Recipe by Luke Jefford

To say bread has been an obsession of late, would be an understatement. It's been great fun incorporating wild preserves & ferments to sourdoughs and other baked breads.

Nikki and I started writing a wild fennel seed sourdough recipe for the website. But, it quickly became apparent that trying to write a simple recipe, simply wasnt possible without having previous sourdough experience. And, if one already had that necessary experience, they probably don't need any inspiration from us.

Fast forward to now, we do have a beautiful focaccia recipe which is easy to replicate at home. And, you could add any foraged ingredients you like on top of the bread.

Ingredients

• 1kg Candian strong white bread flour

• 5g Dried yeast

• 900g water

• 40g olive oil (+ extra)

• 12g table salt

• Table Salt

• Foraged ingredients of your liking (we used Alexander oil & sea leeks)

• Sea salt

Method

Step 1

Mix flour & warm water together in your mixer with a dough hook, mix until just combined and cover with cling film or a damp cloth, and leave to rest for 30 minutes (autolyse).

Step 2

Add in oil & salt and return to mixer. Mix for around 10 minutes until dough starts to leave the side of the bowl. Again cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl.

Step 3

Perform two sets of coil folds. Perform one and wait 45 minutes. Perform another and wait 45 minutes. Making sure to cover the bowl each time (this will stop a skin from forming).

Step 4

Pop mixture in the fridge for 24 hours.

Step 5

Remove mix from the fridge and pop into an olive oiled non-stick tray and flatten with your hands.

Step 6

Leave to prove for around 2-4hrs.

Step 7

Preheat your oven to 220c. Meanwhile top with your foraged ingredients, sea salt and olive oil. The cooking time will massively depend on your oven. But, ours took around 30 minutes.

Step 8

Fathom every ounce of patience not to cut in to your loaf too soon. And, enjoy!