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.
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.
Ingredients
Method
Add 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 rack for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Tips and 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.
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. Alternative wheat flours like spelt or khorasan would probably work too.
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
More Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Dinner Rolls (No-Knead)
Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread
25% Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf
Sourdough Crackers
Honey and Oat Spelt Sourdough
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
Sourdough Focaccia
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.
Ingredients
- 100 grams (½ cup) active sourdough starter
- 250 grams (1 cup) water
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 125 ml (½ cup) olive oil, divided
- 375 grams (2 ¼ cups) all-purpose or bread flour
- 10 grams (1 heaped teaspoon) sea salt
- More 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 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
• If you leave the bread in the pan to cool, the bottom will become soggy and lose it's golden crispness.
• Topping with herbs when it comes out as opposed to baking the herbs on the bread prevents them from burning, but the heat from the bread coming out of the oven releases the fragrant oils and cooks them just enough.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 356Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 527mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 7g
This is an approximation of the nutrition offered in this recipe, and is created using a nutrition calculator.
This post was first published in March 2020. It has been updated as of April 2021, with no changes to the recipe.
Sue says
Just wondering if I can do the second rise in the refrigerator?
Thanks
Alexandra Daum says
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.