Sourdough Focaccia

Those that know me are aware of my passion for bread baking. The entire process just makes me happy. And earlier this year, I resolved to conquer my fear of sourdough. At some point in the past, I tried the "DIY sourdough starter" and it didn't work and ended up getting pretty gross. A few months ago, I found a starter in one of my favorite health food stores, so I thought I'd try it again. And it's been wonderful.
 

We lovingly refer to the starter as "Hank," because, well, everything in our house gets nicknames. So we'll talk about feeding Hank and making sure Hank has had dinner and well...Hank has really become part of the family.

Here's his home on top of my fridge.

Anyway, so Hank has been maturing and has the most delightful "sourdough" smell to him and makes the best breads. I've tried him in baguettes and multigrain sandwich bread and pancakes and there's still so many things I want to try.

But one of my favorites is sourdough focaccia. This recipe is definitely a staple around here and we make it.....let's just say we make it rather frequently. But it's easy and you can top it in so many ways. Today's variety was just Italian seasoning, garlic powder, cracked pepper and coarse sea salt.

Or we've done kalamata olives and thinly sliced onion. Or my favorite combination - raisin and rosemary. Seriously it's crazy delicious. But what I love about the recipe is it's relatively simple. You mix it all up, knead it for a few minutes, let it rise twice, and then it's ready to go.

There are so many great primers out there for sourdough, so I won't go into the nitty gritty, but suffice it to say it's so much easier than I thought and it really doesn't require a lot of extra work. I keep Hank out on top of my fridge because I use starter almost every day (between baking and giving it to friends) but you can easily keep it in the fridge and only feed it once a week. Very very easy. So give sourdough a try. It's so worth the effort.

And if you live close, you're welcome to stop by and get a little Hank Jr. to take home.

Sourdough Focaccia

1 cup sourdough starter, fed or unfed
3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp instant yeast
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp. olive oil

Topping
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
Italian seasoning, garlic powder, coarse sea salt, pepper, etc
kalamata olives, onions, etc

Combine all dough ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together well and knead for 5-7 minutes until dough is smooth. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rise for at least an hour. Punch down, then let rise again for at least another hour.

Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan or cookie sheet and pat or roll dough into a long rectangle in the pan. Brush the olive oil over the dough and sprinkle with herbs and desired toppings. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425. Remove plastic wrap and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from pan and slice when warm.