Sorry about the dead link, folks – clumsy fingers on my part!
I’ve been messing about with my high hydration dough (detailed tutorial here) and I’ve come up with a fun and easy way to turn it into little focaccia rounds.
Make the dough following the instructions up to the preshaping stage. Preheat the oven to maximum. Divide the dough into 500g portions, and shape each into a ball. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes, covered with a tea towel.
You won’t be able to bake all of the dough at the one time – either adjust the quantities accordingly, or divide it up, then shape and bake the rest later…
After a short bench rest, flip each ball of dough onto a sheet of parchment paper, seam-side down. Oil your hands and flatten them out. Make sure they’re the right size to fit inside your enamel roaster. Drizzle more oil over the top and scatter with flaky sea salt…
Allow the flattened dough to rest for a further 15 minutes or so while the oven heats up. Just before baking, dimple the dough by pressing your fingertips right in to the paper…
Place each shaped oval into an enamel roasting pan, then cover with the lid. Place it into the oven and reduce the heat to 220C with fan. Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and give the loaves an additional 15 minutes baking time. The oiled tops will turn a deep, dark brown – make sure you let them cool before eating (if you can).
These focaccia rounds are much less oily than our regular sourdough version. They have a very open crumb structure, coupled with a chewy, slightly crispy crust. The boys went a bit mad for them…
I tried this again with smaller balls of dough (it helps that I can fit three enamel roasters side by side in my 90cm Smeg oven), and found that a 300g round was the perfect size for two stuffed sandwiches…
These are best eaten on the day they’re baked. If you have any leftovers, cut them into fingers, sprinkle on a little more oil and salt, and bake them in a 100C oven for two to three hours until completely dry and crisp. They’ll keep for ages in an airtight container, and make a very moreish accompaniment to dips…
I will often turn part of my dough into a loaf, and the rest into focaccia rounds. We love them split in half and slightly hollowed out to form a pocket for a hot filling!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Perfect timing, I’m wanting to try focaccia. Thank you so much for all your research, and thank the Boys for sampling it and their feedback :)
Ooh wow, this sounds amazing! Thank you.
Very nice post, Celia! I am just back from Aloha land… from Honolulu a flight to Sydney is “just” 8 hours long! Made me happy to consider that possibility for a future trip
love your tutorial for the focaccia as individual serving portions… as usual, you shine in bread baking! (and everything else!)
Wow – look at those bubbles! I made a large batch of dough on the weekend so I made couple of small loaves and coincidentally, a stuffed focaccia using leftover ham, cherry toms and some feta. Who doesn’t love warm bread and cheese on a rainy day?
My favorite bread recipe! Yours looks so good. I would say close to perfection. I would make a few with rosemary incorporated in the dough. M-M-M-M-M-M-M!!! BTW..Great idea for any leftover bread!
You’re killing me Celia! I just want to bite into the screen. You know food always tastes that much better when one eats it in at someone else’s house!
Hi Celia, today I was on my third sour dough bread baking, filled with walnuts, rosemary and sun dried tomatoes. Most delicious. Through your inspiration and Priscilla’s kindness I have become a pretty good bread maker, baking now every week.
Hi Celia, do you keep putting Priscilla back in the fridge between bakes? Or do you keep her on the bench? I’d love to know as I’m looking at increasing the number of loaves I’m baking per week and just not sure how to manage Hugo. Thank you! Sal
Sally, I keep her in the fridge. There’s lots more info here: https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2015/02/03/priscilla-sourdough-tips-and-suggestions/ x
Thanks Celia!
Nice!!!!!!
A must try. All of your breads look lovely but this has my tummy rumbling!
Absolutely fabulous! Am going to have to put Hercules, Son of Priscilla, in the freezer next week as we’re heading to Spain for a while. He seems to enjoy the little rest and always springs back to life for me when he comes out of hibernation!
Best focaccia recipe I’ve seen! & what a good idea baking them twice for dips! 😍😍
These look so tasty!
Don’t you find the gas bubbles fascinating, Celia, it really shows how lively the yeast is. These look like wonderful dip and smile, friendship sort of loaves – anyway, they do to me:)
Hi celia have just made very first sourdough your starter [image1.JPG] via Dale her starter Polly mine named Pandora …used your first tutorial basic sourdough thank you…..?
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I made a big slab of focaccia yesterday and so I’m going to cook the left overs today and make focaccia toasted dippers!