It may not feel like spring here in Minnesota but this focaccia definitely screams spring! I am so ready to shake off the winter chill and get freshen’d up with colorful vegetables so lets turn a focaccia bread into a beautiful piece of flowering art.
I love making focaccia for my friends and family, not only becuase they are incredibly delicious, but they are great for entertaining! As much as I love the traditional focaccia drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a generous amount of flaky sea salt, this one was FUN 
!
If you make this bread, I hope you have as much fun as I did! Remember to be YOU! In other words, use whatever spring veggies you like or have stashed in your fridge. I have outlined in the recipe below what I did in case you are needing some ideas.
The only thing I would suggest, use a red onion instead of the yellow. I unfortunately was out of red onions but but it still turned out pretty. Remember sourdough baking is very forgiving! As long as you continue to try new things, you are winning! If your bread is not perfect but has that “homemade” look, welcome to the club!
Speaking of showing up…I have been spending more time strength training and running less miles. I have never been that great at kettle bells but I keep showing up and doing my best to get stronger. The good thing is, I am actually starting to like kettle bell workouts, especially those that involve core work👍.
I am not sure when and where I’ll race again, but it’s good to see that races are returning. I do know I am incredibly ready for warmer running weather.
SPRING TIME FOCACCIA
(adapted from @artisanbryan)
What You’ll Need (for levain build)
- 100 grams Mature Sourdough Starter
- 50 grams King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour
- 150 grams King Arthur Organic Bread Flour
- 200 grams Warm Water
What You’ll Need (Final Mix)
- 500 grams Organic All-Purpose Flour
- 500 grams Organic Bread Flour
- 250 grams levain
- 730 grams cold water
- 30 grams sugar
- 25 grams olive oil
- 25 grams salt
- Olive Oil as needed
For the Design:
Mushrooms, Parsley & Rosemary, Red or Yellow Onion, Asparagus, Cherry Tomato, Assorted Bell Peppers, Sun Dried Tomatoes,
Toppings such as Olives, Tomatoes, Onions, Capers, Flaky Sea Salt, etc.
Directions:
This levain build is ready pretty quickly, as we are adding 50% starter to the amount of flour. I like to make these strong, high inoculation levain builds because they give me a more reasonable baking time frame when I want to start my mixes.
- Dissolve your levain into 80% of the water.
- Add the flour and sugar into the water mixture and mix until there is no dry flour left. Let this mixture come together for 1 hour, covered, and in a warm area.
- After this hour has elapsed, add the olive oil, salt, and the remaining water.
- Squeeze together with your hands until the water, oil, and salt absorb into the dough. Try not to tear the dough. This process might take about 5 minutes.
- Take the dough out of the bowl and perform a slap and fold, or some stretching and folding to the dough. We want to start building a nice strong structure.
- Once your dough is almost smooth, stretch your dough and/or knead until it has a smooth surface. Now, we can let the dough rest in the bowl for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes has elapsed, perform a stretch and fold of your dough to continue building strength. Repeat this process one more time for a total of 2 stretch and folds.
- Allow your dough to rise for 4-6 hours. It should be nice and bubbly to the touch, with a web-like structure at the bottom.
- Flour your work surface and dump out your dough. Shape into a long cylinder by using your pinkies to fold the dough from the top and into the center of itself. Do this a few times until you have a loosely shaped cylinder .
- Rub the dough with olive oil and salt. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge for 12 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 450-500f. I like to bake focaccia hot so that it gets nice and crispy!
- Coat your dough with olive oil and use your fingers to begin docking the dough with both hands until you have an even pattern of peaks and valleys. You don’t want to tear through the bottom of the dough so don’t be too rough with it!
- Now let’s make the floral design. Feel free to make it however you like, but if you like the way I did mine, this is how I did it! Cut a red or yellow onion down the middle, peel the outside layers off, and then cut each half of the onion into three vertical pieces. Arrange the parsley at the bottom, followed by a few mushrooms and slices of red bell peppers. Use asparagus and or rosemary to create the stems of the flowers and add cherry tomatoes near the top. Add your onions at the tip of the flower stems. I also used olives. Make a sun because we can all use a little more sunshine espeically in Minnesota right now! Coat the whole focaccia with a nice layer of olive oil and salt.
- Bake the focaccia for 15-20 minutes or until it is slightly darker than golden brown. I like to make sure I have a nice crispy bite and chewy interior.
- Enjoy warm with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! Or by itself. Do your thing.
Are you a Kettle Bell fan?
Favorite fall race?
Favorite Focaccia toppings?
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