How to Make Sourdough Focaccia

Hi, I'm going to show you how to make the most delicious sourdough focaccia

On day one at around 10 p.m. mix together your ripe starter with water and the bread flour

This is your overnight levain. It will sit and rise and ferment overnight and be ready for you in the morning to mix the dough

Be sure to mix it really well to make sure the flour is fully absorbed by the water and the starter

You should avoid using your fingers to wipe your spatula and be sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl

Then cover it as you normally cover your starter after you feed it. I like to cover it with plastic wrap and poke about four to five holes to allow some air to go through

On day two in the morning around 9 a.m. that's how your levain should look, nice and bubbly

Then you're going to start your fermentalise by adding water to both the flours. Stir it very well. I like to use a Danish dough hook for this

When I was making this video however I forgot to add the starter. I should have added it together with the water and the flour

But I realized that just after I mixed the water in so I then added the starter. No harm no foul

It would have been a lot easier to mix the starter in together with the water at the outset but it still got mixed in without an issue

Again keep the sides of your bowl clean by using a very cheap but useful bowl scraper

Cover this with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for about an hour. Next you're going to add in the salt with the rest of the water

It's a good idea to moisten your hand before you start kneading the dough to prevent the dough from sticking to your hand

You want to fold the dough over on itself to allow the dough to absorb the water. You can also use a claw motion like this to try to get the water into the dough

Once the dough seems to have absorbed the water you can start doing a knead in the bowl motion where you fold up some of the dough and push it back into itself

Keep rotating the bowl as you go. Knead the dough like this for a few minutes to really help develop the gluten

You'll see that the dough is clearing the sides of the bowl without an issue. That's a very good sign

Once the dough is well kneaded wipe down the sides of the bowl again and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow it to rest for about a half hour

Now you can add all of the olive oil and knead that in the same way you kneaded in the salt with the water

You want to knead the dough for a few minutes again to help really develop the gluten in the dough

You can see that the dough is looking very smooth and well developed

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or place it in your proofer and allow it to proof for about an hour

After the first hour do your first set of stretch and folds where you pull some of the dough, fold it over onto itself and rotate the bowl

You'll do four stretch and folds in this one instance. Scrape down the bowl and then allow it to proof for another hour

Then do your second set of stretch and folds the very same way

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and let it proof for one more hour

By hour three it's time for the third and final set of stretch and folds

Do this one more time rotating the bowl doing four full stretch and folds

Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap after you wipe down the sides of it and place it in the refrigerator until day three

The next morning remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for about an hour

At the hour mark prepare your baking pan. Then pour your dough into the prepared baking pan

Then very gently and carefully stretch the dough out to try to fill it in as much of the pan as you can

This does not need to be perfect but the more you stretch it out now the less you'll have to do it later after the dough is fermented more

To cover the dough while it rests it's a good idea to use some nonstick spray or some olive oil on plastic wrap and then put that over the pan

This way if the plastic wrap touches the dough it will not stick to it

This was at the four and a half hour mark. You can see beautiful development with nice big air bubbles and it's very jiggly

At this point you can sprinkle olive oil on top and then use your fingertips to press into the dough

Start in the middle of the dough and work your way to one side and then go back to the middle and work your way to the other side

This will help portion the dough out and make it more even on the edges

Then sprinkle malt and salt on top or any other herbs or whatever else you like to put on top of your focaccia

Bake it for about a half hour. When it comes out let it sit in the pan for about five minutes and then carefully release it

You don't want it to slam on its top because you don't want to crush all those beautiful air bubbles that baked up so beautifully

Allow to cool completely, slice and enjoy