Focaccia made with the water from mozzarella and no yeast

I saw it done several times in Italian blogs, and since the other day I had some mozzarella from Massimiliano I wanted to try it too. I think that I will need to work on it but as a first attempt it was brilliant and I will never throw away the water from mozzarella again!! Please read carefully because I think that some of you may be really interested in this one!

I had 200 ml of mozzarella water (you know that whitish water that you get in the bag when you buy mozzarella? Yes, that one!), I put it in a 900ml yogurt container, then I added 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, one pinch of salt, 1/3 tsp of brown sugar and 200 g of high grade flour. I though that it was wise to start with an equal water to flour ratio. I stirred the lot with a fork and covered it. I didn't expect it to rise so much, after 24 hours it was doubled! Maybe it is because I covered it with a good top? I decided to put it in the fridge overnight to slow the process, but the morning after the dough had gone down :-(. Still, half a morning in the sun and it was already bubbly again!

Just look at it! I thought that it could have handled a bit more flour, but I didn't really have time to experiment, so I poured it directly on a baking tin, without touching it! 

Then I placed it inside the cold oven for a couple of hours to see if it was going to rise some more, but it was too soft, it just spread out instead!! So I turned the oven on and baked it. When I thought that it was nearly done I brushed it with olive oil and added some rock salt and cumin seeds on top and then baked it for other 5 minutes.

I think that it is too early for me to give you a proper recipe for this, I am not quite sure how long it is best to bake it for, but one thing is sure: Please do try and experiment!! Don't through the water from the mozzarella away, it is an amazing starter for a sour dough type of bread and focaccia, especially if you are like me and don't fancy keeping a sour dough starter going for months and months (sorry sour dough, I travel too much for this!). Look at the cut focaccia! It was so soft and tasty... I will make it again and again and if you try I am sure that you will be pleased too!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©