Sourdough Focaccia Bread
Crispy, light and airy sourdough focaccia bread. This showstopper recipe is made with 100% sourdough/natural yeast and makes delicious bread to eat as a sandwich or to enjoy plain.
Ingredients
Levain (1:10:10, overnight or about 10-12 hours)
- 6 grams ripe sourdough starter
- 60 grams room temperature water
- 60 grams all purpose flour
Focaccia Dough
- 100 grams ripe, bubbly levain
- 425 grams room temperature water
- 500 grams high gluten bread flour (14% protein or higher) see recipe notes for substitution
- 13 grams salt
Instructions
Levain:1:10:10, overnight about 10-12 hours, Day 1
- Mix together 6ngrams ripe sourdough starter with 60 grams water and 60 grams flour. Cover and let sit overnight at 78ºF until doubled in size, bubbly and active. You can also substitute 100 grams of bubbly sourdough starter if you prefer.
Sourdough Focaccia Dough: Mixing/Developing Dough, Day 2
- Fermentolyse: To a bowl add 100 grams levain, 425 grams water and 500 grams high gluten bread flour. Mix together with a dough whisk or spoon until a sticky dough forms. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Add the salt and use your fingers to squeeze the dough until all the salt is incorporated and you don't feel any granules on your fingers. The dough will be very sticky and wet but will stay together. Transfer the dough to a shallow container. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Coil Fold 1: Open the container and perform 4-6 coil folds. The dough will be very sticky for this first set of coil folds but will strengthen over time. 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. I find it very helpful to watch this process before attempting it. You can watch a video of the coil fold here. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Coil Fold 2: Wet your hands. You will notice the dough is stronger than your first set of coil folds. Repeat the coil fold 4-6 times. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Coil Fold 3: Wet your hands. Repeat the coil fold 4-6 times. Notice the dough is getting stronger and the coil folds are easier to perform. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Coil Fold 4: Repeat the coil fold 4-6 times. Cover and rest for 1.5-2 hours.
- After the long bulk rest, prepare a 9 by 13 metal baking pan (my favorite here, affiliate link) with 1/4-1/3 cup good quality olive oil. Pour the oil in the pan and tip the pan around to cover the entire bottom. If your pan has issues with dough sticking, put some parchment paper down first. Add the oil on top of the parchment paper and the dough on top of that.
- Turn the dough out into the pan and stretch slowly to fill the edges of the pan. Pull up gently on the underside of the dough to stretch it into place. If it doesn't want to stretch, let the dough rest for a minute and then try again.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge to rest overnight.
Baking the Focaccia: Day 3
- Take the pan of dough out of the fridge and set on the counter. Let it come to room temperature and rise (3-5 hours at 78-80ºF). The focaccia dough will begin to bubble up as it rises on the counter and the dough will become light and airy.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- After the dough has puffed up & is jiggly and aerated with air bubbles, drizzle more olive oil (about 3-4 Tablespoons worth) over the top of the dough. Spread it out with your hands so it evenly covers the dough. Then 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.
- Top the dough with your choice of fresh or dried herbs, salt and parmesan cheese (or any other topping you would like ie: cherry tomatoes, peppers, olives, etc...).
- Bake for 25 minutes until bubbly, crispy and light golden brown on top. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
- Cool to room temperature before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe Update: Originally this recipe called for mixing in a stand mixer. I have made this focaccia many times and have moved to mixing almost exclusively by hand. I updated the recipe to reflect that. If you prefer to use a stand mixer, here were the original instructions: After adding the salt, mix for 5 minutes on low speed (I use a 2 on my KitchenAid, affiliate link). After five minutes, on low speed, mix for 5 minutes on high speed (6-8 on my KitchenAid). Don't add more flour. The dough will be very wet but stays together.
High Gluten Bread Flour: The high protein content in high gluten bread flour is really important for this recipe because of the high hydration level in this dough. Flour with 14% protein content or more works best. You can buy that here or if you don't have bread flour, you can substitute with:
-440 grams all purpose flour and 60 grams of vital wheat gluten
-475 grams bread flour and 25 grams vital wheat gluten
Vital wheat gluten adds enough protein to the flour to give a similar texture to the high gluten bread flour.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!