Heads up – this is a three day process but most of the time is spent letting the bread ferment in different stages. The time you invest in this recipe is worth it tenfold; this will be the lightest, fluffiest, softest focaccia you will ever eat. Two additional variations for toppings are also included: almond croissant and garlic herb butter. This recipe makes two loaves.
Equipment: Kitchen scale, large mixing bowl, something to cover the bowl, bench scraper (recommended), two pans (recommend 10×14 from Lloyd)
1. Day 1 (evening): feed your sourdough starter so it’s at peak activity and ready to go tomorrow morning. Basically, you want to mix this ~12 hours before you are going to start the dough, so adjust for yourself depending on when you want to wake up and start baking. I will feed at 9pm, and then start the dough around 9am the next day.
Mix 40g starter, 100g water, 100g bread flour thoroughly and let ferment overnight at room temperature.
2. Day 2 (the next morning): In a large bowl, combine the below ingredients. Make a note of the time – this is where your Bulk Fermentation starts. Your pre-ferment from the night before should be bubbly and active at this point.
830 g warm (but not hot) water
200 g active starter (the pre-ferment)
1000 g bread flour (King Arthur recommended)
20 g diastatic malt powder
18 g kosher salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
With clean hands, mix until well-incorporated and no dry bits remain, cover, and leave it alone for an hour.
3. After it rests for an hour, give it a set of stretch & folds and/or coil folds every 30-45 minutes, until you’ve performed 4 to 5 sets. Roughly 6 hours* after you started your bulk fermentation, the dough should have a very bubbly surface, be jiggly, and should have risen roughly 50%. Keep in mind this time is an estimate – if your kitchen is warmer, it will ferment quicker. If your kitchen is cooler, it will take longer
4. When it feels ready – thoroughly oil two pans and lightly oil a clean countertop with your EVOO. Gently dump your dough out onto the counter. Split the dough into two equal parts with a bench scraper. Give each half a gentle final shaping, and transfer into your oiled pans. Give them another drizzling of EVOO on top, cover, and place in the fridge to rest overnight.
Day 3 (the next morning): Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest on the countertop to come up to room temp, roughly 4-5 hours.
Preheat your oven to 425F, and place the pans, covered, on top of your stove as you oven preheats to give it a final blast of warmth for proofing. Keep an eye on it and rotate if any side feels like it’s getting too warm. Within 30-45 minutes while your oven is preheating, the dough should mostly finish spreading out in the pan, get very puffy, and expand even more.
Once the oven is thoroughly preheated to 425F, add any toppings at this point. Two variations are listed below, but feel free to get creative and add anything you want! Just be mindful to not introduce too much additional moisture, as it will hinder your browning and oven spring. At minimum, add a little more EVOO and flakey salt. Dimple the dough really well all over with all 10 fingers.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Take the focaccia out of the pan and let cool on a wire rack, so the bottom doesn’t steam itself in the pan.
Slice up and enjoy!
Almond focaccia version (measurements for 1 loaf):
1 cup almond flour
½ cup (one stick) melted butter – I used Earth Balance
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ tsp. Almond extract
1 tbsp vanilla paste
¼ tsp. Salt
3 tbsp Just Egg (maybe not necessary)
Combine all of the above in a mixing bowl and top the focaccia with this mixture before dimpling and baking.
Almond simple syrup – 1/2 cup each water and sugar in a saucepan on medium high, heat until sugar is dissolved. Add ½ tsp almond extract. Brush over focaccia when it comes out of the oven.
Let cool, top with powdered sugar.
Garlic herb butter version (measurements for 1 loaf):
Cloves of 3 heads of roasted garlic
½ cup (one stick) melted butter – I used Earth Balance
Fresh herbs – I used fresh oregano, rosemary, and parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
A healthy pinch of red pepper flakes – spice to your liking!
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Blitz in a food processor until well combined, or mince everything very fine and mix into the butter/oil!
Pour roughly 70% of this mixture all over the focaccia before dimpling in and baking, and when it’s finished, brush over the remaining butter mix. Top with flakey sea salt.
taintlikepaint
Please add your recipe these looks amazing!!🥲
CurvePuzzleheaded361
This looks phenomenal!
bucknekkidtx
It’s probably wrong for an adult to be this excited over a recipe. Can’t wait to try it! Have to begin with new sourdough starter…. Thank you!
Fuzzy_Welcome8348
This looks incredible!! Amazing job!
mergs789
Ummm. Both look so damn tasty!
AbbreviationsEasy654
The work you put into writing this all out for us is appreciated! Now I have to start a starter! I am completely motivated now!
FutureAd5083
Baking club?? Man I wish i had one of those near me lol
Breadlover316
すごい！ 素晴らしいですね!
evilresident0
Looks amazing, I’ll have to try this. Thanks for the recipe!
11 Comments
Wow! Amazing looking! I don’t see the recipe below though.
