Whole Wheat Sourdough Focaccia
That fits into my after-work-weeknight schedule? And is almost impossible to mess-up? Sure, why not?
My daughter of nine calls this, "The best bread in the whole world... mmmm!" That's compared, I should note, to the crusty whole grain hearth loaves I usually try to force on her. She is not a fan of the crusty bread. Maybe someday.
Until then, this is the opposite of that... but still in keeping with my fascination with whole grains and sourdough.
Anyway, here's a pic:
And here's a recipe:
Based on the Focaccia recipe in Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads that I originally only used for pizza.
Day 1 - make the dough
350g WW Flour
200g WW starter (mine is 75% hydration)
300g water
1 tsp salt
Up to 1 tsp instant yeast (Not necessary, but if it makes you feel better...)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
-Mix everything except the oil, knead for 3-4 min
-Add the oil - knead 15 seconds
-Rest 5 min
-Knead 1 min
-Put in an oiled container, cover and refrigerate.
Day 2 - make the Focaccia
About ¼ cup olive oil
Corn meal (optional)
Toppings
-Generously oil a 8x12 Pyrex pan with about half the olive oil. Sprinkle a little corn meal in the pan.
-Take dough out of refrigerator and put it in the pan.
-With oiled fingertips slowly press the dough out to fill the pan (it will be slack so this is usually pretty easy).
-Pour remaining oil over dough, or don't if you're not as big a fan of olive oil as I am.
-Let rise 45 min. if pressed for time, or longer if you can (90 min. is the most time I've ever had).
-Add toppings (I like fresh rosemary, a few shreds of parmesan and mozzarella, and a bit of coarse salt. The one in the pic has cheese, oregano, corn, coarse salt)
-Place pan on middle rack of cold oven. Start oven for 500 F. Bake about 15 min. (depending on how fast your oven heats up).
-Reduce heat to 350 F and bake another 10 min.
-Remove from oven, let cool on rack for a few minutes. I like to throw a little extra mozzarella on to melt as it cools.
The best part? Change almost anything in this recipe and it still works.
I've tried:
-Substituting half whole spelt flour, half whole white wheat flour, half 85% flour, all WW bread flour.
-Preheating a stone and baking just above it at 425 F for 15-20 min.
-Various amounts of instant yeast.
-Various rising times
-Recently refreshed starter, starter that's been in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
-A little sweetener in the dough
It may not come out exactly the same each time, but it's always tasty!
Enjoy
-Marcus