Focaccia with Poolish and Levain
A high-hydration focaccia combining poolish, liquid levain, malt syrup, and olive oil.
Two preferments raise this focaccia. Poolish is a wet yeast preferment, equal weights of flour and water. Levain is the French word for a sourdough starter. The word focaccia itself is first attested in the fourteenth century.
The formula in numbers
- Hydration
- 80.8%
- Salt
- 2%
- Olive Oil
- 4%
- Portion
- 1 × 1000 g, about 28 × 28 cm
- Fermentation source
- Instant Yeast
- Preferment
- Poolish, 13.1% of the flour
- Bulk at room temperature
- 2 h 30 min
- Final proof
- 3 h
- Flour strength
- W 260–320
- Flour protein
- 11.5–13.5%
How to prepare it
- Poolish68 g flour, 68 g water, 0.04 g yeast135 g
- Flour416 g
- Water348 g
- Salt10 g
- Instant Yeast0.45 g
- Olive Oil21 g
- Liquid levain62 g
- Barley malt syrup5 g
The yeast is dosed for the fermentation times of this formula. The calculator adjusts it to your flour, your kitchen and your schedule.
- 14 h
The preferment
Two preferments go into this dough. The poolish is 13.1% of the flour with the same weight of water and a pinch of yeast, left covered at room temperature for 14 h. The liquid levain is a sourdough starter kept loose, like a batter: feed it ahead of time and weigh out 62 g when it is bubbly and has risen.
Start both ahead, so they are ripe together when you mix the dough.
- W 260–320
The dough
Strong bread flour, water, salt, yeast, 4% olive oil and a little malt syrup, plus the poolish and the levain. Use a flour of W 260 to 320.
The formula counts 80.8% water added directly. The levain brings more, so the dough is wetter than that number suggests.
- 80.8% water
Mixing
Stir the poolish and the levain into the water, add the flour, malt, yeast and salt and mix until the dough is smooth. Work in the oil at the end. The dough is very wet.
Oil your hands instead of adding flour.
- 2 h 30 min
Fermentation
Leave the dough for 2 h 30 min at room temperature, covered, with a few folds on the way. After the preferments, this is a same-day dough: there is no fridge in the plan.
Change the hours in the calculator and the yeast dose follows.
- 3 h
Into the pan
Oil the pan well and tip in 1000 g of dough. Do not pull it to the corners: a dough this wet tears. Fold it over itself in the pan and let it rest. It spreads as it proofs. Leave it in the pan for 3 h.
1000 g fills a square pan of about 28 × 28 cm.
- 15 min
Baking
Oil the top, press your fingertips straight down to the pan, all over, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at around 245°C (473°F) for about 15 min, until golden.
Turn the focaccia out onto a rack straight away, so the bottom stays crisp.
The most common mistakes
Wrong:Mixing with a levain that is still flat
Right:Wait until it is bubbly and has risen.
Wrong:Using a poolish that has collapsed
Right:Use it while it is still domed and full of bubbles.
Wrong:Pulling the wet dough to the corners
Right:Fold it in the pan and let it spread as it proofs.
Wrong:Leaving the baked focaccia in the pan
Right:Move it to a rack at once. In the pan the bottom steams and goes soft.
Recommended flours
Flour for this formula: W 260–320, 11.5–13.5% protein. Ranked by fit, then by availability in your country, then by popularity.
