: Flour, salt and the 1 cup parmesan straight into the KitchenAid bowl. Whisk briefly by hand to combine. Attach the dough hook — the curved C, not the paddle.
3. Combine on speed 1 for 1–2 minutes until no dry flour remains. It'll look shaggy.
4. Knead on speed 2 for 4–5 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides and form a soft ball around the hook while still sticking a little at the bottom — that's the hydration showing, and it's normal.
5. Check by feel: Stop and pinch a piece. Soft, smooth-ish, slightly tacky — sticks lightly to a clean finger but doesn't goop off. Stretch it thin; if it holds without tearing straight away, you're done. If it tears immediately, 2 more minutes on speed 2.
6. Bulk ferment ~3.5 hours: Scrape into a lightly oiled bowl, form a loose ball, cover. Somewhere warmish on the counter until roughly doubled, jiggly and dimpled on top.
7. Line the pan: Half-sheet baking pan with parchment. Brush the parchment lightly with ½ tbsp oil if you want extra insurance.
8. Divide: Tip the dough onto a lightly oiled bench. Optionally pinch off a golf-ball-sized piece for the boule and set it aside under a damp towel. Divide the rest into 3 equal pieces — roughly 315 g each with the boule pinched off, ~335 g without.
9. Pre-shape and rest 10–15 minutes, covered. Roll each piece into a short cylinder first. This rest is the trick — relaxed gluten lets you stretch ropes without tearing.
10. Roll the ropes: One at a time, roll each cylinder into a 24-inch rope on a lightly floured bench. Hands in the middle, roll outward, tapering slightly to the ends. If a rope resists, set it aside, do another, come back to it.
11. Braid: Line the three ropes up parallel on the parchment. Pinch the top ends together firmly. Standard three-strand: outside right over middle, outside left over middle, repeat down. Pinch the bottom ends. Finished length lands around 20–22 inches — braiding eats some.
12. Position: Straight or diagonal along the pan, with no ends dangling over the edge. If it's slightly too long, tuck the ends under.
13. The boule, if doing one: Flatten it with your palm to about ¾" thick — a puck, not a ball. Place beside the braid with a 1" gap so they don't fuse during the rise.
14. Second rise 60–75 minutes, covered loosely, until pillowy and the braid lines have softened into smoother curves.
15. Preheat with a steam dish: 220°C / 425°F, with an empty small oven-safe dish on the lower rack during the preheat so it gets ripping hot. Bread goes on the middle rack.
16. Dress it: Soft dimple in the centre of the boule with an oiled fingertip — the braid needs none, its texture is the texture. Drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil over everything, letting it pool in the valleys.
17. Cheese and herbs: Scatter the ¾ cup parmesan generously, working it into the braid grooves — those become flavour pockets. Flaky salt, then rosemary sprigs tucked into the grooves.
18. Steam start: The moment the pan goes in, pour ½ cup boiling water into the hot dish on the lower rack and close the door immediately.
19. Bake 8 minutes with steam, then carefully pull the water dish out with mitts and continue 10–14 minutes more.
20. Watch at 15 minutes: if the top is already deep golden, tent loosely with foil and carry on. Total bake 18–22 minutes. Done when the parmesan in the valleys is crisp and lacy and an instant-read in the thickest seam reads 195–200°F / 90–93°C. No thermometer? The bottom should sound hollow-ish and feel firm with a tiny give.
21. Brush immediately: Straight out of the oven, brush the top with 1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter — every hump, every valley, the boule too. Locks in moisture and gives the gloss.
22. Final cheese: Scatter the extra 3 tbsp parmesan over the hot, just-brushed top. It melts into the oil and clings.
23. Rest 5 minutes on the pan, then lift onto a long wooden board — two spatulas, or slide it off the parchment. Boule beside it. Middle of the table; everyone tears chunks off along the joints.

Notes

• Bake it straight, not coiled. A straight braid on a sheet pan has far more exposed surface than a coiled wreath in a round pan, so it colours and cooks faster — 18–22 minutes rather than 22–25. Watch the colour and use internal temp; don't trust the clock.
• Do the second rise on the pan you'll bake on. Moving a risen braid is genuinely risky.
• Why flatten the boule. A solid golf-ball lump has a low surface-area-to-volume ratio and would still be doughy in the middle when the braid is done. Flattened to ¾" it cooks at the same rate, and still rises into a soft dome.
• KitchenAid: never above speed 2 for bread dough. The manual is explicit — higher speeds can burn out the motor or strip the gear. Speed 1 to combine, speed 2 to knead. Stop and scrape the sides once if the dough creeps up.
• Dough climbing the hook and balling at the top instead of slapping the sides means it's too dry — drizzle in 1 tbsp warm water with the motor running. Still a sticky puddle at 5 minutes? Give it 2 more. Gluten takes time. Don't add flour unless it's still puddly at 8 minutes total, which it won't be.
• If a rope tears while rolling: pinch it back together, rest 5 minutes covered, re-roll. It just needed a break. Don't add flour — that's how you get a dry rope.
• Sloppy braid doesn't matter. Once it rises and bakes the lines soften and read as rustic artisan twist regardless. Aim for "recognisable three-strand", not "perfect". The parmesan, oil and rosemary hide a multitude of sins.
• Pan choice: a thin cookie tray runs hotter on the bottom, so watch for over-browning underneath. A rimmed half-sheet is the safer default. Parchment handles release either way.
• Cup measurements: the water is the one that matters — it lands between 1⅓ and 1½ cups, so scant 1½ cups gets you there. Weigh it if you can; 1 ml = 1 g. A packet of instant yeast is already 2¼ tsp / 7 g, so just tip the whole thing in.
• Hand-knead fallback: mix wet into dry with a wooden spoon until shaggy, turn onto a floured bench, knead 5 minutes — push, fold, quarter-turn, repeat. Same finish: soft, smooth, slightly tacky.

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