Cooks Joy

Summer has been quite busy so far and so many things including updates to the blog have taken a back seat. Even with the zillion number of things going on, I could not resist baking this bread ever since my friend Rachel mentioned to me. I am always on the look out for new things to try with the sourdough starter and this one has been my favorite so far. You can add any toppings of choice and it is an easy peasy bread. The dough is pretty much of pourable consistency and that means, no rolling.

Thanks to my stand mixer, I do not even touch the dough. It does the work for me. I have already made this twice and planning on trying with cumin and onions next. Yumm . The bread is so flavorful and you can have it as a snack or for dinner along with soup. Off to the recipe. Recipe from here. I have earlier posted potato focaccia, focaccia caprese and a no knead focaccia.

Sourdough Focaccia with Rosemary and Garlic

By Vardhini, June 30, 2015

Sourdough Focaccia with Rosemary and Garlic

Total Time: 07h 05min
Prep Time: 06h 40min
Cook time: 25 min minutes
Yield: 12 - 15 servings

Ingredients:

sourdough starter - 1 cup
water - 2 cups - warm
olive oil - 4 tbsp - divided
salt - 1 - 1/2 tsp, plus more for baking (original recipe uses sea salt)
bread flour - 4 cups
rosemary - 2 tbsp - minced finely
garlic - 5 cloves - minced finely

Instructions:

Mix starter, water and 2 tbsp oil. Add salt and bread flour and knead for a few minutes. Allow dough to double in volume. It will take a few hours and sometimes overnight depending on the temperature inside the house.

Grease a large baking sheet with lip and pour the dough over it. Make dimples (refer to notes) and drizzle the remaining olive oil. Sprinkle garlic and rosemary and allow bread to rest for 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 450F oven for about 20 - 25 minutes until the top is golden brown. Slice and serve as is or with soup.

My Notes
1. The dough will be of pourable consistency.
2. Rather than drizzling the oil, I dipped my finger in it and made dimples. Otherwise the dough was too sticky to hold the dimple. Drizzle the remaining olive oil.
3. Original recipe also uses a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. I skipped it.

1 year ago: Komaj - Persian Date Bread
2 years ago: Spinach Lentil Fry
3 years ago: Cucumber Lentil Salad
4 years ago: Spinach Corn Sandwich

Pictorial
1. Mix sourdough starter, water and 2 tbsp oil.

2. Add salt and flour and mix. Knead for a few minutes in a stand mixer or wet your hands with water and knead. The dough will be very sticky.

3. Dough ready. Allow to rise until doubled. This will take a few hours.

4. Dough has doubled.

5. Grease a large baking sheet with lip and pour the dough over it taking care not to deflate it. Make dimples on the dough and drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle garlic and rosemary and allow the bread to rest for about 30 minutes.