SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA (YEAST VERSION TOO)

Sourdough Focaccia (Yeast Version too) image

Focaccia with a touch of whole grain wheat is a delicious treat but also a contender to be an everyday bread. The olive oil goodness and variety of topping options make it infinitely interesting. This recipe allows you to choose sourdough leavening or yeast leavening with a similar time frame of fermentation for good flavor development.

Provided by Melissa Johnson

Categories Recipes

Time 1h5m

Number Of Ingredients 17

Ingredients

Sourdough Focaccia
380g bread flour (scant 3 cups)
95g milled white Sonora wheat berries or Kamut wheat berries (scant 3/4 cup of flour)
345g water (1 1/2 cups)
143g sourdough starter (1/2 cup)
15g honey (2 tsp)
13g olive oil (1 Tbsp)
11g salt (2 tsp)
Yeast Focaccia
435g bread flour (3 1/3 cups)
110g milled white Sonora wheat berries or Kamut wheat berries (3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp of flour)
415g water (1 3/4 cups)
1.75g instant yeast (1/2 tsp)
15g honey (2 tsp)
13g olive oil (1 Tbsp)
11g salt (2 tsp)
Additional salt for the top of the dough, olive oil for the baking pan and top of dough, other toppings such as tomatoes, olives, onions, garlic, cheese, sliced potatoes and more!

Steps:

Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
Add all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes with the paddle attachment, and medium speed for another 8 minutes with the dough hook, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula a few times. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix by hand for about 15 minutes, letting your arm and the dough rest between short bouts of effort.
Move the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Mark this as the beginning of your bulk fermentation.
After a 30 minute rest, stretch and fold, or coil fold, the dough four times (every 20-40 minutes) over the next 2-3 hours. Wet your hands before handling the dough, and cover the dough afterward.
Leave the dough to continue bulk fermenting for 3-6 more hours until it has almost doubled and is bubbly. The yeast version of this recipe bulk fermented for a little over 5 hours total, about the same as the sourdough version.
Final Proof and Topping
Prep a parchment lined baking pan with about 2 Tbsp of olive oil (parchment is optional if the pan is non-stick). Make sure to go up the sides of the parchment/pan.
Gently scrape the dough onto the parchment. With oily fingers pull and press the dough outward to the edges of the pan, dimpling it with oily fingertips.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap or put it inside two clean plastic grocery bags. I use binder clips to keep the bags from touching and sticking to the dough (see gallery).
Let proof 1-2 hours at room temperature (or overnight in the refrigerator, plus another 2-4 hours to warm up in the morning). The dough should look thicker and have some bubbles when the final proof is over.
Baking
Preheat your oven to 450F for 20 minutes with an inverted baking sheet (or 30 minutes with a pizza stone) one shelf up from the bottom shelf.
Drizzle oil on the top of the dough (thumb over spout of oil bottle or using spoonfuls), dimple it again if you'd like, add toppings and finally sprinkle it with coarse salt.
Put the focaccia pan in the oven on top of the hot baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. (The bake time is the same for 9x13 and 13x18 pans.)
The internal temperature of the focaccia should be at least 200F.
Remove the focaccia from the pan and parchment, and let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be wrapped in the parchment you baked it in.