Ingredients

• 1 cup - sourdough
• 4.5 cups - all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp - active dry yeast
• Salt to taste
• 4 tbsp - extra virgin olive oil
• 2.25 - cups warm water
• For the topping:
• 2 tbsp - finely minced sage or rosemary
• 1 - large clove of garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp - sea salt
• 2 tbsp - extra virgin olive oil

How to Make Best Focaccia Ever

• Mix the toppings together in a small bowl and set aside.
• Mix the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water and set aside to froth for five minutes.
• After five minutes, add the sour dough to a large bowl. Then add the flour, oil, and the remaining water and mix with a wooden spoon until everything comes together. This is a very sticky dough at this stage, but it's fine. That's what will make it divinely airy and light.
• Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place in an oven with the pilot light on, about 1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size.
• Using an oiled spatula, turn the dough over on itself in the bowl. Repeat 9 more times. You don't want to knead the dough with a heavy hand.
• Turn the dough over on a generously floured surface. Cut into two with a bench scraper or a knife, then shape each half into a round. Be gentle so you don't deflate all the lovely gases that have formed in your focaccia loaf.
• Place each round in a 10-inch cake pan coated with oil and sprinkled with some coarse sea salt. Press the dough gently out from the centre so it reaches the sides of the pan.
• Cover both pans with plastic wrap and place in the oven with the pilot on for another hour or until the dough has doubled.
• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees at least 30 minutes before baking.
• Using a fork, prick the dough all over to remove any bubbles on top. Don't go heavy-handed because you don't want to deflate the dough.
• Brush the top of the bread with the sage-olive oil mixture topping. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
• Remove the focaccia tins from the oven and let them stand on a rack for five minutes. Remove the bread from the pans and continue to cool on the rack.
• Recipe courtesy: Holy Cow Vegan