Recipe is my interpretation of the Olive Oil Flatbread from Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf (paraphrased here with his permission) :
300g sourdough starter
495 g cool water
120g extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried yeast
750g baker's flour
2.25tsp fine sea salt
Note: The sourdough starter should be at 80% hydration, which means that it's 80% water to 100% flour. There is so much info on the net about how to start a sourdough starter, but I just bought one from http://www.northwestsourdough.com . It came in the mail, I followed the instructions, and it worked a treat within four days. When I use some of the starter, I add 100g flour and 80g water to what's left, give it a stir and leave it on the bench for an hour or so, then pop it into the fridge for next time.
1. Whisk water, starter, 45g oil and yeast together in large mixing bowl until smooth. Whisk flour and salt together, then add to yeast mix, and combine well to form a shaggy dough. Allow to sit in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes.
2. Pour remaining oil into a large lipped tray. Tip the dough into the tray and squelch the oil in with your hands, squeezing in as much as you can. It won't all go in this time. Shape it into as smooth a ball as possible, cover with cling wrap, and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this process one more time, then cover the dough again and let it rest for 1 hour.
3. Stretch the dough out into a rectangle, and fold it in thirds one way,and then in thirds the other way, similar to the method used to make puff pastry. Flip it over so the smooth side is up, cover and let it rest for 40 minutes. I think this process contributes to the holes in the finished focaccia. Repeat this three more times, for a total of four folds in 2 hours. At the end of two hours, you'll have a soft spongy puffy dough full of big air bubbles. I do all this folding in the original oiled tray, which makes cleaning up nice and easy at the end.. :)
4. Preheat oven as high as it will go. Oil your baking trays (I use a 40cm x 26cm cast iron baking pan, and a slightly smaller rectangular pan). I like to line the base of the pan with parchment paper, as I find the dough can stick, even with oiling.
5. Cut dough into two pieces (I put about 900g dough into the larger pan, and about 700g into the smaller one). Place the dough into the centre of the pan and dimple surface with fingertips to slightly flatten it. It won't spread all the way to the edges yet. Cover and leave for 15 minutes.
6. Stretch the dough out a bit more, by lifting it and easing it towards the edges of the tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt (or any other topping you like), then push fingertips into the dough right down to the bottom of the tray. This last process will stretch the dough right into the edges of the pan. Let rest for another 10 minutes.
7. Reduce oven heat to 220 deg C. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until golden brown.
This bread freezes particularly well, so I cut it into squares and freeze it for school lunches. I find it's almost as good defrosted as it is freshly baked. Tonight we also used half the dough to make pizza bases, and they were delicious - chewy without being tough - and very tasty.
Cheers, Celia
