From Dutch Oven to Focaccia: What Bread Taught Me About Change
The Comfort of What Works
For a long time, my go-to bread has been simple French bread baked in a Dutch oven. It’s dependable. Same steps. Same outcome. High confidence, low risk.And honestly — it’s really good bread.
But comfort has a quiet downside. It stops asking anything new from you.
Changing the Method (Not the Ingredients)
What surprised me most about making focaccia wasn’t the recipe — it was how little actually changed.
Same flour.
Same yeast.
Same water.
What changed was everything else:
- Higher hydration
- No Dutch oven
- More oil
- More patience
- Less control
The dough was looser. The process messier. The margin for error much wider. At multiple points I thought: this feels wrong. That’s usually how change feels.
The Middle Is Always the Messiest
The dough stuck. It absorbed oil I thought I’d “overdone.” It tore coming out of the pan. Old me would’ve called that a failure. But that’s only because I was comparing it to the old method — not judging it on its own terms. Change exposes you before it rewards you.
What Came Out Was Better
The focaccia wasn’t perfect.
But it was:
- Lighter
- More flavorful
- More expressive
- More alive
It demanded more trust and gave more back. That’s been true for every meaningful change in my life — career, leadership, routines, even relationships.
The Lesson
You don’t grow by protecting what already works.
You grow by:
- Changing the container
- Accepting the mess
- Staying with the process long enough to see it through
Sometimes the ingredients stay the same.
Only the method changes. And sometimes… that changes everything.
The Recipe (Because This Story Is Edible)
Ingredients
- 650g bread flour
- 2½ cups warm water
- 2½ tbsp active dry yeast
- 2½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil (in dough)
For the pan & top
- 4–5 tbsp olive oil (pan)
- 2–3 tbsp olive oil (top)
- Flaky sea salt
Method (Short Version)
- Activate yeast in warm water
- Mix dough (very wet and sticky)
- Bulk rise until doubled and jiggly
- Transfer to heavily oiled pan
- Rest → stretch → dimple
- Final rise
- Bake at 425°F for ~24–26 minutes
- Lift out immediately and cool on rack
(Full step-by-step available upon request — or just DM me.)
Final Thought
If your process feels uncomfortable right now — good. That usually means you’re doing something new. And that’s where the good stuff lives.