The issue with baking artisan sourdough bread is that it is delicious. And addictive. And frankly, I could eat this entire loaf of focaccia, if I didn’t have any self-control. It is *that* good. Salty and briny from the olives, sweet from the honey. Hearty. Stop me, before I just gobble this all up. Great as a bread side to dinner, with garlic olive oil as a started or a snack. Sneak a piece when no one is looking. It’s seriously delicious.
Ingredients
for the Dough (for one half sheet pan or two quarter sheet pans)
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup ripe sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
Vegetable oil spray
16-20 large black olives, pitted
for garnishing and serving: additional sprigs of rosemary, a drizzle of honey and/or more olive oil for dipping
Directions
For the dough: Whisk together flour, rosemary and salt in a medium bowl. Add starter, room-temperature water, olive oil and honey, and stir with wooden spoon until shaggy mass forms and no dry flour remains. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle salt over dough and mix until fully incorporated. Cover bowl with plastic and let dough rest for 20 minutes. Using your wet hands, fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 4 more times (total of 6 turns). Cover bowl with plastic and let dough rest for
20 minutes. Repeat folding technique, turning bowl each time, until dough tightens slightly, 3 to 6 turns total. Cover bowl with plastic and let dough rest for 10 minutes. Spray bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking pan liberally with oil spray. Transfer dough to prepared pan and spray top of dough lightly with oil spray.
Gently press dough into 10 by 7-inch oval of even thickness. Cover pan tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 16 hours or up to 24 hours.
Brush top of dough with 2 tablespoons oil. Spray rimmed baking sheet (including rim) with oil spray. Invert prepared sheet on top of pan and flip, allowing dough to fall onto sheet (you may need to lift pan and nudge dough at 1 end to release). If making two quarter sheet pans, divide the dough in half (if just making one half sheet, skip this division). Using your fingertips, gently dimple dough into even thickness and stretch toward edges of sheet to form 15 by 11-inch oval. Spray top of dough lightly with oil spray, cover loosely with plastic, and let rest until slightly puffy, about 1 hour.
Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450F. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the surface and brush evenly with a pastry brush or back of a spoon. Decorate your focaccia with your olives — I went with a symmetrical pattern, but you can also lay them out in a circle or swirl. Transfer sheet pan(s) to oven and bake until bottom of crust is evenly browned and top is lightly browned in spots, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating sheet(s) halfway through baking. Transfer sheet(s) to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Run knife around rim of sheet to loosen focaccia and transfer to a cutting board.
When ready to eat, cut into 6-10 squares and serve with an additional drizzle of honey and/or more olive oil for dipping.
