Ingredients:
180g starter buildup
480 ml water
330g bread flour (strong flour with a protein content of at least 12%)
300g plain flour
1 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
13g sea salt
Topping:
2-4 kaffir lime leaves
2 jalapeno peppers
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method:
7am feed your starter:
30g starter
30g water
30g flour
Cover and leave in a warm spot in your kitchen for 4 hours or until it has at least doubled in size and is doming on top. Doming of starter is one of the indicators that it has reached its peak.
11am make starter buildup:
60g mature starter
60g water
60g flour
Mix starter buildup in a jug or a bowl, cover and set aside in a warm spot in your kitchen.
3pm mix the dough:
Your starter buildup should be ready by now.
In a mixing bowl mix water with starter build up, then add flour and salt and mix well by hand or use stand mixer with dough hook attached. Once the dough comes together (it will be very soft) drizzle 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil over it and knead well until oil is mixed through. This dough is very soft and takes a bit of mixing to come together, about 10 minutes by hand or 7-8 minutes on low setting in a stand mixer.
Once the dough is elastic and stretches without tearing, move it to a clean bowl, cover and set aside for 30 minutes then perform first set of stretch&fold. Repeat stretch&fold at 4pm and then about every hour there after until 8pm. Doing stretch&fold helps to strengthen the dough. Wet your hands prior each stretch&fold to prevent dough from sticking to them. At 8:30 pm move dough into a generously oiled baking tray. By this time your dough should be soft and airy. Gently spread it over the tray (it might take a few minutes for the dough to relax and to become pliable so please be patient and gentle with it).
9pm refrigerate overnight
6-7am:
Take dough out of the fridge and give it about 1-2 hours to come to room temperature. The amount of time will depend how warm or cold your kitchen is.
Preheat oven to 220C 30 minutes before your focaccia is ready to be baked.
Once the dough had come up to room temperature, slice jalapeño peppers into rings and slice kaffir lime leaves into thin strips.
Arrange jalapeño slices on top of the focaccia and evenly spread the sliced kaffir lime leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and using oiled fingers press down randomly all over focaccia creating dimples. Gently press jalapeño slices into the dough to help them stay fixed when focaccia will start rising in the oven
Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven cool for few minutes before transferring focaccia to a cooling rack.
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