Sam's Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
Ingredients
Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
Ingredients:
330g Lukewarm Water
~3-5g Honey/Barley Malt Syrup
~115g Active Sourdough Starter
420g Cotswold Pizza Flour
14g Finely Ground Salt
Suggested Toppings Ingredients:
Sliced tomatoes marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with fresh herbs
Or…
Fig with blue cheese and onion
marmalade
This fabulous Sourdough Focaccia Recipe has been sent to us by Sam Hayward (IG: @south_african_baker) to help us spread the word about our Cotswold Pizza Flour launching in Waitrose. Great for pizza, obviously, the Cotswold Pizza Flour is also a great Sourdough flour – and makes a terrifically light and fluffy focaccia to boot! Try this great bake for yourself now!
- Baker: Sam Hayward
- IG: @south_african_baker
- Makes: 1 large focaccia
- Prep time: ~9 hrs
- Bake time: ~30-35 mins
- Flours used: Cotswold Pizza Flour
Sourdough Focaccia Method:
- In a medium bowl, whisk the water, barley malt syrup and active starter together. Tip in the flour and using your hand as a paddle, mix the dough until all the flour is incorporated. Don’t worry if it feels slack now, it will firm up as the gluten develops!
- Cover and leave to autolyse (rest) for around 30-60 mins.
- Sprinkle the salt over the surface of the dough and do a few sets of stretch-and-folds to incorporate the salt into the dough. Make sure there are no pockets of salt and that the dough feels smooth, not grainy.
- Cover and leave in a warm place out of direct sunlight for around 2 hrs.
- Line a ~12x8in baking pan with baking paper. Choose a pan that is at least 4-5 cm deep. Drizzle some olive oil onto the paper, about 1 TBSP is enough. Drizzle ~2 TBSP olive oil over the surface of the dough and do one or two sets of stretch-and-folds to incorporate the oil. Don’t worry about mixing it in perfectly.
- Gently lift the dough and place it onto the centre of the lined pan. Cover with an inflated proofing bag and leave in a warm place out of direct sunlight for ~6 hrs. Depending on the weather this may take shorter or longer - you want the dough to be almost filling the pan and have just about doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 230 C (220 C fan). While the oven is heating up, prepare your toppings. You can go as simple or complex as you like. My favourite is sliced tomatoes marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with fresh herbs, chilli flakes and basil pesto. *Fig with blue cheese and onion marmalade is good too! (Also pictured above).
- Drizzle olive oil over the surface of the risen dough and use your fingers to dimple the dough. You should see some air bubbles inflating as you do this. Scatter the tomatoes over the dimpled dough and gently push them in, not too deep. Sprinkle some sea salt over the top.
- Bake at 230 C (220 C fan) for 30-35 mins until golden brown and sizzling! *Optional: You can scatter some grated cheese around the edges after 12 mins in the oven before returning it to finish baking!
- Carefully lift from the pan using the baking paper and place on a wooden board to slice and serve!
Huge thanks to Sam for this tremendous recipe – be sure to check out her Instagram for more inspirational bakes! Need more advice about making Sourdough Starter? Check out our Sourdough Section here now!
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