Focaccia bread

This is hands down the best focaccia I've ever eaten. No more introduction needed. The above picture shows the bread I got when following the original directions on cookingbread. With the modified recipe listed below the crumb structure was much improved and the bread was thinner (1-1.5 inches).

Ingredients
Preferment:
1.25 cups of flour
0.75 cup lukewarm water
1/4 tsp dry yeast

Dough:
preferment after overnighting it mixed and covered at room temperature
3.5 cups flour
0.75 cups semolina (cream of wheat grain, but just the grain!)
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp yeast
1.5 cups olive oil
2 cups lukewarm water

+ parmesan, rosemary, or other toppings of choice

Preparation
Mix down the preferment the evening before (10-15 hours before preparing the dough).

In a large bowl mix flour, semolina, salt, yeast. Pour in 1/3 cup olive oil and the water. Add in the preferment and knead in the bowl until mixed. It's likely very sticky at this point.

Sprinkle a surface with flour and pour out the dough on it. Knead for 5 minutes adding flour as necessary. This yields a sticky, elastic dough.

Cover with a damp kitchen cloth and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Then pull out into a rectangle and fold into a letter-fold. Cover and rest again. Repeat this three times.

The dough makes two 9x11 inch breads. Take the baking shapes and oil the bottoms of each with 1/4 cup olive oil. Cut the dough in half and place it into the baking shapes. Pour 1/3 cup of olive oil on top and dimpling it with your fingers press the dough into the baking shape. The oil may seem a bit much, but it keeps the bread deliciously moist in the end. And olive oil is healthy!

Cover the baking shapes and allow to rest for 2-4 hours at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 500F and bake the breads for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 450F and complete the baking process (5-10 more minutes). Remove onto a cookie rack to cool.

Serve with sweet balsamic vinegar, fresh mozzarella, basil and red, ripe tomatoes.

I usually make this with a rosemary olive oil: 1/2 cup of fresh rosemary leaves warmed in the olive oil the night before when I make the preferment. Don't fry the spice!

Then I allow the oil mix to sit at room temperature in a jar before using it the next day. I strain the oil and put the actual rosemary leaves on top of the bread with some Parmesan cheese before baking.

This recipe is altered from cookingbread, you can find it among my references. I tried it according to the recipe there, and then later simplified: I don't use bread flour, and don't rest the dough overnight in the fridge. My bread was nicer without the overnighting period; it had a better crumb structure. But both recipes yield a delicious focaccia.