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How to Make Sourdough Focaccia Bread - naturally leavened

Soft & Fresh Sourdough Focaccia Bread

A delicious beginner recipe for homemade sourdough focaccia bread that is made with active sourdough starter. The soft, pillowy texture is incredible, and the bread gets lovely flavor from the olive oil and starter.
Author: Amanda Paa
Yield: 1 large loaf
Prep Time :1 hour
Cook Time :25 minutes
Wait Time :15 hours
Total Time :18 hours

Ingredients

  • 115 grams [active starter] at its peak - NOT discard
  • 350 grams slightly warmer than room temp water
  • 175 grams all-purpose flour, preferably King Arthur brand
  • 300 grams bread flour
  • 10 grams fine sea salt
  • olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, use a fork to whisk the starter with water until incorporated.
  • Add flour and salt, and incorporate using hands and spatula. Put the bowl on your stand mixer and mix for about 1 minute on low speed, until there is no dry bits of flour. Cover bowl with towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
  • Then mix on speed 4 of your Kitchenaid stand mixer for 7 minutes.
    It will be loose and WET, that's okay and exactly how it should be. This results in a light and airy finished bread. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil evenly over dough. Let dough rest for 30 minutes with a damp cloth over the top of bowl.
  • Now stretch and fold four “corners” of the dough, basically on top of itself, just like you would do normally when making sourdough. Do this 3 to 4 few times around the bowl (no resting in between).
  • Cover bowl and let rest several hours at room temperature until dough is just short of doubling, (using a straight sided vessel helps gauge growth SO much) has a few bubbles on top, has a glossy finish and is jiggly if you nudge the bowl. This usually takes another 5 hours if the temperature is around 72 degrees F in your house, quicker if temperature is warmer, longer if the temperature in your house is cooler. But how the dough looks is truly how you should tell when its done with bulk fermentation, rather than time.
  • Brush a 7x11 or 9x13 non-stick cake pan (do not use glass) liberally with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, distributing all the way to sides of pan.
  • Using lightly oiled hands, gently scrape dough out into your cake pan. It will look like a big blob and be somewhat wet, and that’s okay! Using your hands gently stretch the the dough, leaving dough alone when it's about 1 to 1 1/2 inches tall. You don't want it to be thin. It will continue to spread out towards the edges of the pan as it goes through its final rise. Let rise in a warm spot, covered with a sheet pan that’s upside down (so it has room to rise) for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours until it is quite puffy, jiggly, airy, and has a few bubbles that look like they are on the surface. This amount of time will depend on how warm your house. Warmer will rise faster, cooler it will rise slower, so use the time given as an estimate.
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Drizzle 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (don't be shy) onto the bread, rub some oil on your hands, and press your fingertips using your whole hand into the risen dough. Your fingertips should go all the way down through the dough, hitting the pan.
  • Put pan in oven on middle rack and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and brush dough with melted butter, oregano, and chopped garlic if desired. Turn oven down to 400 degrees F and bake for another 10 minutes. If you aren't not adding the melted butter topping, do not turn down the oven and simply continue baking at 425 degrees for another 10 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes and eat.

Notes

*This is a very WET DOUGH. And that's okay! Be patient, it will come together. :)
Adapted from the Artisan Sourdough Made Simple cookbook.