You know that everything that has to do with bread has already won me over from the very beginning. I don’t care if it’s wholemeal, spicy, square, tall, flat, or if it has horns, if it’s bakeable, it has to be a treat!
One of those bread derivatives that has me completely in love, is Italian focaccia. This flatbread is great as a snack or as a side to dinners, for example. As for the ingredients to top it with, the list is endless. Like pizza, focaccia accepts almost anything that comes to mind. In this case, I share with you the most basic recipe, focaccia Genovese, with just salt.
Ingredients:
• 350 g. strong flour.
• 200 m. lukewarm water.
• 7 g. dry yeast.
• salt.
• EVO.
Steps to follow:
• Mix the flour with the dry yeast and 30 ml. of EVO. Dissolve 8 g. of salt in the water and add it to the flour.
Knead until you get an elastic and soft dough. If you use a food processor, it will be ready in 5 minutes. If you do it by hand, it will be necessary to knead for at least 15 minutes.
• Let prove 45 minutes by covering the dough with a cloth or in a bowl covered with a shower cap.
• Once the dough is fermented, it is necessary to stretch it on an oven tray, making sure that the dough does not lose all the air.
• Let prove for another additional 45 minutes.
• After that, you will have to wet the focaccia with a splash of EVO and integrate it with your fingers all over the dough, making small holes.
• Sprinkle flaked salt over the entire surface of the focaccia.
• Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.
• Let cool on a rack for about 30 minutes before serving.
If we want to talk about culinary tradition, there are few things as old as sourdough. The oldest ferment we know about dates back to 3700 B.C., according to M.G. Ganzie’s studies. However, this chemical eddy of lactobacilli and yeast is a biological process that has been going on for over 10,000 years, as the origins of bread seem to be located in the historical region of the Fertile Crescent, with the beginnings of agriculture. Once again, bread stands out as that primordial food that remains key in our diet today.
Creating sourdough starter is a very simple process that, like all yeasts, only requires time and patience. Actually, if you want it to stay active 24/7, it’s basically like taking care of a Tamagochi; you have to feed it and make sure it doesn’t die. Nothing else!
Once you have managed to have a very active and consistent starter it is all a matter of maintenance. If you take care of the sourdough, it will last almost forever. You only need to take a look at the ferments on display at the sourdough library in St.Vith (Belgium). This institution is dedicated to preserving historical pieces of starter. A good example of this longevity would be the Sapore Madre, an Italian sourdough starter that has been active, and being fed daily, since 1923!
However, if perseverance is not your thing, or if you will only use the starter occasionally, all you have to do is store it in the fridge. That way, the yeasts will fall asleep, so to speak, and you won’t have to look out for it daily.
In my case, if I want to knead in the morning (bread, pizza, donuts, focaccia …), I take the sourdough out of the fridge the previous afternoon, let it cool down, and refresh it. Then, I put the starter in a glass jar (I have already told you that I always recommend fermenting in glass) and let it rise overnight. So, in the morning I will have my levain super active and ready to knead.
What is the trick to obtain a good yeast? Keep on trying (and failing) on the quantities, flour mixes, etc. After much testing (and failing), I managed to come up with the right amounts to get a strong and durable sourdough,taking Sarah Owens and Joshua Weissman techniques as model. To succeed with this recipe you have to be consistent (at least 7 days) and follow the steps I set out below. After all, it will be a matter of: introducing its preservation into your routine or just keep it in the fridge so that the sourdough takes a good nap.
Day 1: 100 gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 150 ml lukewarm water
Mix well in a glass jar and store in a dark, dry place. Cover it with muslin or with a loosen lid, otherwise it could turn into a fermenting bomb!
Day 2:
Leave 70gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 120ml lukewarm water
Day 3:
Leave 70gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 110ml lukewarm water
Day 4:
Leave 70gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 100ml lukewarm water
Day 5:
Leave 70gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 100ml lukewarm water
Day 6:
Leave 50gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 100ml lukewarm water
Day 7:
Leave 20gr of levain 50gr rye flour or wholemeal flour 50gr wheat flour 100ml lukewarm water
Henceforth, you should already have a good active sourdough. If not, don’t despair, keep doing it for a few more days. Just think that room temperature plays a very important role. If you live in a warm place (over 25 degrees Celsius), the process will be much faster.
NOTE: Do NOT throw away the levain you are removing from the refreshing step! You can make other tasty recipes such as pancakes or cookies with it.
Recendo 