For a long time I was using this recipe from reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/comments/11g5gpj/sourdough_focaccia_this_is_my_favorite_method/, but I’ve made quite a bit of tweaks along the way so I wrote out this new version. Definitely open to feedback on the recipe – let me know if you try this!
Heads up – this is a three day process but most of the time is spent letting the bread ferment in different stages. The time you invest in this recipe is worth it tenfold; this will be the lightest, fluffiest, softest focaccia you will ever eat. Two additional variations for toppings are also included: almond croissant and garlic herb butter. This recipe makes two loaves.
Equipment: Kitchen scale, large mixing bowl, something to cover the bowl, bench scraper (recommended), two pans (recommend 10×14 from Lloyd)
Ingredients: Bread flour, sourdough starter, kosher salt, diastatic malt powder, extra virgin olive oil
1. Day 1 (evening): feed your sourdough starter so it’s at peak activity and ready to go tomorrow morning. Basically, you want to mix this ~12 hours before you are going to start the dough, so adjust for yourself depending on when you want to wake up and start baking. I will feed at 9pm, and then start the dough around 9am the next day.
Mix 40g starter, 100g water, 100g bread flour thoroughly and let ferment overnight at room temperature.
2. Day 2 (the next morning): In a large bowl, combine the below ingredients. Make a note of the time – this is where your Bulk Fermentation starts. Your pre-ferment from the night before should be bubbly and active at this point.
830 g warm (but not hot) water
200 g active starter (the pre-ferment)
1000 g bread flour (King Arthur recommended)
20 g diastatic malt powder
18 g kosher salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
With clean hands, mix until well-incorporated and no dry bits remain, cover, and leave it alone for an hour.
3. After it rests for an hour, give it a set of stretch & folds and/or coil folds every 30-45 minutes, until you’ve performed 4 to 5 sets. Roughly 6 hours* after you started your bulk fermentation, the dough should have a very bubbly surface, be jiggly, and should have risen roughly 50%. Keep in mind this time is an estimate – if your kitchen is warmer, it will ferment quicker. If your kitchen is cooler, it will take longer
4. When it feels ready – thoroughly oil two pans and lightly oil a clean countertop with your EVOO. Gently dump your dough out onto the counter. Split the dough into two equal parts with a bench scraper. Give each half a gentle final shaping, and transfer into your oiled pans. Give them another drizzling of EVOO on top, cover, and place in the fridge to rest overnight.
Day 3 (the next morning): Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest on the countertop to come up to room temp, roughly 4-5 hours.
Preheat your oven to 425F, and place the pans, covered, on top of your stove as you oven preheats to give it a final blast of warmth for proofing. Keep an eye on it and rotate if any side feels like it’s getting too warm. Within 30-45 minutes while your oven is preheating, the dough should mostly finish spreading out in the pan, get very puffy, and expand even more.
Once the oven is thoroughly preheated to 425F, add any toppings at this point. Two variations are listed below, but feel free to get creative and add anything you want! Just be mindful to not introduce too much additional moisture, as it will hinder your browning and oven spring. At minimum, add a little more EVOO and flakey salt. Dimple the dough really well all over with all 10 fingers.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Take the focaccia out of the pan and let cool on a wire rack, so the bottom doesn’t steam itself in the pan.
Slice up and enjoy!
Almond focaccia version (measurements for 1 loaf):
1 cup almond flour
½ cup (one stick) melted butter – I used Earth Balance
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ tsp. Almond extract
1 tbsp vanilla paste
¼ tsp. Salt
3 tbsp Just Egg (maybe not necessary)
Combine all of the above in a mixing bowl and top the focaccia with this mixture before dimpling and baking.
Almond simple syrup – 1/2 cup each water and sugar in a saucepan on medium high, heat until sugar is dissolved. Add ½ tsp almond extract. Brush over focaccia when it comes out of the oven.
Let cool, top with powdered sugar.
Garlic herb butter version (measurements for 1 loaf):
Cloves of 3 heads of roasted garlic
½ cup (one stick) melted butter – I used Earth Balance
Fresh herbs – I used fresh oregano, rosemary, and parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
A healthy pinch of red pepper flakes – spice to your liking!
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Blitz in a food processor until well combined, or mince everything very fine and mix into the butter/oil!
Pour roughly 70% of this mixture all over the focaccia before dimpling in and baking, and when it’s finished, brush over the remaining butter mix. Top with flakey sea salt.
Please add your recipe these looks amazing!!🥲
This looks phenomenal!
It’s probably wrong for an adult to be this excited over a recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
Have to begin with new sourdough starter….
Thank you!
This looks incredible!! Amazing job!
Ummm. Both look so damn tasty!
The work you put into writing this all out for us is appreciated! Now I have to start a starter! I am completely motivated now!
Baking club?? Man I wish i had one of those near me lol
すごい！
素晴らしいですね!
Looks amazing, I’ll have to try this. Thanks for the recipe!