Sourdough Foccacia
I HAVE TOO MUCH FOOD IN MY FRIDGE! I miss having neighbors who can pop on by through our shared parking lot, and grab food from our doorstep.
I did get to feed this to some of Noah’s coworkers, and it was well received, even if it wasn’t the perfect Foccacia.
This recipe is from Nokneadtoworry’s instagram page. It’s funny how instagram has become my preferred destination for internet recipe scouring these days, just because there is actual photographic proof (I assume genuine) of the product of these recipes. There is at least some degree of reliability, unlike most recipes floating on the internet. Overall, I still prefer cookbooks.
Sourdough Foccacia, instagram style:
Maybe I’ll update this post with better photos once I make this dough again.
For a half sheet:
500g bread flour
367g water
50g starter
13g salt
That’s 100% bread flour, 73.3% hydration, 10% starter, 2.5% salt.
The method:
Autolyse without salt, uncovered, for 1-2 hours.
Sprinkle the salt and fold it in.
Cover, and fold ever 30-45 minutes. Repeat 4-6 times.
Ferment in a cold place overnight, until very very bubbly, maybe almost 4x its original volume.
Gently turn out into a half sheet pan that is generously covered with olive oil (the goal is to deep fry the bottom).
Dip your hands in the pool of olive oil on the tray, and gently dip your fingers into the dough to dock it and stretch it at the same time.
Sprinkle on the toppings, and drizzle more olive oil on top (or if you’re me, scoop some of the leftovers from the tray).
my toppings this time were: goat cheese (courtesy of in-laws), oven dried cherry tomatoes, grated pecorino, black pepper, and maldon
Bake at 450F from 25 minutes.
At 25 minutes, carefully take the tray out. Sort of shove a spatula beneath the dough and lift it on all sides so the olive oil can flow beneath the dough again. Rotate and return to the oven.
Beware of hot burning oil, especially when scraping the dough if it’s stuck to the tray a little!
Bake for maybe 20 more minutes? Until the bottom is crispy and the top is a beautiful golden brown.
If at any point it begins to darken, tent the top with foil.
Let it cool a few minutes on the tray, and then remove it from the pool of oil and let it cool on a rack.
Notes:
This recipe is simple enough, but it takes a little bit of time to ferment. Maybe my starter just isn’t strong enough, who knows. I’d like to try it again and give it all the time it needs to proof, but the flavor combination was A+, and the texture was still beautiful despite the crumb not being perfect. I’d make it again.
Mine took so many hours to proof, even after I put it in a warm place (the microwave with the door just open enough for the inside light to be on + the stove light turned on), that by 10:30pm (which is about 9 hours after the start of autolyse) I had to either bake it, or risk overproofing it overnight in the fridge. I don’t know if it would have overproofed in the fridge, honestly. Probably not? Or will it not proof at all in the fridge? I’ll have to try that next time.
I’ve always preferred a very fried crispy bottom to these types of breads, and if there’s just a thin layer of oil on the bottom of the tray after baking, even though you thought you put way too much in the beginning, then you’ve done it right! If it’s feeling dry, you’ve done it wrong.