Method
- In a large bowl, mix the sourdough starter, warm water, olive oil and honey until combine well.
- Add one cup of all purpose unbleached flour to the bowl. Mix the flour into the liquids.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the bowl in a warm spot away from drafts.
- Allow the sourdough sponge to ferment and bubble for one to two hours or until bubbles of differing sizes are covering the surface.
- Uncover the bowl of sponge. Add 4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, ½ cup of olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of sea salt to the sponge.
- Mix the ingredients together until most of the flour is mixed into the sponge. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Kneading the dough, dusting with more flour if the dough is sticky for 5 to 10 minutes. Depending on the hydration of your starter, you may end up adding ¼ – 1 cup more of flour while kneading. The dough will be soft and slightly moist from the oil and the kneading.
- Form the kneaded dough into a ball and place the ball into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, about 1-½ to 2 hours.
- Prepare the baking sheet or baking sheets by pouring ¼ or ½ cup of olive oil into the center of the pan, swirling to cover the bottom and sides.. (see notes)
- Once the dough has risen, gently punch dough down.
- If using two baking sheets cut the ball of dough in half. Place the ball or balls of dough into the center of a baking sheet.
- With your fingers, work the dough into the bottom of the pan until it fills the pan and pushed up into the sides of the pan forming a lip. If the dough is very elastic and pulling away, allow the dough to rest about five minutes and then continue.
- Cover with the pan with a lint free kitchen towel and allow the focaccia dough to rise in a warm area until roughly doubled in size, about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once dough has risen, gently dock the dough with your finger tips all over the top, leaving little impressions in the soft dough. If the dough is a little dry on top, brush on a bit more extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with coarse sea salt (mine was not dry; extra virgin olive oil had spilled over onto the dough when I pressed the dough into the pan so all I did was sprinkle with salt. You be the judge of your dough.)
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in it’s pan on a rack.
- Cut into squares or sticks and serve warm.
Favourite Focaccia toppings
- Sea salt
- Thinly sliced red and green peppers
- Tomato
- Thinly sliced onion
- Green or black olives
- Chopped garlic
- Cheese
Source – https://flouronmyface.com/step-by-step-how-to-make-sourdough-focaccia/
Ingredients
1-½ cups active sourdough starter (always feed your starter the day before you are going to bake and stir before measuring. The sourdough starter needs to be active)
1 cup warm water
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Focaccia Ingredients To Add to the sponge
4 cups flour
½ cup extra virgin olive oil high quality
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
