Sourdough Focaccia

Say Hello to sourdough foccaccia!

Focaccia (pronounced fo-kah-cha) is a classic Italian "flatbread". Focaccia can be both sweet and savory, thin or thick, baked plain or adorned with variety of toppings. There are many styles to choose from.

You see, focaccia is a rustic and simple affair: it is slab of naturally leavened dough topped with simple ingredients, any vegetable in season, olive oil and salt. The beauty of this bread is that you can make it with little effort. First mix the dough in the morning then let it raise during the day, and finally bake it just before dinner. 

Learn how to make bubbly, fluffy sourdough focaccia bread that us incredibly versatile for eating on its own, with soup, or as sandwich bread. It has a golden crust, and delicious chewy crumb with subtle tang. 

Ingredients:

• 100g Sourdough starter, active and bubbly
• 400g water, can increase or decrease by 30g if desired
• 500g bread flour
• 10g salt

For the topping:

• 30g olive oil
• 10g sea salt

Method:

Weigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large bowl.

Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add the flour and salt and mix whole lot together until it forms a sticky dough. You don't want any dry flour left at all.

Cover your bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and let it sit for around 1 hour. It is OK if it's a little bit longer, it is not going to matter too much.

After the dough has been through autolyse, you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the inside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre. You should feel the dough strengthen as you do this. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth or tight, just work around the bowl stretching and folding (around 10-15 times).

Now you want to leave your dough to ferment. Cover it with tea towel or shower cap and leave it alone to double in size.

Once the focaccia has doubled in size, you need to shape the dough. Shaping focaccia is super simple. 

Use a dough scraper gently ease the dough out into your prepared pan. 

Rub your hand with a little olive oil and gently pulled the dough out to fill the tray. Again it doesn't have to be perfect as it will naturally fill the tray as it proofs.

Let your dough rise again. Leave it until it's spread out and filled the tray. It will be puffy and pillowy. You will see some large and small bubbles popping up.

Once the dough has filled the tray and is looking puffy and full of volume, you need to dimple the dough and add the toppings.

Pour olive oil over the top of the dough and then push your finger tips into the dough to create dimples. You might see some bubbles as you do this.

Now sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary if you desire.

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.