This Tomato & Olive Sourdough Focaccia is so simple yet so satisfying and addictive. Also, this focaccia is super addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 👻
A Classic Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
As you all seem to enjoy my previous easy and simple Sourdough Nutella Focaccia recipe, I decided to share my all-time-favorite classic focaccia recipe with you. This Tomato & Olive Sourdough Focaccia is so simple yet so satisfying and addictive. Also, this focaccia is super addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 👻
Sourdough Bread For Beginners
If you ask my advice for beginners who want to get into sourdough baking, I would just tell you, “Don’t think. Just Start!” Sourdough baking is a beautiful journey. Even for me, who have been baking for years, I learn something new from every bake. When you start baking with sourdough, it’s best to start with a “foolproof” recipe with a small chance of failure. Luckily, you are at the right place. This classic focaccia recipe is so forgiving that it’s perfect for beginners! Making focaccia is perfect for beginners because no shaping is required. And even if you overproof your dough, this bread will turn out delicious. 💪🏻
Looking for more Sourdough Focaccia recipes?
Make It Your Own
For the toppings, apart from tomatoes, olives and shallots, I also added some dried basil. But you can easily make it your own by using whatever toppings you want. For this recipe, any vegetables, fresh or dried herbs will work perfectly.
Overnight Proof Is The Key
For this recipe, proofing overnight in the fridge is an essential step in order to develop the sourdough flavor. For sweet focaccia recipes, you can easily skip this step as you may not want the bread to get too sour. However, the tanginess from sourdough is what makes this recipe unique. I would suggest you to leave the dough in the fridge at least overnight, or even up to 36 hours.
Apart from the flavor, cold retardation also helps the gluten development of the dough, making the dough stronger. Hence, yielding a more open and bubbly crumb in the focaccia.
Tomato & Olive Sourdough Focaccia
Course: SourdoughCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy6
servings30
minutes33
minutes8
minutesThis Tomato & Olive Sourdough Focaccia is so simple yet so satisfying and addictive. Also, this focaccia is super addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 👻
Ingredients
- Dough
133g bread flour
130g all-purpose flour
97g spelt flour
291g + 15g water*
72g levain (use at peak)
7g salt
- For the pan and topping
- Toppings
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
2 shallots (sliced)
5 olives
Pinch of sea salt flakes
Handful of dried basil
Directions
- Prepare the Levain
- Feed your starter using 1:2:2 (starter:flour:water) ratio. Cover loosely and let it rise until it tripled in size, around 5-6 hours.
- Autolyse
- In a large mixing bowl, mix flour and water until everything in incorporated into a dough. Cover and let it rest for 1-1.5 hours.
- Mixing the Dough & Bulk Fermentation
- Once your levain has peaked, add 72g of levain to the dough. Knead in a mixer for 3-4 minutes or until you feel the dough has strengthened. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Add 7g sea salt and 15g water to the dough and mix for another 3-5 minutes. Cover and rest for 30 minutes at 75°F.
- Perform four sets of stretch and fold every 30 minutes.
- After the last set of stretch and fold, you can either place the dough in the fridge overnight or up to 36 hours. Or you can transferred dough to well oiled pan. I used a 8.25″ x 12.5″ pan.
- Grease the bottom and the sides of the pan generously with olive oil.
- Every 30-45 min, gently stretched the dough in the pan with oiled hands. Repeat this step twice.
- After the last stretch, let the dough proof at 75°F for 2.5 more hours or until the dough is puffy and jiggly. Total proofing time in pan: 4 hours.
- 1 hour before baking, preheat your oven to 450°F.
- Drizzle with more olive oil, dimple dough, add toppings, then baked in the oven for 33 minutes.
Notes
- Different brand of flour behave differently, so you may want to withhold 15g of water during the initial mix and see how it goes. You can observe how the dough behaves after 30 minutes rest when you add the salt, and decide whether you need the reserved amount of water.
