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Home » Recipes » Sourdough

Sourdough Focaccia

Published: Apr 28, 2022 · Modified: Jun 7, 2022 by Alexandra Daum · This post may contain affiliate links · 31 Comments

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Sourdough focaccia is dimpled and golden on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside! It’s a simple bread where sourdough starter and olive oil shine.

Four pieces of bread, stacked, on a cooling rack.

Photography by Sophie MacKenzie.

Crisp, soft, and with a wonderful olive oil flavour, sourdough focaccia is the ideal flatbread. With minimal shaping and no special equipment needed, it’s also a great beginner’s sourdough recipe.

Use the tastiest olive oil you have for the best flavour, and see below for some suggestions on toppings for your bread. We love basic salt and rosemary, but there are unlimited options, and focaccia can be so much fun.

Jump to:
  • Recommended Tools
  • Ingredients
  • Method
  • Recipe Notes
  • Substitutions
  • Focaccia Topping Ideas
  • FAQ
  • Recipe

Smaller pieces of focaccia on a plate with rosemary.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Recommended Tools

A bench scraper is always handy when working with sourdough, and focaccia dough is a bit on the stickier side.

If you’re not 100% confident with your shaping, use a baking dish that will prevent the dough from spreading out too much. This should be smaller than a cookie sheet – think more like a casserole dish. It’ll prevent the focaccia from becoming too thin, even if the dough hasn’t had the best shaping!

Ingredients

Sourdough Focaccia ingredients.
  • Flour: use either white or bread flour. You could sub up to half whole wheat.
  • Starter: active, fed starter that’s just peaked. This is not a sourdough discard recipe.
  • Water: use room temp water for the best rise. Cold water will slow it down.
  • Honey: or sugar if preferred.
  • Olive Oil: don’t sub another oil – olive oil is a key flavour of focaccia.
  • Salt: sea salt. If using kosher, increase the amount slightly.
  • Toppings: see below for topping ideas.

Keep scrolling to see clear and detailed process shots, as well as tips and notes to help you make Sourdough Focaccia perfectly the first time!

Method

Wet ingredients added to a mixing bowl.
Add the starter, water, honey, and olive oil to a bowl.
Dry ingredients added to the bowl.
Mix, then add the flour and salt.
Dough after mixing.
Mix into a shaggy dough.
Stretching and folding the dough.
Do the stretches and folds.
Dough after bulk fermentation, with big bubbles.
Rise until doubled in size.
Dough placed onto a well oiled baking sheet.
Place on an oiled baking sheet.
Stretching the dough out.
Stretch the dough, then fold it over.
Stretching the dough on the baking sheet.
Form a rectangle, then flip seam-side down.
Stretched focaccia before second proof.
Stretch and press the dough out.
Close up showing dimpling of the bread.
Rise again, then create dimples and add toppings.
Baked focaccia on a cooling rack.
Bake until golden, about half an hour, then top with fresh herbs.

TOP TIPS
1. Remove from the pan. Take the bread out of the pan as soon as possible and place it on a wire rack. If it cools on the baking sheet, it will soften.
2. Chill before shaping. This isn’t mandatory, but it will make the dough easier to work with if you’re not so confident. Rise until doubled and then refrigerate for at least a couple hours before shaping.
3. Keep oil under the bread. There must be olive oil under the dough before you set it aside to rise. Make sure to spread the oil out again on the pan before pressing the bread out.

Recipe Notes

  • The olive oil is definitely not negotiable! You’ll lose the classic focaccia texture if you reduce or omit the oil.
  • Topping with herbs when the bread is fresh out of the oven has a couple of benefits. First, it prevents the burning that would occur if the herbs were baked. Second, adding them when the bread is still very hot releases the scented oils, bringing out plenty of flavour.
  • Taking the bread out of the pan almost immediately is to ensure the base of your sourdough focaccia stays crispy. If it cools on the baking sheet, it will soften from condensation and no one wants a soggy bottom.
  • For a stronger sourdough flavour, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours rather than the shorter bulk ferment at room temperature.
  • If your home is quite warm, we recommend making the dough in the morning so you can keep an eye on it, and prevent over-proofing. Or refrigerate for the bulk ferment, until doubled in size.

