Sourdough Focaccia with Black Honey

Directions

1. DAY 1

   In the morning feed your starter so you can use 120g of it once it has risen. For this dough it could be 35g starter, 70g flour and 70g water. This will make approximately 175g starter. 120g can be used for the dough and the remaining starter can be fed again 1:2:2 and stored for the next time you need it.

2. When the starter has nearly finished rising, combine the main bread flour and water in a bowl to autolyse (gets the gluten development going). When the starter is ready, add it to the dough along with the salt. Use wet hands to squish this together until well combined. Let it sit for 15 minutes.

3. Over a period of 2 hours, perform 4 sets of stretch and folds, one every 30 minutes. In each set, stretch and fold the dough over 4-5 times, turning the bowl each turn. With each set, the dough becomes more and more elastic. After the final stretch and fold, sit the dough at room temperature (between 20-24 °C) for 2 hours before transferring it to the fridge for 8-20 hours.

4. DAY 2

   remove the cold dough from the fridge and drizzle 3 tbsp olive oil into a 23 x 33cm rectangular baking pan. Rub some olive oil on your fingers and push the dough out to fill the pan. The cold dough will likely spring back at first, so press what you can and then wait 10 minutes before continuing.

5. Once it has filled the pan, the dough needs to rise and double until it is jiggly and puffy. This can take between 3-7 hours depending on room temperature. You can cover the dough at this point or, brush it with 1 tablespoon olive oil to stop the dough drying out.

6. Preheat the oven to 210°C fan-bake or 230°C regular oven. Once the dough has risen, use greased fingers to dimple the dough. Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt. Bake the focaccia for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown.

7. Bring the Black Honey to a gentle simmer with a dash of water. Drizzle this on the just cooked bread and sprinkle with blue cheese.