Hazelnut Focaccia Bread Recipe with Veal Girello by Chef Davide Damiano

Veal Girello with Hazelnut Focaccia and Traditional Tuna Sauce

Davide DAMIANO, a professional chef for over 30 years, decided to create an original recipe: veal girello served with hazelnut focaccia and traditional tuna sauce.

Recognized for his expertise in molecular cuisine, pastry, and avant-garde gastronomy, this visionary chef pushes the boundaries of flavor and technique. Through a resolutely modern approach, he explores new textures, reinvents flavors, and relies on scientific research to transform the culinary experience.

To make this unique and refined recipe, he chose our fiberglass mould 010798, perfectly suited for baking focaccia.

Recipe:

Fat Mirepoix

• 100 g mirepoix (equal parts celery, carrots, and onions, finely chopped)
• 100 g oil

Place in a Weck jar, vacuum seal, add hooks, and microwave at full power for a few minutes. Let cool.

Brine

• 165 g salt (5.5%)
• 105 g sugar (3.5%)
• 3 L water
• 3000 g beef gizzard

Leave the meat in the brine for 12 hours or perform three osmotic cycles, then marinate in the brine for at least 6 hours, season, and cook as planned.

Veal Tonnato

• 3000 g beef rump/beef jerky marinated in brine
• 200 g refined mirepoix
• 300 g tuna in oil
• 80 g anchovy fillets
• 80 g capers
• 70 g extra virgin olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 g white pepper

After brining, sear the meat in oil, then cool it to 3°C. Place it in a vacuum bag with all the other ingredients, perform 2–3 vacuum cycles, seal the bag, and proceed with cooking.

Steam at 65°C for 180 minutes, then cool to +3°C.

Siphoned Tuna and Hazelnut Sauce
Drain the meat juice with all its liquid, blend until creamy, and optionally bind with modified tapioca starch “Ultratex III”.

• 250 g thickened broth
• 30 g lemon juice
• 50 g hazelnut paste
• 120 g pasteurized egg yolk
• 1.5 g xanthan gum

Mix all ingredients and strain if necessary. Fill a ½ liter siphon, close the cap, charge with one N2O cartridge, shake for at least 10 seconds, then insert the second N2O cartridge, shake again, and let stabilize for 5 minutes before use.

Hazelnut Focaccia

• 500 g flour W 240
• 100 g roasted hazelnut powder
• 10 g dry compressed yeast
• 20 g honey
• 20 g trehalose
• 50 g hazelnut paste
• 260 g water at controlled temperature
• 30 g olive oil
• 15 g salt

Procedure:

Place the dry ingredients (flours) in the mixer bowl. Add the dry yeast (or fresh yeast, in which case multiply weight by three), and knead at high speed for at least 3 minutes.

Reduce speed and gradually add about half of the water. Let the dough knead, occasionally adding water, always keeping a small amount aside.

“Never forget that the amount of liquid may vary depending on several factors, such as room temperature or flour quality; it may be necessary to decrease or increase the amount of water to achieve the correct dough texture.”

Once the dough is firm, add the honey and trehalose, mix until incorporated, then add the salt and the remaining water. Increase speed, add oil and hazelnut paste, and knead thoroughly.

Stretch and fold the dough — that is, pull and fold it over itself multiple times. Repeat this process until the dough firms up, becomes smoother, more elastic, and easier to handle.

Let the dough rise in the refrigerator at 4–6°C for about 12 hours, or at 25°C for 3 hours.

Once risen (if cold-proofed, bring to at least 18°C before dividing), divide into 60 g round portions. Shape and tighten to form strong, elastic balls.
Place them in the fiberglass hamburger mold, let rise at 27°C for about 60 minutes. Flatten gently by hand without piercing. Once ready, season and let rise again briefly. Bake at 230°C. Steam at the start, open the valve after 5 minutes, then bake for another 7–8 minutes.

Assembly

Slice the meat, place it on the bun, and top with siphoned sauce and microgreens.

Ingredients

Equipment and ustensils

• Focaccia bread mould with 11 cavities Ø114x18 mm

Recipe steps

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