Simple Focaccia
Salted Rosemary Focaccia
This focaccia reminds me of my favorite part of the pizza growing up - the crust. As the weather slowly warms this dish is a great accompaniment to a spring salad or roasted veggies, fish or chicken, or as I like it, solo. The versatility of this recipe is that you can creatively top it according to season or simply drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and coarse sea salt.
Prep time: 6 hours
Bake time: 30 minutes
Total time: 6.5 hours
Ingredients
500 grams bread flour or all purpose flour
10 grams fine sea salt
360 grams water
10 grams extra virgin olive oil
108 grams mature sourdough starter
Toppings:
Dried rosemary
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt or salt flakes
Process
In a medium size bowl mix flour, fine salt, water, extra virgin olive oil, and sourdough discard.
Continue mixing by hand until the dough comes together in a smooth ball. Let rest. Perform 3 sets of coil folds every 30 minutes. Following the final set of coil folding, let the dough rest for an additional 30 minutes. Then transfer the dough from the bowl into your desired, lightly oiled, baking vessel. I use my square 14 inches x 14 inches cast iron pan. This dough will spread out to be about 1.5 inches thick but will differ depending on your baking vessel. Aluminum baking trays work great for this as well but the cast iron creates a crispness that is unparalleled.
Gently stretch the dough in the pan, keeping in mind that it will continue to fill the baking tray as it rests for an additional 4 hours, checking ever-so-often to gently stretch the dough if it hasn’t yet filled up the baking tray.
Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees, if you have a baking stone, preheat the stone with the oven on the middle rack. Once the oven is pre-heated drizzle extra virgin olive oil, crumble the rosemary, and sprinkle coarse sea salt on top. Using oiled fingers, dimple the dough generously throughout.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until desired golden color. The focaccia should pop right out of the pan once the bottom is a crisped. Allow the focaccia to cool in the pan before slicing. Enjoy!
