Publised on 22/05/2019. Last Updated on 12/10/2022 by Richard
Sourdough focaccia like you've never tasted before! Crispy on the outside with a salty crust and oh so soft inside.
This was the first sourdough focaccia I ever made! Yeah, I like to go from zero to hero pretty quickly! I had just acquired my first ever sourdough starter and I needed to put him (he's called Chewbacca) to good use! I had made loads of loaves of bread before but never anything as ambitious as this.
I'm pleased to say that it worked beautifully and I've now made this recipe roughly 3 times a month since then!
What makes it so good??
I made sure this sourdough focaccia has just the right texture. I use some type '00' flour, which is usually reserved for pizzas and pasta. This makes it really super soft on the inside! I also like to give this sourdough focaccia a GOOD overnight prove. This really helps with flavour development, so it's not just a pretty face - it has FLAVA too!
Sourdough notes!
Two notes before you start this one!
1. This recipe involves a 4 hour prove and an 8 hour prove. It’s worth it, but this is DEFINITELY a 2 day recipe, so maybe start making the dough around 4pm the day before you plan to eat it!
2. This recipe uses sourdough starter to make it rise, not shop-bough yeast. You’ll need to get a nice, well established starter going before you make this. There are loads of recipes on the interweb for a starter and you won’t look back once you get it going! I recommend this one!
Trust me, this is one of the best things i’ve ever baked, so it’s worth doing things properly with this one!
Final notes!
Last few things - promise!
- Please promise me you'll go out and buy a really nice extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. So much of the flavour AND texture for this bake comes from the olive oil, so please make sure you're using good stuff, and not a bottle of vegetable oil from the back of the cupboard!
- The toppings are also super important! Good olives maketh a focaccia... or something like that! I use olives, cherry tomatoes, garlic and rosemary, but feel free to go rogue with this. If you're using garlic, I'd recommend soaking it in a bowl of water with a pinch of salt over night before use. It helps it not to burn in the oven and takes away some of the sharpness!
Serve this sourdough focaccia alongside my vegan cannelloni for a super dreamy dinner!
Sourdough Focaccia
Ingredients
For the Focaccia
- 95 g sourdough starter nice and active, around 2-4 hours after you last fed it
- 390 g water at around 20c
- 345 g type ‘00’ white flour
- 200 g strong white bread flour
- 10 g fine sea salt
- 14 g extra virgin olive oil
For the Topping
- 4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon flaky sea salt
- Small handful of cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Small handful of kalamata and green olives de-stoned
- 12-14 sprigs of rosemary
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, place the sourdough starter and the water. Using your fingers or a silicone spatula, mix the two together until the starter in quite evenly distributed. Add the flours and the salt. Lower the dough hook and mix on medium speed until the dough comes together and forms a shaggy, rather wet ball (around 5 minutes). Turn the speed to low, add the the olive oil and mix for a further five minutes. The dough will not look smooth and glossy yet, so don’t worry.
- Grease a large Tupperware tub with a splash of olive oil and transfer the dough to the tub. Grab one side of the dough, pinch and stretch it up and over to the centre of the dough. Rotate the Tupperware 90 degrees and repeat: pinch and stretch the dough into the centre. Repeat two more times until you’ve made a total of four folds in the dough. Cover the tub with a damp tea towel and place in an ambient temperature of around 20-22c. Leave the dough to “bulk ferment” for a total of four hours, repeating the four folds another four times every half hour for the first two hours.
- Meanwhile, grease a large, high sided brownie pan (around 23 x 33cwith a good drizzle of olive oil.
- After the first two hours of fermenting and folding are done, transfer the dough to the oiled pan, cover and leave for the remaining two hours.
- Once the dough is proved, place the entire pan of dough into a plastic bag or wrap with cling film and place in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours.
- The next day, or after 8 hours have passed, remove the dough from the fridge and place on the kitchen counter to come back to room temperature for an hour.
- Once this hour is done, the second prove begins. This can take between 1 and 2 hours depending on the temperature of the room and the activity of your starter. Just keep an eye of the dough after the first hour of proving - it should become very bubbly and gassy.
- About half an hour before your dough is ready, preheat the oven to 230c and prepare your toppings.
- Once proved and nicely bubbly, wet your fingers and dimple the dough all over, making sure you push all the way down to the bottom of the pan.
- Drizzle over the topping olive oil and sprinkle the flaky sea salt. Top with the herbs, olives, garlic and cherry tomatoes then place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating after 15 mins.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in its tin for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the bread from the tin once cool enough to handle and place on a wire cooking rack.
- Focaccia tastes best warm within a few hours of baking, but you can also wrap in tin foil and store for a day or so. Enjoy!
LOIS GIBBS
thank you for this fantastic recipe - it was a great success
LOIS GIBBS
thank you for this fantastic recipe - it was a great success
Kate Segall
Mine completely stuck to the pan??? I put lots of olive oil in before the dough. Did I miss anything else?
Melissa
I tried this recipe three times and it is stuck to the pan each time, no matter how much oil I put down first.
Alin
I tried this two times. I got a wet mass both times. My starter was active as i fed it hous before and it was growing. But the wet mass was imposible to stretch and fold. So first time i added more flouw making it easier to work with but got a freesbee focacia. Second time i got a quicksand dough. No use. So i think measurements are off in this recipe. So all in all two days wasted trying to reproduce this.
Alin
I tried this two times. I got a wet mass both times. My starter was active as i fed it hous before and it was growing. But the wet mass was imposible to stretch and fold. So first time i added more flouw making it easier to work with but got a freesbee focacia. Second time i got a quicksand dough. No use. So i think measurements are off in this recipe. So all in all two days wasted trying to reproduce this.
Andrea
I think it’s you, Alan. I tried this, never having made bread before and not being super precise with the measurements, and it came out great.
Richard
Hey Alin, the dough will be wet after the the first mixing stage. The purpose of the stretch and fold is to build up strength in the bread. This is where the bread goes from sloppy “wet mess” to a stronger dough. The first stretch and fold will be tricky and not very stretchy but adding extra flour is definitely not the solution. Just leave the dough for the recommended 30 mins rest and try to stretch and fold again (as the instructions recommend). Good luck
Louise Sutton
Hi, what if I don’t have 00/pasta flour.? Can I use plain, or just use all read flour?
Toni
Hi Richard!! I don’t have a stand up mixer, can you provide instructions for timing on a hand kneed method, pretty please? Thank you!
!
Vanessa
Is it 230 degree fan or conventional? Very excited to get this in the oven!
Meghan
Myself and my parents just finished stuffing our faces with this focaccia. This is amazing bread. Thank you very much for the recipe!
My mum informed me it tastes better than what they buy at the bakery <3