How to Store and Freeze Sourdough Focaccia

  • To Store – keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. It will soften as it sits but still tastes good!
  • To Freeze – place in an airtight container and freeze up to a month, or wrap well beforehand and freeze up to six months.
Smaller pieces of focaccia on a plate with rosemary.

Substitutions

  • We prefer bread flour when making sourdough bread, but all-purpose flour works just as well here since there’s not as much of a structural requirement as for a boule.
  • Change up the herbs and other toppings to suit your preferences – see below for some suggestions.
  • Honey can be switched out for sugar.

Focaccia Topping Ideas

We have a whole list with 40 Focaccia Topping Ideas you can check out. Here are a few of our favourites:

  • Bacon
  • Blue cheese
  • Capers
  • Dukkah
  • Fresh Herbs
  • Grapes
  • Prosciutto
  • Roasted Garlic
  • Za’atar
Close up showing interior crumb (large bubbles).

FAQ

Why is my Sourdough Focaccia Gummy?

If you sourdough is gummy (this applies to all sourdough, not just focaccia) it’s probably underproved. Head over to this post on troubleshooting for sourdough for more information.

Should Focaccia be Thick or Thin?

This isn’t sourdough pizza crust – your focaccia should be at least 3cm thick! Any thinner and it’s too crisp, without the distinctive soft, fluffy interior crumb.

What are Stretches and Folds?

This is a common method used in sourdough baking, and it replaces the kneading process. It encourages the formation of gluten in the dough. You can see how to do it and more info in this post on how to stretch and fold sourdough.

More Sourdough Recipes

Sourdough Dinner Rolls (No-Knead)
Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread
25% Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf
Sourdough Crackers
Spelt Sourdough Bread

Bread cut into long slices.

If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.

Recipe

Four pieces of bread, stacked, on a cooling rack.

Sourdough Focaccia

4.8 from 22 votes
Author: Alexandra Daum
Yield: 6
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 25 mins
Rising Time 12 hrs
Total Time 12 hrs 35 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Comments

Description

 

Sourdough focaccia is dimpled and golden on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside! It's a simple bread where sourdough starter and olive oil shine.

Equipment

  • Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wooden spoon
  • Tea towel
  • Plate
  • baking sheet
  • Parchment paper
  • Wire rack

Ingredients
 

  • ½ cup active sourdough starter
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • ½ cup olive oil, divided
  • 2 ¼ cups 2 ¼ cups all-purpose or bread flour
  • 1 heaping teaspoon sea salt

Additional ingredient

  • olive oil, for drizzling, plus any other focaccia toppings

Instructions
 

  • Add the starter a large bowl. Stir in the water, honey, and ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil, mixing to combine.
  • Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.
  • Rest the dough for about 10 minutes before doing a round of stretches and folds. Repeat this twice more, once every 10 minutes, for a total of three rounds.
  • Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and a large plate. Let it sit out at room temperature overnight, or for about 12 hours. It should be doubled in size after this time.
  • Add the second ¼ cup (60 ml) of olive oil to the base of a baking sheet and place the dough onto it.
  • Fold the dough into a rough rectangle, lifting and pulling one side toward the centre and repeating with each side until all 4 have been folded in.
  • Flip the dough seam side down onto the pan, making sure there’s oil under the dough.
  • Use your hands to stretch and press the dough out to the edges of the pan until the pan is almost filled or the dough is about 3 cm (1 inch) thick.
  • Cover the dough, or place it into the oven with the door closed, and rise a second time for at least 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size again. (This may need up to 4 hours, depending on how active your starter is.)
  • Preheat oven to 425°F (210°C). Oil your hands and use the tips of your fingers to gently press into the dough to create dimples all over the surface.
  • Top the dough with anything you’d like (see the topping ideas for inspiration), drizzle with olive oil, and add a sprinkle of salt.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top and sides of the bread are a dark golden colour.
  • Top with finely chopped herbs as soon as it comes out of the oven, and remove from the pan as soon as you can to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
  • Focaccia is best fresh, but can be stored for a few days in an airtight container, or frozen up to a month.

