BLT Focaccia: the 'L' stands for 'lots of cheese'
Tools Needed
1 rubber spatula
1 large bowl
2 medium to small bowls
13x9x2 inch pan
About 5 hours to one day before mixing the bread
70g Recently fed Sourdough Starter
100g Bread Flour
100g Room Temperature Water
1. Mix the starter, flour, and water in a bowl until no flour streaks remain and cover the bowl with a dry towel or plastic wrap.
2. Let rest for 5-24 hours at room temperature.
For the Final Bread:
700g Bread Flour
1T Instant Yeast (I use SAF brand)
1 three finger pinch of Granulated Sugar
1T Kosher Salt
1/4C +2T Olive Oil
3.5C of 3 Cheese Mix
o 1.5 C Cheddar Cheese
o 1.5 C Monterey Jack
o ½ C Parmesan
o These are the cheeses I used but any you prefer can be subbed in
Marinated Tomatoes
o 3 large Tomatoes sliced to ¼ inch thick
o 1T Olive Oil
o Garlic Powder
o Kosher Salt
o Black Peppero Nutmeg
o Crushed Red Pepper
o Oregano
o Thyme
o The spices I used were about 2t each, but I did not measure them exactly and I don’t expect you to either, follow your heart
5 slices European Center Cut Bacon
o If you would like to use any other cut of bacon, just use enough to cover the bottom of the pan
Flaky Salt or any Coarsely ground salt for finishing
1. Preheat oven to 350 F (176 C)
2. When ready to make the bread, place the slices of bacon in the pan for the bread and bake in and bake 10-15 minutes. If using a larger piece, add 5 minutes at a time until bacon is completely cooked but not
too crispy.
3. Remove bacon from the pan to a cutting board and cut in a medium dice. Leave the drippings and grease in the pan.
4. Add the ¼ C of Olive Oil to the baking dish and use a spatula to scrape up any drippings and use your hand or a pastry brush if you’re fancy to cover the sides of the pan as well.
5. Mix the matured starter with the flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, and 2T of olive oil and about 2C of room temperature water. Add the water about 1 C at a time until an elastic dough forms with no
dry bits remaining.
6. Cover the dough in a bowl with a dry towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
7. While the dough is rising, toss the sliced tomatoes with the olive oil and spices making sure that each piece is covered. Let sit at room temperature while dough rises.
8. Once the dough has risen, deflate the dough by first sliding a spatula around the edge of the dough to release it from the pan and fold the dough onto itself one or two times.
9. Transfer the dough to the oiled baking dish and gently pat out into a rectangle. Sprinkle about two handfuls of the cheese mix on the surface of the dough, and about half of the cut bacon.
10. Place about half of the slices of marinated tomatoes over the cheese and bacon in a single layer.
11. Take the corners on one of the short sides of the rectangle of dough and fold over to the other short side of the rectangle. Squish the ends together to seal in the filling and check for any overflow to shove
back inside.
12. Turn the dough 90 degrees and pat out into a rectangle shape again, repeating the filling process but reserving a small amount of each for the topping.
13. Repeat the folding process and flip the dough over and turn 90 degrees. Gently pat the dough down to fit the pan, stretching slightly to fit in the corners. Cover this dough with oiled plastic wrap and let rise
for 20 minutes.
14. As the dough rises, preheat the oven to 450 F (232 C).
15. Once the dough has completed its final rise, sprinkle the reserved cheese, bacon and tomatoes over the top. Drizzle olive oil over the toppings, and dimple the dough with your fingers. If you need some visual guidance on this google how Samin Nosrat does it because she is perfect.
16. Sprinkle with flaky salt, and bake 45 minutes. Turn the bread in the oven and reduce the heat to 400 F (204 C) for an additional 10 minutes or until thee surface of the bread is uniformly deep orange-brown.
17. Let the dough cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing on to wire rack to finish cooling for 1 hour.