Sourdough Apple Pie Focaccia

Important Ingredients

• Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripe sourdough starter (doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix the levain.
• Granulated Sugar: A little sugar in the focaccia dough keeps this focaccia light and sweet.
• Bread Flour: Use a bread flour with 12.5% protein content. The amount of water in this recipe necessitates a flour high in protein content. If you don’t have bread flour and substitute all purpose, you will need to reduce some of the water in the recipe.
• Salt: Salt helps temper fermentation and enhances the flavor of the focaccia.
• Olive Oil & Butter: A combination of the two are used to get the delicious crispy crust on this focaccia. You will also reserve some butter for the crumb topping.
• Grated Apple: I like to use fresh Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples – and I leave the skins on. Reserve the juice to add in a little at a time if needed.
• Brown Sugar and Cinnamon: This recipe uses a filling that mixes brown sugar and cinnamon. This pairs well with the apples for sweet fall flavor. You will also use some brown sugar and cinnamon in the crumb topping.
• Powdered Sugar: You’ll use powdered sugar in the sweet glaze on top of this sweet sourdough focaccia.
• Milk: I like to use 2% or whole milk when baking. Milk helps with the consistency of the sweet glaze.
• Vanilla Extract: I love the vanilla flavor of the sweet glaze on top of this sweet apple pie focaccia.

Mix Levain

1:10:10 levain (ready in 10-12 hours/overnight): This recipe calls for levain mixed the night before you want to mix your dough. Prepare the levain and keep it overnight at 78-80ºF. It will be ready in approximately 10-12 hours (overnight). Mix together:

• 5 grams of ripe/mature sourdough starter
• 55 grams water
• 55 grams all purpose or bread flour

Note: To make it a true 1:10:10 ratio, it would be 5.5 grams of ripe/mature starter and 55 grams bread flour, 55 grams water. Chances are you are going to be somewhere in the ballpark of 5-6 grams of starter, and it will work out just fine. Sourdough doesn’t have to be exact – it’s a method of learning to read your dough and its readiness.

If you prefer to mix the levain the morning you mix the dough, you can mix a 1:1:1 Levain (ready in 3-4 hours/same day): It should take 3-4 hours to rise and peak if kept at 78-80ºF. Levain is ready when it has at least doubled in size, has lots of bubbles, a slightly sour aroma and is just about to start going down from its peak height. Mix together:

• 35 grams ripe/mature starter
• 35 grams warm water
• 35 grams all purpose or bread flour

Bulk Fermentation

Once the levain is ripe, bubbly and at least doubled in size, it’s time to mix the dough. Add the ripe levain, water, freshly grated apple, granulated sugar, salt and bread flour to a bowl. Mix together with a dough whisk or your fingers until a sticky dough forms. Remember, this is a higher hydration recipe (over 80%), so it’s going to be fairly sticky. It is also a dough that rises in a pan and doesn’t need a whole lot of extra strengthening. A quick mix is really all it needs as we let the gluten strands form through the long fermentation process. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

A note about the apple: I’ve received some comments and questions from people whose dough is having difficulty coming together because it is too wet. Leave out the juice from the apple when adding in the apple. If you use a juicier apple, squeeze some of the liquid out of it before adding to the dough. Add reserved juice in if you think your flour can absorb it.

Coil Folds: Over the course of the next 2 hours, perform sets of “coil folds”. Coil folds are a way of aligning gluten stands in high hydration dough instead of kneading it. To perform a coil fold, wet your hands with water. Place your hands under the middle of the dough and pull up. The dough will stretch up (but should not tear) and release from the bottom of the bowl. Once the dough releases, let the dough fall back under itself. Repeat the process for both sides of dough. Then turn the container and repeat the coil fold. Watch a video of the coil fold process here. Perform 4-6 coil folds. The dough will be very sticky for the first set of coil folds, but will strengthen over time. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. You will repeat this process a total of 4 times over a 2 hour period.

After you have completed 4 sets of coil folds over a 2 hour period, cover and let the apple pie focaccia dough rest at 78ºF for 2.5-3 more hours until the dough has risen about 50-60% in the bowl.

Shaping Dough

While your apple pie focaccia dough is resting, prepare the filling by mixing together brown sugar and cinnamon until combined.

When your focaccia dough is done resting, prepare a pan by lining a 12 inch round or 9 by 13 metal baking pan with parchment paper. Pour 40 grams light-flavored olive oil in the pan. Tip the pan around to coat the entire bottom of the parchment paper. 

Turn the dough out into the pan and stretch slowly to fill the edges of the pan. Pour half of the cinnamon sugar filling mixture on top of the focaccia dough. Fold the dough in half and sprinkle with the remainder of the filling mixture. Fold again. At this point the dough will be all together in the middle of the pan. Don’t worry about spreading it out yet.

At this point you can cover the dough and refrigerate it for up to 48 hours before proceeding with a second proof and baking. The cold fermentation brings flavor, color and helps you plan your bake. I’ve also found it makes the texture even more soft and fluffy.

Proofing

Place the dough in a warm spot (78-mid 80ºF) and let the dough rise until puffed up, aerated and jiggly. After about 2-3 hours, the dough should have doubled in size. The key to a light, airy and bubbly focaccia is letting the dough rise long enough to have large air bubbles in it. This will take more or less time depending on the temperature of your dough as it’s rising. If the dough doesn’t look like this, warm it up a little more and let it rise longer.

Prepare the crumb topping by combining softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and salt to a small bowl. Mix together to form a thick topping and set aside.

After the dough is puffed up, jiggly and aerated with air bubbles, gently spread the dough to reach the edges of the pan. Pour 30 grams of melted butter on top of the dough. Sprinkle the crumb topping all over the top of the dough. Take your fingers and gently dimple the dough. Start at the top and work your way down the dough until the entire focaccia is dimpled and bubbly.

Optional: For more apple flavor, add some freshly grated apple to the top of the focaccia along with the crumb topping. Or leave the crumb topping off completely if you want (but I love it!).

Baking Sourdough Focaccia

Substitutions

• Crumb Topping: Instead of the crumb topping, add grated apple to the top of the focaccia. This gives even more apple flavor and bakes the apples on top to be sweet and delicious.
• Caramel Sauce: To make a caramel apple version, drizzle caramel sauce over the focaccia instead of the sweet glaze.
• Sourdough Starter: Ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter can be substituted for the levain in this recipe.
• Bread Flour: Bread flour should not be substituted for all-purpose flour in this recipe. This is a high-hydration dough meaning it has lots of water in it and all-purpose flour doesn’t have the strength to absorb all the liquid. If you don’t have bread flour, you can add 15 grams vital wheat gluten to all-purpose flour to increase the protein content of the flour making it similar to bread flour.

How to Store Leftovers

Leftover sourdough apple pie focaccia can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that, bag it in an airtight container or ziplock bag and freeze for up to a couple months. Warm up in the microwave or oven for a few minutes before serving and enjoy!

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• Sourdough Focaccia Bread
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• Chocolate Strawberry Sourdough Focaccia
• The Best Sourdough Apple Pie