Best Sourdough Focaccia Recipes

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA ALLA GENOVESE

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup bread flour, 1/4 cup water, and sourdough discard together with a wooden spoon. Add a little flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add starter mixture and allow to rise in a warm area, without direct sunlight, until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Attach dough hook and begin to mix the starter. Add remaining flour, 3 tablespoons oil, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix in enough of the remaining water until dough pulls from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball; you may not need the full 3/4 cup. Knead dough in the mixer for 5 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and knead by hand for 5 minutes. Score and cover with a cloth. Allow to rise in a draft-free place until doubled in volume, at least 2 hours, and up to overnight.
• Lightly oil a shallow 12x16-inch baking pan. Knead dough for 5 minutes. Spread into the pan using your hands. Whisk 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon water together. Sprinkle a little bit over the focaccia. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in height.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Push into the focaccia with your fingertips, leaving indentations about 1 1/2 inches apart. Evenly distribute olives and cherry tomatoes on top, pushing them into the dough. Sprinkle rosemary leaves and flaked salt on top. Sprinkle a little more of the oil-water mixture on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Drizzle olive oil on top before serving.

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA (YEAST VERSION TOO)

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.

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA

Steps:

• Make sure your starter is active - it should be nice and bubbly. If it isn't, feed it and wait until a teaspoon of the starter floats in warm water. When you're happy your starter is active, measure 100g into a large bowl and pour over 400ml tepid water. Stir with a rubber spatula to combine, but don't worry if there are unmixed bits of starter. Tip in the flour and mix everything together to make a rough dough. Make sure all the flour is mixed in and that there are no dry bits up the side of the bowl. Cover and leave to rest for at least 30 mins or up to 1 hr.
• Prepare a jug of water for dipping your hands into. Scatter 10g salt over the dough, dip a hand into the water and scrunch it through the dough to mix in the salt. The dough should come back together and the salt should be completely mixed in. Cover again and leave for 20-30 mins, then wet your hands, grab the dough from one side and stretch it over itself. Repeat with the other side of the dough - it should be very elastic. Curl the dough around onto itself so it's smooth and taught, then cover and leave for another 20-30 mins. Repeat this process two more times (three in total), then leave the dough to prove for 2-3 hrs until risen by about 40 per cent - it should be bubbly and soft.
• Drizzle a deep, roughly 20 x 30cm baking tray with half the olive oil and scrape the dough onto the tray. Incorporate the oil into the dough by stretching and folding it on the tray until it comes together. Don't worry if it's a bit stringy to start, just keep stretching and bringing it back on itself and it will come back together. When the dough has come together into an oily mass, leave to prove at room temperature for 3-4 hrs, or for up to 18 hrs in the fridge.
• Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Use your fingers to stretch the dough so it fits into the tray evenly, then dimple the surface with your fingertips. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil and dimple a few more times to create little oil puddles on the surface. Scatter over the remaining salt, give the dough a final poke and bake for 25-30 mins until puffed up and deep golden. Remove the tray from the oven, drizzle with the remaining oil then leave to cool for at least 40 mins before cutting into squares.

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA

Steps:

• Levain: On day 1 at night, mix together starter, flour, and water in a large bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or a large plate and let stand at room temperature 10 to 12 hours.
• Dough: On day 2 in the morning, make an autolyze: In a large bowl, dissolve levain in water. Add both flours and stir to combine. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
• Sprinkle autolyze with salt; drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Pinch and fold several times to incorporate. Cover and let stand 30 minutes.
• With dampened hands, grab underside of dough, stretch it out, and fold it back over itself. Rotate bowl one quarter-turn and repeat 6 times. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Repeat process 4 more times (about 3 hours total). After final folding, you should have a soft, elastic dough.
• Drizzle remaining 3 tablespoons oil evenly into a 9 1/2-by-12 1/2-inch rimmed baking sheet or a 9-by-12-inch baking pan. Scrape dough onto sheet and pat out to flatten, pushing it into edges. (If it springs back, cover and let stand 10 minutes, then continue until dough fills pan.) Drape with plastic wrap. (Dough can be made to this point and refrigerated up to 24 hours.)
• Let dough stand until it is bubbly and soft and almost reaches top of pan, about 2 hours (or 3, if it's been refrigerated). Preheat oven to 450°F. Use your fingers to make dents all over top of dough. Drizzle generously with oil and sprinkle with flaky salt. Season tomatoes with fine salt and scatter over dough. Sprinkle with rosemary.
• Place a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet on lowest rack (to catch any oil overflow). Bake focaccia on center rack until golden brown and cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack 10 minutes, then transfer directly to rack and let cool completely. (You may need to run a spatula underneath to release it.) Focaccia is best served the day it's made, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

RUSTIC SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Steps:

• To Make the dough:.
• Place all ingredients for dough, except for the tablespoon of flour in the machine and run the dough cycle.
• Add more water if necessary to for a very wet dough that barely holds its shape and does not leave the bottom of the pan. (I've never had to do this).
• At the end of the cycle, remove the bucket from the bread machine, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12-18 hours (Note: the recipe as originally written said here to sprinkle a tablespoon of flour over the dough before covering and refrigerating. That might be required if the dough were likely to rise and touch the plastic wrap, but I've never had that happen after making this recipe many, many times [Unless making multiple recipes, I always refrigerate in the bread machine bucket]. If you transfer the dough to a not-so-large bowl and are concerned about it, by all means, sprinkle away).
• If you don't have a bread machine and want to use a stand mixer:.
• - Put all the ingredients, starting with the starter, in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• - Mix on low, starting with the paddle attachment for 20 minutes. Feel free to switch to a dough hook when you feel it's appropriate.
• - Allow to rise for 90 minutes.
• - Mix for one minute and then proceed as directed above.
• To Finish the Focaccia:.
• Pour the dough into a 9x13" baking pan that has been prepared with olive oil and corn meal.
• Cover the dough with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 4 hours.
• Then remove from the fridge and, leaving the dough covered, allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, caramelize the onions (using 1-2 medium onions) with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• Preheat the oven to 475°F.
• After the two-hour rise at room temperature, spread the onions over the dough.
• Sprinkle the remaining olive oil and the salt over the dough.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until the top is crusty and a rich golden brown color.
• Eat hot, warm, or at room temperature.