Time: Prep 30 mins, 24 hr rise and rest, 18-20 baking
Level: (Surprisingly) Easy
Ingredients:
- 500g (4 cups) bread flour – Italian recommended
- 420g (1 3/4 cups) Water
- 4g (1 TSP) instant yeast OR 5g “active dry” yeast
- 5g (1TSP) honey
- 15g (1TBS) extra virgin olive oil
- 10g (2 TSP) fine sea salt
- Olive oil for drizzling & topping
- Optional toppings: rosemary, and parmesan recommended
Highly recommend to use metric measurements if possible.
Directions:
Day one:
- In a large bowl, mix together warm the water (slightly warm but not too hot to kill the yeast), yeast, and honey.
- If using dry active instead of instant yeast, let it sit for 5-7 mins until frothing. If using instant yeast, you can move on to next step without waiting for froth.
- Add in olive oil, fine sea salt, and bread flour until evenly combined with a spoon, with no dry patches. Place cloth over top of bowl, rest for 9-10 mins.
- After 10 mins, perform a stretch & fold by grabbing a handful of dough from the 12 o’clock spot, pulling it up, then pulling it over to the opposite side (to the 6′ o clock spot). Repeat this on each side (3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock). Then, let rest for 10 mins.
- Slightly wet your hands. Perform stretch and folds on each of the 4 sides one more time. Drizzle with olive oil (1Tbps).
- Cover with cloth and rest in fridge for 24-48 hours, or overnight.
Day two:
- Use a 9 x 13″ baking sheet or pan. Drizzle olive oil rubbing it around to hold parchment paper. Add parchment paper. Add olive oil (2-3 tbps) to top of parchment paper. This prevents our focaccia from sticking.
- Remove dough from fridge, gently release dough from sides.
- With oiled hands, fold one side of the dough towards the middle, and the other side of the dough towards the middle (like folding a paper into thirds). Flip the dough over and set on tray so seams are on the bottom.
- Cover with another tray (of the same size to stack over) or plastic storage container to keep it from drying out while it rises again. Use something large enough to let it rise in many directions. Let rest for 1.5 – 2.5 hours, dependent on temperature.
- After resting, the dough will be ready for dimpling. Preheat oven to 430F/230C. Drizzle about 1-2 TBPS over top of dough, then lightly oil hands. Press fingers into dough spreading it out to cover tray and dimpling it.
- Add toppings to dough (recommend to add olive oil to rosemary first so it doesn’t burn & add parmesan for crispy top and some extra protein to reduce blood sugar spike)
- Bake for 18-22 minutes. Remove when it reaches a golden brown. 20 minutes on a convection oven works wonders for me.
- Let cool for 15 minutes & Enjoy!
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