Notes

*Cups are only present in the recipe because it’s an older post and we know readers would have been using imperial measurements. Please use the gram measurements only for correct, accurate amounts.
The olive oil is definitely not negotiable! You’ll lose the classic focaccia texture if you reduce or omit the oil.
Topping with herbs when the bread is fresh out of the oven has a couple of benefits. First, it prevents the burning that would occur if the herbs were baked. Second, adding them when the bread is still very hot releases the scented oils, bringing out plenty of flavour.
Taking the bread out of the pan almost immediately is to ensure the base of your sourdough focaccia stays crispy. If it cools on the baking sheet, it will soften from condensation and no one wants a soggy bottom.
For a stronger sourdough flavour, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours rather than the shorter bulk ferment at room temperature.
If your home is quite warm, we recommend making the dough in the morning so you can keep an eye on it, and prevent over-proofing. Or refrigerate for the bulk ferment, until doubled in size.

Substitutions

We prefer bread flour when making sourdough bread, but all-purpose flour works just as well here since there’s not as much of a structural requirement as for a boule.
Change up the herbs and other toppings to suit your preferences – see below for some suggestions.
Honey can be switched out for sugar.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 356kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Sodium: 527mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g
Did you make this recipe?Let us know on Instagram @baked_theblog or tag #bakedtheblog!

This post was first published in March 2020. It has been updated as of April 2021, with no changes to the recipe.

More Sourdough

  • Sourdough Olive Bread (No-Knead)
  • Sourdough Dinner Rolls (No-Knead)
  • Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
  • Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough Bread

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sue says

    July 17, 2021 at 11:39 am

    Just wondering if I can do the second rise in the refrigerator?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      July 18, 2021 at 6:47 am

      Hi Sue, that should work fine. We haven’t tested this but you’ll just have to keep an eye on it to see when it’s fully risen and ready to bake.

      Reply
      • Roxolana says

        November 15, 2021 at 10:01 am

        I do my first rise in the refrigerator overnight and then let it sit to come to room temperature and rise more. Then I proceed to do the stretch and the last rise in a pan.

        Reply
    • Joan says

      December 02, 2021 at 1:29 pm

      I actually have made this focaccia frequently (per my review in the other tab) and always put it in the refrigerator after the initial rise. It needs several hours at room temperature to be ready to bake, but it turns out beautifully. I have also used this dough as a “thick” crust pizza topping with sauteed sausage or ground beef, etc. Works and tastes great! Can’t recommend it enough.

      Reply
  2. Stephanie Lindberg says

    November 07, 2021 at 8:01 pm

    I’ve never nailed a bread recipe on the first try until now. This was perfection!

    Reply
  3. Kristen says

    November 11, 2021 at 12:03 am

    Recently made this for my partner… first focaccia I tried using starter. Only change I made was add 1/4 cup olive oil infused with garlic and rosemary to the dough. He said it’s the best focaccia he has had in his life! Now I’m making again as my new go-to recipe. Thank you!

    Reply
  4. Roxolana says

    November 15, 2021 at 10:02 am

    Love the recipe! Thank you!

    Reply
  5. Darlene says

    April 28, 2022 at 6:38 pm

    I’m still a little confused..
    Do stretches, then let rise, then put in baking pan and in refrig over night .
    Then take out of frig, let rise the bake?
    Correct?
    Thanks
    Darlene

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      April 29, 2022 at 3:57 am

      Hi Darlene, if you want to refrigerate, it should rise at room temp until doubled in the bowl it’s mixed in. Then cover and refrigerate. Take the cold dough out of the fridge and shape it on the pan, rise, and then bake.

      Reply
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