Sourdough Focaccia
So flavorful, delicious and easy to make! This sourdough focaccia is a crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
Levain
- 12 grams ripe starter
- 100 grams water
- 100 grams bread flour
Dough
- 445 grams bread flour
- 100 grams semolina flour
- 420 grams water 1
- 212 grams levain
- 12 grams fine sea salt
- 20 grams water 2
- 15 grams olive oil
Topping
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sea salt flakes
Instructions
Day 1: Mix Levain
- Before you go to bed, mix the levain ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and prick 4-5 holes with a toothpick in the plastic wrap to allow some air to flow. (Or just cover the bowl loosely as you normally do when you feed your starter.) Leave the levain to rest at warm room temperature, about 74° F for 11-12 hours.
Day 2: Mix, Knead and Bulk Ferment Dough
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, water 1 (420 grams) at the correct temperature, and all of the levain. (See water temperature explanation in above post and in below notes.) Mix just until the flour is fully absorbed by the water and levain. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.
- Sprinkle the salt over the top and drizzle the remaining water 2 (20 grams) over the top. Dimple the salt and water in with your hands, using a clawing motion, until fully combined.
- Knead the dough in the bowl, folding the dough and using your fist to punch it into the rest of the dough, constantly rotating the bowl, until the dough is not very sticky and uniform. If it is sticky, keep your hands lightly wet while kneading. Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Pour the olive oil over the top of the dough. Fold the dough up over itself. Use a clawing motion and knead the dough in the bowl until the olive oil is fully incorporated and the dough appears smooth and stretchy.
- Bulk ferment for 3 hours, during which time do three sets of four folds after the 1 hour, 2 hour, and 3 hour marks. The ideal temperature is 80° F. (If you do not have a proofer, set the dough in the warmest part of your home.)
- Immediately after the 3 hour mark, cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator.
Day 3: Bake
- In the morning, remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature for approximately one hour.
- Liberally spread some olive oil over the bottom and sides of the baking pan. Pour the dough into the prepared pan. Carefully stretch the dough towards the edges as best you can. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap, being sure to spray the inside of the plastic wrap with non-stick baking spray or spread some olive oil on it to prevent the plastic wrap from sticking to the dough.
- Allow the dough to sit in a warm area in your kitchen for 4-5 hours. The dough should look bubbly and puffy.
- At least a half hour before you plan to bake, preheat the oven to 475° F.
- Just before baking, drizzle olive oil on top of the dough and use your fingertips, starting from the middle going up, to gently massage the dough towards the edges of the pan. Return to the middle and work your way down. Top with any toppings such as salt, herbs, onions, or tomatoes. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown and the sides start to crisp. Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the focaccia from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.
Notes
One mistake many bakers make is to not measure the temperature of the water. This is often times why bakers do not obtain ideal results when baking sourdough bread. This is such an easy thing to do. Here's the formula, based on an ideal dough fermentation temperature of 80° F: goal temperature (80° F) multiplied by 4 = 320° F. From that number, subtract the temperature of your flour, the temperature of your kitchen where the dough will sit, the temperature of your starter, and heat caused by friction from kneading (which is 6° F). The result is the temperature you want your water to be at when you mix it with the dough to fermentolyse.
This sourdough focaccia freezes beautifully. I usually cut the entire pan into quarters or even eighths, wrap each in plastic wrap, and pop them into a Ziplock for the freezer. I will take a chunk out before dinner, remove the plastic wrap, wrap in foil, and place in the oven. I set the oven to 400° F or 425° F. As the oven preheats, the focaccia thaws and heats up. About 10 minutes after the oven is at temperature, I open the top of the foil and let it continue to heat for about 10 more minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 116kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 389mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 0.5IU | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.4mg