Looking for a tasty way to use up some of the summer produce you’ve gotten at the farmer’s market along with our cheese? Try making garden focaccia with fresh mozzarella made with our creamy, Ayrshire cow’s milk plus freshly harvested produce like tomatoes, spring onions and herbs!
Focaccia is a very thick crust Italian “flatbread” often topped with herbs, vegetables and cheese. To get the thick bubbles in the crust, you need bread flour, at least 8 hours for the dough to rise and more water and oil than you think it will need. The dough is very wet – you can’t handle and shape it like you do with pizza dough. When it comes time to bake it, you’ll essentially pour the thick, sticky dough onto a very, very well-oiled rimmed baking sheet.
I’ve had good success with focaccia recipes leavened with just yeast, with just sourdough starter and with a combination of the two. For a yeast-only and sourdough recipes, you’ll need a little bit longer of a fermentation time (I typically start it the night before I need it).
For a combination of yeast and sourdough starter though, you only need about 8 hours. This is a great solution for when I need to come up with a dinner plan the morning of when I need it.
However, if you don’t have sourdough starter, you can follow this recipe. If you prefer a yeast-free version with just sourdough starter, you can follow this recipe.
PrintGarden Focaccia
A perfect recipe to make with garden fresh ingredients and fresh mozzarella cheese!
Ingredients
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (more if it’s colder, less if it’s warmer)
- 500 g bread flour
- 10 g salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 100 g sourdough starter, fed within the last 4-24 hour hours
- 375 g water
- 25 g. olive oil
- For the topping
- 30 grams olive oil
- 1–2 tomatoes, sliced thinly
- green onion slices from a homegrown onion
- rosemary sprigs
- 5 oz or more fresh mozzarella
Instructions
- In a very large bowl, mix together the yeast, bread flour, salt and sugar until incorporated. Make a well in the center and add in the water, then oil and active sourdough starter. Mix together until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm area for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, preheat the oven to 475. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and then cover generously with olive oil.
- Depending on the size of your pans, you may want to dive the dough in half.
- Pour the dough out onto it and coat the bread with the oil. Press the dough into the corners as best as you can. Then poke it with a fork. Cover with other toppings except green onion and cheese.
- Bake approximately 10-12 minutes until the dough is mostly baked through. Then add the cheese and onions and return to the oven approximately another 10-12 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Oven temperatures vary and other factors, such as how juicy the tomatoes are can make difference in how the focaccia cooks.
- I typically cut it with scissors, but you can also transfer it to a cutting board and cut it on that.
- Allow to cool slightly, then serve and enjoy!
Notes
*I always feed my starter before making this, however sometimes I use the discard and only partially feed it! As long as it has a little bit of fresh flour it will help it work.