I've been alternating between making Bernard Clayton bread recipes and working my way through the selection of sourdough recipes on the King Arthur Flour website. This unusual focaccia was the next up in my queue. And I am very glad indeed! TF has very normal feelings about this bread. I like it. I like it a lot. But I don't think my enjoyment of it can hold a candle to TF's near unseemly fascination with it. I'm quite tickled that she's enjoying it so much!

I may play around with the proportions somewhat in the future. For this time, I stuck to the recipe and went fairly heavy on the oil. Next time I might try doubling the dough and bumping the corn up a little bit. Just as an experiment. It's really excellent as-is. I just like to tinker!

Tiwanese Bakery Sourdough Focaccia

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 75g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 175g water
• 250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. garlic or scallion oil
• 1 Tbsp. sesame or chili oil
• 4 links Taiwanese sausage, sliced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 50-60g fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1-2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• Kewpie mayonnaise

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is well-fed and active.
2. Combine the starter and water and mix well.
3. Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
4. Cover and let rest for 30-60 minutes.
5. Add the salt and knead for a few minutes to incorporate it.
6. Cover and rest for at least an hour.
7. Do a bowl fold, then spread the garlic/scallion oil over the surface. Cover and allow to rest for 4-8 hours.
8. Knock the dough back then cover and chill overnight. (If you are in a hurry, you may skip this step, but the flavour will be better with a slow, overnight fermentation.)
9. Oil a 23x33 (9x13") baking dish with a little of the sesame/chili oil.
10. Add the dough to the prepared pan and gently stretch it to fill as much of the pan as possible.
11. Cover and rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours, gently stretching every 30 minutes or so.
12. Dimple the surface of the dough and drizzle with the remaining oil.
13. Sprinkle with sliced sausage, green onion, corn, and sesame seeds.
14. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
15. Bake focaccia on lower rack for 15-20 minutes.
16. If surface is not dark enough after 20 minutes, reduce temperature to 200°C (400°F) and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
17. Turn off oven and let stand in hot oven for 5 minutes.
18. Remove from oven, drizzle with mayo, cut into squares, and serve.