Wholemeal Focaccia

 I was going to make a few things with my Wholemeal starter but in the end I just made a Focaccia. Well I made two and stuck one in the Freezer. This was another practise for LoveLife and it went reasonably well, maybe a bit more rise would have been nice but the flavour was enhanced by some fresh Rosemary from the garden, chopped into the dough.

You can just see a few bits poking out as its rising , I used a lot of Olive Oil as well and that gave the crust a crunchy texture.

I took it out of the oven as it started to brown, 

and couldn't wait to try a bit. As you can see the inside is dense and it soaked up Vinegar perfectly, in my opinion that's just what a Focaccia should do.

The only disappointment was that I hadn't used enough Rosemary, I didn't want to over flavour it and was a little bit cautious. Still that's what these practise sessions are all about.

Here's the recipe,

Sourdough Focaccia
makes one large loaf

In a bowl, combine the following ingredients to form a sponge:

390g sourdough starter (always feed your starter the day before you are going to bake and stir before measuring)  

236ml warm water
60ml olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey
127g flour

Allow sponge to ferment and bubble for about an hour until bubbles of differing size are on top. Add to sponge:

120ml olive oil
508g flour
2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Mix ingredients together and turn out onto a floured board, kneading for 5-7 minutes. Depending on the hydration of your starter, you may end up adding 1/4 – 1 cup of flour while kneading. The dough will be soft and slightly moist from the oil and the kneading. Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Using a large, rimmed baking sheet, add 1/4 cup olive oil to the bottom of the pan, swirling to cover the bottom and sides. Once dough is risen, gently press dough down and then place your dough in the prepared pan. With your fingers, press dough into the bottom of the pan until it fills the pan. If your dough is very elastic and pulling away, allow it to rest for about five minutes and then continue.

Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until roughly doubled in size, about an hour. Preheat oven to 230 degrees. Once dough is ready, lightly dock dough with your fingers all over, leaving little impressions. If the dough is a little dry on top, brush on a bit more extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with coarse sea salt (mine was not dry; extra olive oil had spilled over onto the dough when I pressed the dough into the pan so all I did was sprinkle with salt. You be the judge of your dough.)

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool in it’s pan on a rack. Allow to cool at least twenty minutes before eating it.



Enjoy.