Ingredients:
• 1 cup – sourdough
• 3.5 cups – whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup – all-purpose flour
•
Method:
- Mix the toppings together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix the yeast in 1/2 cup of water and set aside to froth for five minutes.
- After five minutes, add the sourdough to a large bowl. Then add the flours, oil, and the remaining water and mix with a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a stand mixer until everything comes together. This is a very sticky dough at this stage, but that is what will make this focaccia light and airy.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place in an oven with the pilot light on or in a warm place for about 1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size.
- Using an oiled spatula, turn the dough over on itself in the bowl for a total of 10 times. You don’t want to deflate the dough too much so don’t knead it by hand.
- Turn the dough over into a large baking pan (15 by 10 inches) sprinkled with some coarse salt. Or divide in half and place each half in a 9-inch cake tin.
- Press the dough gently out from the centre so it reaches the sides of the pan.
- Cover the pan or pans with plastic wrap and place in the oven with the pilot on for another hour or until the dough has doubled.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Using a fork, prick the dough all over to remove any bubbles on top. Don’t go heavy-handed because you don’t want to deflate the dough.
- Brush the top of the bread with the rosemary-olive oil mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove the focaccia pan or pans from the oven and let stand on a rack for five minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and continue to cool on the rack.
- Recipe courtesy: Holy Cow Vegan