A wet, shaggy dough you could not knead if you tried, given two long rises and dimpled into a tray under a lot of olive oil. A use for discard that is worth making on its own terms.
Two rises, three and a half hours
Nearly all of the time is the dough sitting still — two to three hours for the first rise and one and a half to two in the pan. Twenty minutes of that is actually yours.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water and the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit until foamy.
If the yeast does not foam, it is dead. Start over with fresh yeast rather than carrying on and hoping.
Add the flour, sourdough discard, salt and black pepper, and mix on low until combined and no dry spots remain. This will be a very shaggy, wet dough — you could not knead it if you tried.
No stand mixer? Mix it in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until no dry spots remain. The dough is too wet to knead either way, so nothing is lost.
Transfer the dough to a large, oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rise until doubled in size.
Brush a baking pan generously with olive oil. Once the dough has risen, use a spatula to scrape around the perimeter of the bowl, deflating it, and transfer it to the centre of the pan. Dip your fingers in olive oil, then press the dough out until it reaches the edges. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rise again until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 230°C. Drizzle the dough with olive oil. Lightly oil your hands and press deep dimples all over it, right through to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Bake until the focaccia is golden and crusty. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, let it cool in the pan for ten minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack to cool fully before slicing.
If you are working with an active starter rather than discard, leave the yeast out and use the starter in place of the discard, weight for weight. You will need to allow longer for both rises.