Sourdough Ligurian Focaccia Recipe

What Makes Ligurian Focaccia Different

Plenty of focaccia is a fairly plain, bready thing with a little oil brushed over the top. The Ligurian style, from the coast of northern Italy, treats the olive oil as an actual ingredient.

The dough goes into a well oiled pan. Right before baking, you press dimples all over the top and pour a salt brine into them. As it bakes, the brine and the oil work together, so the bottom crisps up almost like it has been fried while the inside stays soft and open.

Then, after baking, you fill those dimples again with oil. Do not worry if it pools in the pockets. It soaks in as the bread sits.

Why I Use Sourdough Starter Here

The original recipe rises on commercial yeast. Mine rises on an active sourdough starter, and that changes two things: the timing and the flavor.

A starter works slowly, so the dough sits out at room temperature for 12 to 14 hours instead of an hour or two. That long, unhurried ferment is where the tang and the depth come from. A fast dough simply cannot taste like this.

It also keeps the ingredient list honest. Flour, water, salt, starter, olive oil. That is the whole thing, and time does the rest of the work.

One note before you begin. Your starter needs to be truly active, bubbly, and recently fed. A sluggish starter is the most common reason a dough like this does not double overnight.

The Timing Is Easier Than It Looks

Long recipes scare people off, and this one does not deserve it. Almost every minute of it is hands off.

Mix the dough at night. That part takes about ten minutes. Then you go to bed while it ferments for 12 to 14 hours and at least doubles in volume.

The next day, oil your pan, pour the dough in, and stretch it out to the edges over about 30 minutes. Dimple it, pour on the brine, and let it proof for 45 minutes. Thirty minutes into that proof you preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Then it bakes, and it is on the table.

A Few Things That Make a Real Difference

Use an 18 by 13 inch rimmed baking sheet, the standard half sheet pan. A smaller pan gives you a much thicker bread, and the bake time in the recipe will not match what is in front of you.

Preheat something hot underneath. A baking stone is ideal, but a second sturdy baking sheet turned upside down on the rack works beautifully. This is what gives you a crisp golden bottom instead of a pale one.

Be generous with the olive oil. It is not there to grease the pan. It is a main ingredient, and you will taste every bit of it.

Dimple with real intention. Press the pads of your first three fingers in at an angle and go most of the way down, so the dimples are deep enough to actually hold the brine.

Save the flaky sea salt for right before the pan goes into the oven. Maldon is my favorite. Those crunchy flakes on top are half the pleasure of the first bite.

How We Eat It

This focaccia was part of a Sunday family dinner with a spread of traditional Greek and Mediterranean food. If you want to see the rest of that meal, I wrote about it in Normal is Boring.

Most weeks it is much simpler than that. We tear it warm and dip it in olive oil, set it next to a bowl of soup, or split a piece horizontally and turn it into the best sandwich bread you have ever had.

I have made it pretty much every week for the last month or two. My family always begs me to make it, and it only lasts a couple of hours before we finish the whole baking sheet.