Cast iron focaccia

Weigh 360 grams of 90F water into a medium bowl.

Add the bread flour.

Add the sugar and the extra virgin olive oil.

Stir with a sturdy spoon, then switch to a wet hand and squeeze about another 30 seconds until no lumps remain.

Push the hydrated dough stuck to the sides of the bowl down into the middle with a dough scraper.

Cover and autolyse 30 minutes with no salt and no yeast.

Stir the instant yeast and salt into 20 grams of warm water until dissolved.

Claw the yeast and salt water through the autolysed dough with a wet hand until evenly distributed.

Cover and ferment 30 minutes.

With a wet hand, stretch the dough out as far as it will go and fold it back, five times, rotating the bowl a few inches between folds.

Flip the dough over onto the folds and tuck and round it into a tidy ball about seven times.

Cover and ferment another 30 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and fold, five folds, then flip and round into a tight ball.

Cover and ferment in the refrigerator 12 to 24 hours.

Variation: to skip the overnight cold ferment, ferment about 60 more minutes at room temperature and go straight to the pan.

Coat a 12 inch cast iron pan liberally with olive oil, pushing it up the sides.

Flip the dough out into the oil without degassing it, oil the fingers, pop any major bubbles and spread it more or less flat and even in the pan.

Dock the dough about ten times with all ten oiled fingers to spread it evenly and degas it slightly.

Variation: for a half sheet tray, make one and a half times the recipe and massage the dough into a rectangle over a couple of dimpling sessions.

Proof covered 60 to 90 minutes at about 75F.

At 45 minutes, wet the fingers and dimple again 10 or 15 times, leaving the big bubbles in place.

Ferment another 30 to 45 minutes and preheat the oven to 500F.

Top with two or three generous pinches of flaky Maldon salt.

Bake at 500F on a preheated pizza steel 18 to 20 minutes.

Flip out of the pan onto a wire rack immediately so the bottom does not carry over or steam.

Cool about 15 minutes before cutting.