Baby Steps … to Bread

The story

About three weeks ago I was deep into my second attempt at sourdough. I followed the recipe to the letter, combined flour, water, starter, salt, and I was off to the races. Little did I realize that my flour was weak, and the water was plentiful! When done mixing, and not knowing anything about an autolyse at the time, I was left with a soupy mess! Well, from what I read, there’s nothing a few hundred stretch & pulls couldn’t fix. Ok…not this time. So…let’s just bulk ferment. And so I did for 10 or 12 hours in a 78 degree kitchen. I did remember reading something about making Focaccia if you over-proof your dough, but alas, I had no idea what Focaccia was! So long story short, I wanted to be prepared for the next time I overproofed. And that’s the story behind this bake.

And how I didn’t follow the recipe

When I started this journey, and still today, I follow just one true source: Elaine Boddy at foodbod sourdough. I just can’t get enough of her material and I can sit in front of the tv only to ignore everything, and watch Elaine’s youtube videos. And if that isn’t enough, I bought one of her books, The Sourdough Whisperer, and devoured it in two days. All that said, I totally botched her Focaccia Recipe. Example, I saw the mention of 30-45 grams of olive oil. So what did I do…but add it directly into the sourdough mix instead of holding it for later when time to roll the dough in oil. Ugh! It didn’t incorporate into the mix until the third or fourth set of Stretch & Pulls.

And let’s see…there were other transgressions. I did a true autolyse by mixing just flour and water. And once over, having mixed all the ingredients, I let it rest for two hours…not one. And for the salt, I used a salt-mix of Lemon, Rosemary and Garlic along with finely ground Sea Salt. I added some Himalayan Pink Salt as well.

One last point. The bulk ferment took FOREVER! The dough was really strong, even after the first set of Stretch & Pulls. And after 10 hours it might have risen maybe 10%. I resorted to the microwave trick but still, no movement. I finally gave up and put it in the fridge to Cold-Proof. The next day I gave it five or six more hours and I finally felt confident that it had slightly over-proofed. And after that, given a few more hours in the glass casserole dish, it was definitely a bubbling mess of over-proofed dough.

Ingredients

• 500g King Arthur Bread Flour (12.7%)
• 350g Deer Park Water warmed to 85 degrees
• Approx. 12g Lemon, Rosemary & Garlic Sea Salt and a touch of Pink Himalayan
• 45g of Trader Joe’s Spanish Organic Olive Oil
• 50g Starter

Steps

• Mix flour and water; let sit for an hour
• Mix in the Starter, Oil and Salt; Combine by Hand…then let sit for two hours. Don’t worry if the oil doesn’t fully incorporate until the Stretch & Folds
• Perform one set of Slap & Fold ‘s until the dough gains strength
• Follow with three additional sets of Stretch & Folds every 30 minutes
• Set aside, covered, for 8-10 hours. Don’t worry if it over-ferments. You need a well-proofed dough to pull this off
• Pour a few ounces of EVOO in the bottom of a 14″x9″ (approx.) baking sheet. I used a glass pan with 2″ sides. Roll the dough to wet with oil.
• Push the dough out in the pan, letting it rest if needed as it relaxes.
• Let sit in the pan for 1-2 hours and dimple the dough with your fingertips. Drizzle oil over the top and spread
• Top with ingredients as you see fit. For juice filled items, such as cherry-tomatoes, cut in half and squeeze liquid out. Depress ingredients into the dough at the dimples.
• Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Tip: Line baking dish with good quality parchment paper to aid in removing the loaf when complete
• Remove from oven and place baked focaccia on a cooling rack