I adore sourdough. I adore focaccia. Smash the two together and the resulting Sourdough Focaccia is divine! Better yet, it’s a super hands off and easy way to make sourdough without devoting half your day to being around home, stretching and folding.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can make your own (it takes a few days) or you can buy one to kick you off.
I typically feed my starter first thing in the morning, and then it’s bubbly and active to start this recipe by the evening.
Ingredients
- 100g of bubbly active sourdough starter
- 375g of water
- 30g honey
- 500g bread flour (high grade)
- 10g salt
- 50g olive oil
- Toppings of your choice
How to make Sourdough Focaccia
- In a large bowl, mix together your active starter, honey and water.
- Mix in the bread flour and salt, to form a ragged style dough.
- Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 12 hours, overnight is great.
- The next morning your dough will have double in size.
- Take a 30x20cm baking dish (approx.) and generously rub with the olive oil.
- Gently remove your dough from the bowl and place into the baking dish, turning to fully coat with the olive oil – add more oil if needed, any unoiled areas will likely stick.
- Cover the baking dish with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for a further 2-3 hours.
- Remove the tea towel, dip your fingers into the olive oil, and using your fingers dimple and press the dough to stretch and fill the whole pan.
- Add toppings of your choice – I used garlic, sea salt and rosemary from the garden.
- Preheat your oven to 220’C and then bake bread for 25 minutes of until golden brown.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool, or just eat it all hot and fresh!
Why I Love Bread
My first job, as a wee 13 year old, was as a waitress at a local Italian café & bakehouse and I discovered a true love of fresh baked bread. I tasted fresh sourdoughs, bagels, focaccias, pizza, fougasse and ciabatta.
This adoration of bread faded into the background a little, as I moved on from this job and the café eventually closed. Bread options available from the supermarket, or even standard bakeries, just did not compare to my memory of fresh hot handmade loaves. Having now rediscovered bread, and starting down the journey of baking my own, the memories come flooding back.
This focaccia is a classic, and the sourdough flavour brings a rich sweet nourishment. I topped mine with the timeless combination of garlic, sea salt and rosemary from the garden. Feel free to top yours with whatever your heart desires!
If you give this recipe a go, please drop a comment below and let me know what you think. And if you’ve got basil in the garden, I highly recommend dipping in pesto… Happy baking!
