Use our recipe to make your own focaccia at home. This recipe is pretty simple and requires less than half an hour of active time, meaning the bulk of the work is simply waiting for the dough to rest. You can order some of our sourdough starter here for pickup at our Buchan Street location, and you can also pick up some bread flour from that same location if you need to top up. And trust us when we say that there’s nothing like the taste of fresh, warm focaccia.
Active Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 25 hours, 15 mins
Equipment: scales, 2-3L sistema container, wooden spoon, tea towel, 34-x-24-x-3 cm baking tray (with sides), baking paper, plastic wrap
YOU’LL NEED
330g water, slightly warm
4g (1 tsp) all purpose active yeast or instant dry yeast
Pour water into sistema container, sprinkle yeast across surface of water and stir for 5 seconds. Add the starter, flour, 22g of the olive oil, and salt. Stir together with a wooden spoon until combined and no dry bits remain.
Scrape down the mass into the centre of the container and cover with sistema lid or tea towel. Rest for 15 minutes in the warmest place in your kitchen.
Pick up one of the short sides of the dough and lift it up to stretch (but not break) the dough, and fold it over to the middle of the dough mass. Repeat with the opposite side. Then do the same thing with one of the long sides of the dough by gently lifting it up and folding it to the centre of the dough. Repeat with the opposite long side. You should have folded all four edges of the dough to the centre, and the dough will resemble a loose ball. Cover with lid or tea towel, and rest for 15 minutes in a warm place.
Repeat folding pattern with each of the four edges of the dough. Cover again and rest for about 3 hours at a warm room temperature, until the dough has nearly tripled in size and there are large bubbles visible on the surface of the dough.
Line 34-x-23-x-3 cm baking tray with baking paper and cover with remaining 30g of olive oil. Tip dough onto the centre of the tray. Very gently nudge the dough around with your fingertips until it is in an almost even layer in the pan. The dough will not extend all the way to the edges and that’s okay—it will relax into the edges more as it rests overnight. Cover sheet pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 12-18 hours.
Remove from fridge and allow to sit in a warm place for 3 hours until the dough is no longer chill to the touch and loose when the pan is lightly shaken.
Preheat oven to 230°C. Drizzle a little more oil across the surface of the dough and gently use your finger tips to make dimples in the dough, pressing down nearly to the pan but not puncturing holes in the dough. Do this across the entire surface, using the motion to also encourage the dough to fill in the edges of the pan, making an even layer. Sprinkle surface with flaky salt and bake until evenly golden brown with darker brown spots where the bubbles are, 20 to 22 minutes.
