Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
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This is the best sourdough focaccia recipe and it’s easy.
I’ve made sourdough bread many times and focaccia many times, but I’ve never put them together. I am making Emilie Raffa’s recipe from her book, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple.
We love this book. The recipes are approachable and always successful. If you’re just starting out with sourdough, I highly recommending starting with this book.
As we were browsing through this book, that offers the easiest sourdough recipes, we made several, and then landed on sourdough focaccia. I’ve made the sourdough loaves out of this book many times, and we love how easy they are to make and how delicious they come out.
While the twins (now 13) have been doing zoom school here, we got out the sourdough starter we have been using since July 2019, and decided to make two loaves of bread, a sweet roll, and this focaccia.
This sourdough focaccia is perfect. I even slipped some garlic cloves in the skin, just as the recipe did, along with plenty of rosemary, Maldon sea salt flakes, and olive oil.
Sourdough Focaccia
Focaccia is supposed to be more bouncy and softer, so I was a little skeptical that it might end up too crusty. It didn’t. It was absolutely perfect.
While you could taste the sourdough, it had the bounce focaccia is famous for.
If you’ve never had roasted garlic, you’re in for a real treat. As far as putting garlic cloves on, still in their skins, I only wish I had put more than three. This is a culinary wonder. You taste the garlic, but not in an overwhelming way. The garlic bakes to a soft spreadable clove, giving you options to increase the lovely garlic flavor.
The four of us pretty much killed this sourdough focaccia in a day.
The Sourdough Focaccia Process
Set aside plenty of time. You make the dough the night before and let it rest for 18 hours. Many of the recipes in the book rest the dough for 12 hours. You will also need time for that second rise, but the baking time is only 25 minutes. I do find the recipes in the book to show baking times ten minutes longer than necessary.
Once the dough has its final proofing, stretch it out by hand to a rectangle.
Use your finger to dimple. Add fresh garlic in the skin, fresh rosemary, and flaked sea salt.
Once baked, the focaccia is bouncy. Look at the wonderful holes.
You can get from 12 to 20 squares. No matter what, this will disappear fast. You could serve this as is, or with some dipping oil. I used 3 garlic cloves, but next time I’ll use more. The roasted garlic can be spread on the focaccia and is delicious, delicate and not overpowering.
Sourdough Starter
Sourdough StarterRead more about how we made our own sourdough starter from scratch here. It’s easier than you think.
It feels wrong sometimes to discard some of the starter in the jar to make room to feed it. Instead, why not make these sourdough biscuits.
You might even consider bottling up some starter and giving it to your friends for the holidays, along with this sourdough cookbook
Sourdough Biscuits and Making starter here.
More Bread Recipes from Spinach Tiger
Sourdough Focaccia with Rosemary and Garlic
Ingredients
- 50 grams bubbly starter 1/4 cup
- 375 grams cool water 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon
- 20 grams honey
- 150 grams all purpose flour see notes
- 350 grams bread flour
- 9 grams fine sea salt 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 45 grams olive oil 3 tablespoons
Toppings
- rosemary sprigs for during and after baking
- 3 garlic cloves in paper shells or more if you like
- 1 teaspoon Maldon flaked sea salt
Instructions
- Make dough night before you plan to bake it. Mix water, honey and starter in bowl with a wooden spoon.
- Weight out flour and salt in another bowl. Then add to liquid.
- Finish mixing by hand to make sure all flour is incorporated. You may want to flour your hands as this dough is sticky.
- Cover with damp towel in a warm environment of 70 degrees F. for 12 to 18 hours until the dough has doubled.
- Once doubled, place on oiled baking sheet, large enough to eventually make a focaccia measuring 14 x 9 with room around the edge. Make sure both sides of dough are oiled. Leave the blob of dough sit there, covered with a damp cloth for 2 hours until puffy. This is the last of the proofing.
- After two hours, stretch the dough to a rectangle of 14 x 9. Use fingers to poke holes. 3 across and 6 down works well.
- Stick garlic cloves in their skin into holes gently and arrange pieces of rosemary. Sprinkle flaked salt. You will add more chopped rosemary when the focaccia comes out of the oven.
- Once roasted, garlic will roast to a soft consistency and you can spread it on the focaccia if you desire.
- Bake at 425 degrees F. for 25 minutes, until golden brown.
- Add more chopped rosemary when the focaccia is hot.
- You may want to serve with more olive oil, garnished with rosemary and salt for dipping.
- Allow to cool (if you can wait) and cut with pizza cutter into squares. The focaccia will soften as it cools.
Notes
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Absolutely delicious. I followed your recipe to the “T” and it couldn’t have been any easier. Thanks!