Recently, I started making sourdough focaccia. It’s a really simple and fun way to use (or use up!) your sourdough starter and it’s a quicker process as well. So if you like me, have been finding it a bit difficult to fit sourdough baking into your schedule, then I suggest you try sourdough focaccia.

In this post, I share with you a simple sourdough focaccia recipe, which you can use as your base and add whatever toppings you like. Come read on below to see how it’s done.

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INGREDIENTS:

80-100g active sourdough starter
1 tbsp honey
400g filtered water
500g baker’s flour
10g sea salt
Olive oil
Your choice of toppings

EQUIPMENT:

Baking tray
Baking paper
Oven

HOW TO MAKE:

This recipe follows a schedule where the mixing starts in the evening, followed by an overnight rise, then a second early morning rise and ending with baking in the late morning. You can of course switch this around to fit your schedule!

1. Feed your sourdough starter so that you have enough active starter available to use for this recipe in the evening.

2. In the evening, mix all the wet ingredients together (starter, honey & water) in a large bowl, then mix in the baker’s flour and sea salt so everything’s nicely combined.

3. Cover the bowl with a large plate and leave it to rise overnight. The aim is that by the morning/when you want to back, it will double in size.*

*This requires some experimenting as the rise time is determined by the temperature in your home. For example, if it’s been a warm day, I find that my dough will rise and double enough in size by the morning. However if it is cold, I now rely on my dehydrator (which doubles as a proofing box). My dehydrator has been a saviour for rising sourdough starter and rising dough. For my overnight rise, I will set my dehydrator to do the first 2 hours at 35 degrees, then it will turn off and that gives it enough of a boost for it to end up where I want it come morning.

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4. Pour a generous amount of olive oil on the dough as well as on your baking tray/baking paper. Coat the dough with olive oil all over then transfer onto the baking tray/baking paper.

5. Let the dough rise on the baking tray/baking paper for another 2 hours or so, so that it rises even more. About 90 minutes into the rise, pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees.

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6. It’s time to shape the focaccia. Using your finger tips, gently create dimples in the dough whilst at the same time, stretching out the dough whilst creating those dimples. You’ll end up with a nice organic shaped focaccia that fills up almost the entire baking tray.

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7. It’s time to add your toppings! There are so many different ways to top your sourdough focaccia. Here are a few suggestions. Most of the time I use ingredients from our garden as it’s a great way to use up excess herbs or a glut of cherry tomatoes.