In the midst of the pandemic, while everyone is playing around with sourdough, I tried this focaccia. It’s based on I am a Food Blog, small batch sourdough focaccia, but I couldn’t figure out her grams measurements, so I used:
- one cup fed starter (mine was fed 3 days)
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- big pinch of kosher salt (a little less if it’s Morton, the extra salty kosher salt!)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- about 2 1/2 cups flour (unbleached white, whole wheat, etc. )
- Another tablespoon or two of olive oil, flaky salt, chopped fresh rosemary
Combine everything except the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer, or any big bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer. Add 2 cups of the flour, and mix. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Beat/knead at medium speed for 4 minutes, until the dough is nicely elastic. Or mix in those first 2 cups of flour till you have a shaggy dough ball, then turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead by hand for 6-8 minutes, working in up to about another 1/2 cup flour, until you have a smooth elastic dough.
You can follow Stephanie’s directions from here, or:
Transfer the dough to a bowl (or leave it in the mixer bowl), and fold it every 30 minutes, 4 times, for about 2 hours. Line an 8- or 9-in cake pan with parchment, transfer the dough ball to the pan, cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge about 3 hours before you want to bake, and leave at room temperature. About 30 minutes before the dough is risen, heat the oven to 450°. Drizzle the extra tablespoons of olive oil over the dough, and dimple it with your fingers – it’s important here to oil the dough first – it’s very sticky and will stick to you if you skip the oil. Sprinkle with the flaky salt, and rosemary, and put the pan in the oven. Reduce the heat to 425º, and bake for 15 minutes, then check to see how it’s doing, rotate the pan, and bake about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan as soon as possible so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.
Originally posted June 2020