Everything But the Bagel Sourdough Focaccia Bread
Do you love a good everything bagel? Why not make a whole loaf of everything but the bagel sourdough focaccia bread? Its a lot easier to make than bagels, and you can slice off a piece, toast it and add cream cheese or whatever toppings you like!
I love to make bagels, (and I have a great recipe for them here!)but honestly, sometimes my kids go through them so fast I cant make them fast enough. And while they aren’t hard to make they do take some time and effort and I cant be making bagels all day long.
But this everything but the bagel sourdough focaccia bread is super easy to make and makes enough to last for a little longer. You an slice it up and toast it. Top it off with your favorite bagel toppings, make a yummy sandwich or enjoy it with soups.
Are you new to sourdough? My sourdough focaccia bread recipe is a great beginner recipe.
I have a bunch of great sourdough focaccia recipe variations you can see below:
Everything But the Bagel Sourdough Focaccia Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz active sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 cups water (plus 3 tbsp) also 400g
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 cups bread flour
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the bread ( you can use less or more as needed)
- 1 tbsp everything but the bagel seasoning more or less depending on how seasoned you want it.
Instructions
- First, you need to get a large mixing bowl. It can be plastic or glass but not metal. Metal can react to the starter. I like to use a glass bowl and transfer it all into my proofing container with a lid when its time for its bulk fermentation.
- Take your sourdough starter and water and mix them in the bowl(it does not need to be warm water). I like to use a digital scale to measure these out. Once they are combined, add your honey, salt and bread flour(you can use all purpose flour but i prefer bred flour). Mix this until it is well combined. I like to use my danish dough whisk but you can use a wooden spoon. At a certain point it will become easier to mix it with your hands, and this is exactly what I do.
- Once it is combined well, cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for about 30 minutes. After about 30 minutes, you want to do your first knead. With wet hands, take the dough from one of the sides of the bowl, lift it, and fold it over the dough. Repeat this, rotating the bowl and raising the dough and laying it across itself. I do this to all sides and then let it rest. This should be a very wet dough. If it is tough, add a bit more water to it. Only 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Its time to let the wild yeast do its thing. You can let it sit at room temperature to let it bulk ferment, but if I have time I will make sure to repeat the kneading process a couple more times. If I make it in the evening, I have plenty of time to do this since there is not a lot of active work, it only takes about 10 minutes of my evening to get my dough going.
- If you want to bake your bread the next morning I would recommend leaving it out on your counter at room temperature, covered.If you want to wait and bake it the next evening, I would put your dough in the fridge to allow the yeast to slow down overnight. I have woken up to dough that has burst the lid and it spilling over the side of the bowl. If you choose this route, you simply need to take the dough out a couple hours prior to baking
- So for ease with these instructions, I will be going with the first option which is what I usually do(bulk fermenting on the counter overnight). With either option you want to cover bowl with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out.
- In the morning, the dough should have at least doubled in size, mine often quadruples in size. This is from the longer fermentation process. This long rise is what will give your bread its amazing flavor.
- Oil the counter and gently let the dough drop out of the bowl or container onto your countertop. You want to try to avoid popping all those bubbles. I gently spread the dough, pulling the corners to make it larger. I will then fold the dough over itself once or twice. Then I will make sure to oil my 9 by 13 cake pan with a 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or use nonstick spray.
- Transfer dough carefully in the sheet pan and gently pull it so that it starts to fill the pan. You do not to stress about it too much because it will spread and once we poke those holes in it, it will fill the entire pan. (optional step: at this point you can sprinkle some of your bagel seasoning onto the dough and then fold the dough in half. Rotate it in the pan so it fits the pan like a rectangle)
- At this point I like to cover the pan with a towel and let the dough rise once again until it doubles its original size. This can take about 1-2 hours. It will totally depend on how active your starter was.
- PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 425 DEGREES F
- Once it has doubled in size, drizzle the olive oil across the top of the dough. Carefully spread is over with your hands. Sprinkle everything but the bagel seasoning over the dough.
- Now its time to poke those holes in the focaccia bread. Gently poke to create dimples in the bread. The the seasoning will fill those dimples.
- Put the bread in the hot oven and bake on the middle shelf for about 20-25 minutes. You are looking for a nice darker golden brown color on the top and the bottom will be nice and crispy.
- When it is done, take the focaccia out of the oven, remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. If you leave it in the pan, the bread will sweat on the bottom and lose its crispiness.
- Cut and enjoy! You can enjoy this warm or room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap to store. You can also store this in plastic bags. I will often cut it into slices and bag it up so the kids can grab it easily. We love toasting it and adding cream cheese, like a bagel.This is amazing toasted or right out of the bag!
Nutrition
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
BENEFITS OF SOURDOUGH BREAD:
The thing I love about focaccia bread is the texture. I love the large bubbles in the bread. These are the perfect place for butter or other toppings to seep into. The texture of this bread is soft, airy, chewy and just the perfect bread in my opinion. The crust is crispy and chewy but tender.
You do not need to knead focaccia dough much. I mix this dough before bed and do 2 sets of stretch and folds. I then leave it overnight to bulk ferment(this is its first rise). In the morning it is ready to place in the pan for its second rise. It is then baked on in a 9 by 13 baking pan.
When it is ready to come out of the oven, make sure to remove it from its pan and let it cool on a cooling rack. This will prevent the bread from sweating in the pan, which will result in losing its crispy bottom.
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