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The Best Foccacia with Poolish

Focaccia is loved by almost everyone! This recipe is about how to get that rich flavor profile in your Focaccia dough using Poolish (pre-ferment). This Focaccia recipe is for a Focaccia of about 25cm / 10" diameter.
Servings 2 people
Prep Time 1 day 4 hours
Baking Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 day 4 hours 20 minutes

Equipment

  • 1 baking tray
  • 1 large bowl
  • 1 small bowl
  • 1 small casserole

Ingredients

Poolish (pre-ferment)

  • 150 grams 00 flour / white flour
  • 150 grams lukewarm water
  • 5 grams dry yeast
  • 5 grams honey

Focaccia dough

  • 1 Poolish the poolish you made the day before
  • 50 grams 00 flour / white flour
  • 6 grams salt
  • 2 dl olive oil extra virgin

Focaccia Toppings (Tomate, Olive & garlic-rosemary)

  • 2 handful cherry tomatoes / datterino tomatoes
  • 2 handful olives
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 2 bulbs garlic
  • 1 dl olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 pinch semi-coarse sea salt

Instructions

Making the Poolish (jump to same-day Method when doing without Poolish)

  • mix lukewarm water, dry yeast and honey in a cup.
    5 grams dry yeast, 5 grams honey, 150 grams lukewarm water
  • add flour and mix together
    150 grams 00 flour / white flour
  • Cover with some foil and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour. After that, put the poolish into the fridge for 8-16 hours.

Preparing the Focaccia dough (Poolish Method)

  • Mix Poolish, flour and salt in a large bowl.
    1 Poolish, 50 grams 00 flour / white flour, 6 grams salt
  • knead together for several minutes. The dough will be sticky at this point cause of the high hydration.
  • Rub a large bowl with some olive oil and put the dough ball back into the bowl. Cover with some foil and let it rest at room temperature for about 2 hours.
  • After two hours, carefully take the dough out of the bowl and fold a few times.
  • Portion the dough (if you're doing several Focaccia) and form into a dough ball.
  • Oil a baking tray with a good amout of olive oil and put the dough ball into the baking pan. Slightly press the dough into the form. Sprinkle some olive oil on top of the dough and cover with some foil again.
  • Let the dough rise and rest again in the baking pan for 1 more hour at room temperature. In the meantime you can prepare the Focaccia Toppings.

Preparing the Focaccia dough (same-day Method)

  • mix lukewarm water, dry yeast and honey in a cup.
    150 grams lukewarm water, 5 grams dry yeast, 5 grams honey
  • add flour (all the flour including the one from Poolish ingredients).
    150 grams 00 flour / white flour, 50 grams 00 flour / white flour
  • add salt and mix together with a spatula for several minutes. The dough will be sticky at this point.
    6 grams salt
  • Cover the bowl with some foil and let it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
  • After the first rise, the dough built gluten and will not be that sticky as when mixing togethe With a spatula, fold the dough from the bottom to the top (from the outside to the inside) a few times. Cover again with foil and let it rest at room temperature for 1 more hour.
  • After one hour, carefully take the dough out of the bowl and fold a few times.
  • Portion the dough (if you're doing several Focaccia) and form into a dough ball.
  • Oil a baking tray with a good amout of olive oil and put the dough ball into the baking pan. Slightly press the dough into the form. Sprinkle some olive oil on top of the dough and cover with some foil again.
  • Let the dough rise and rest again in the baking pan for 1 more hour at room temperature. In the meantime you can prepare the Focaccia Toppings.

Preparing the Focaccia Toppings

  • For a Tomato Focaccia:
    Cut cherry, Datterino or other tomatoes in half and put in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and some olive oil and mix together. The salt will drain out the juice from the tomatoes and mix together with the oil, which result in a very flavorful juice.
    2 handful cherry tomatoes / datterino tomatoes
  • For a Olive Focaccia:
    I personally prefer to buy stoned olives as they normally have more flavor. Pit the olives and put them aside for later.
    2 handful olives
  • For a roasted garlic-rosemary Focaccia:
    Peel the cloves of about 2 garlic bulbs and put them into a small casserole pan. Add a pinch of salt, some rosemary and fill up with olive oil until the cloves are covered. Slowly roast the Garlic (like a garlic confit) at around 90° C / 195° F in the oven for about 2 hours. Let it cool down and put aside for later.
    1 sprig of rosemary, 2 bulbs garlic, 1 dl olive oil extra virgin

Preparing the Focaccia

  • Put some olive oil on top of the Focaccia (except the garlic-rosemary one) and make dimples into the dough with your fingers. Put the tomatoes, olives or both into the dimples, add a pinch of coarse sea salt, herbs like oregano and add an extra bit of olive oil on top.
    For the garlic-rosemary Focaccia, put the cloves into the dimples and cover the focaccia with the garlic-oil. Add some fresh rosemary on top so as coarse sea salt.
    2 dl olive oil extra virgin
  • Cover the Focacce with some foil and let them rest for another 20-30 minutes.

Baking the Focaccia

  • Bake the Focaccia in a preheated oven (on middle level) at 230°C / 450°F for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Enjoy your delicious, fluffy and flavorful Focaccia Bread!

Video

Notes

To make a Tomato Focaccia, it only takes a few ingredients.
And cause there are fewer ingredients involved, it is even more important to get ingredients of great quality. Be sure to get a good quality olive oil, fresh and ripe (small cherry or datterino have the most flavor) tomatoes so as good olives.
 
Author: Fabian Kappeler
Calories: 560kcal
Cost: 6
dish: Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: baked, Bakery, Foccacia, Italian, snacks

Nutrition

Serving: 200g | Calories: 560kcal