Bread making is experiencing a renaissance right now, and for good reason. There’s something about combining water, flour, and salt, using only time and your hands to guide the process towards a fully formed loaf.
This sourdough focaccia recipe takes that process a step further. The luscious notes and texture of a good olive oil, plus your favourite toppings, create a simple flatbread worthy of sitting meal side, or eating as an afternoon snack.
Essential Tools To Make Sourdough Focaccia Sourdough Starter
First things first. In order to make sourdough focaccia you need a sourdough starter. We’ve got a great post called How To Make A Sourdough Starter, so check it out if you don’t have one already. If you don’t have a starter ready to go be prepared to wait at least a week before you can make bread, and maybe longer! It’s worth the wait, we promise.
A Scale
Baking with a scale by weight ensures accuracy and consistency. We highly recommend baking sourdough recipes, and baking recipes in general, using a scale.
Patience
If you’re new to sourdough baking you will soon learn that 95% of your time will be spent waiting! Slow down, let the bread work its magic, and savour the process.
What’s The Best Flour To Use In This Recipe?
We prefer bread flour when making sourdough bread, however all-purpose flour will work too since we don’t need the structure of a shaped boule. We haven’t tested it, however we think alternative wheats like spelt or kamut would also work!
How To Make Sourdough Focaccia Step-By-Step: Add the starter a large bowl. Stir in the water, honey, and 1/4 cup (60ml) 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 (see this video for an example). Repeat this a couple more times if you have time, once every 10 minutes. This is optional but will improve the structure of the loaf. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and a large plate. Let it sit out at room temperature overnight, or for 12-18 hours. It should be doubled in size after this time. Shaping And Baking The Loaf: Add the second 1/4 cup (60ml) 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 press the dough out to the edges of the pan until the pan is almost filled or the dough is about 3cm (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. Mine usually needs an hour in a warm oven but you may need up to 4 hours depending on how active your starter is. Once the dough has risen again, preheat the oven to 425F / 210C. 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 (I used roasted garlic), 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 Topping Ideas
We’ve got a list of 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 Bread Recipes You Might Like:
Sourdough Dinner Rolls (No-Knead)
Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread
25% Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf
Easy No-Knead Honey And Oat Spelt Sourdough
Yield: 1 loaf Sourdough Focaccia Print
Sourdough focaccia is dimpled and golden on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside! It's a simple bread where sourdough starter and olive oil shine.
Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 25 minutes Rising Time 18 hours Total Time 18 hours 35 minutes Ingredients 100 grams sourdough starter 250 grams water 2 teaspoons honey 1/2 cup (125 ml) olive oil, divided 375 grams (~3 cups) bread flour 10 grams sea salt More olive oil for drizzling, plus any other focaccia toppings Instructions Add starter a large bowl. Stir in the water, honey, and 1/4 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 (see this video for an example). Repeat this a couple more times if you have time, once every 10 minutes. This is optional but will improve the structure of the loaf. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and a large plate. Let it sit out at room temperature overnight, or for 12-18 hours. It should be doubled in size after this time. Add the second 1/4 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 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. (Mine usually needs an hour in a warm oven but you may need up to 4 hours depending on how active your starter is.) Preheat oven to 425F / 210C. 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 (I used roasted garlic), 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. Notes
For more delicious focaccia topping ideas, check out this post.
* The pan used in these photos is 27 x 31 cm, but any standard sheet pan will be work. Just make sure the dough is at the thickness specified.
** 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.
© Alexandra Daum Cuisine: American, Canadian, / Category: Bread
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