Sourdough Focaccia Recipe

This sourdough focaccia recipe makes a light, aromatic, slightly crispy bread full of Italian flavor. Olive oil and sea salt shine along with sourdough, creating a delicious bread to serve with your favorite summer meal.

One of the things I love about sourdough is that it can let you explore foods from around the world while in the comfort of your kitchen. You can picture yourself at a boulangerie in France as you enjoy a crusty baguette, or imagine yourself sipping tea with the Queen while nibbling an English muffin. Sourdough focaccia is no exception – it will take your tastebuds straight to the Italian countryside!

In addition to tasting amazing, sourdough focaccia is a simple recipe, perfect for those just beginning to bake with sourdough starter. With only 5 ingredients, it’s an inexpensive yet elegant bread, sure to please friends and family. Read on to make some sourdough focaccia for yourself.

Is Sourdough Focaccia healthy?

Sourdough focaccia is a healthy option to serve along with dinner due to the prebiotic effects it will have on your gut. The bacteria and yeast in the sourdough starter help digest the gluten in the flour, making it easier for you to eat and digest. The rosemary can also help with digestion and prevention of bacterial infections in your intestines. Additionally, the olive oil provides a great source of healthy fats, keeping you full and satisfied for longer. Who knew something so healthy could taste so good?

What is the secret to good Focaccia?

Refrigerating your focaccia dough before baking it will give it a larger oven spring, making it light and airy. Proper hydration of your dough will also make a difference in the texture of the focaccia. If your dough doesn’t have enough water, it will turn out denser when you bake it. This recipe has a high hydration level, which makes the dough stickier and slightly harder to shape, but also gives it a fluffier texture when baked.

Tips for this Sourdough Focaccia Recipe:

• If you like garlic, you can add some to your focaccia. Roast a bulb of garlic in foil in the oven until soft. Remove the cloves from their skins and mash with a fork. Add as much garlic as you like to the bread dough when you’re mixing it the night before.
• The dough is meant to be slightly sticky as this will make it lighter and airier when you bake it. Wetting your hands when working with the dough will help keep it from sticking to you without adding extra flour to make the dough denser.
• This focaccia is best enjoyed warm from the oven. If you have leftovers though, wrap the bread in plastic wrap or a towel and keep at room temperature. It will taste freshest if you eat it within the next two days.

Tools you will need

You will need a mixing bowl and a 18 by 13 inch baking tray to bake the focaccia in.

Ingredients you will need

All you need is:

• 520 grams flour
• 100 grams sourdough starter
• 350 mL water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 10 grams salt, plus more for sprinkling

How to make this Sourdough Focaccia Recipe

The night before you want to eat your focaccia:

Measure out the flour, sourdough starter, 1 tbsp of olive oil, and salt. Slowly stir in the water, until a sticky dough forms. You may need slightly more or less water to reach this consistency.

Knead the dough by pulling up the edges of the dough to the center to form a ball. Rotate the ball and pull up the edges to the center again, and repeat this process until the dough resists when you pull it. You can find a video of this stretch-and-fold method of kneading the dough in my Overnight Sourdough Bread recipe post.

Cover the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Repeat the stretch-and-fold kneading process once more, then cover and let rise overnight.

In the morning:

The dough should have doubled in size overnight. Grease one 18 by 13 inch pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Wet your hands and loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl. Gently transfer to the greased baking pan. Stretch the dough into a rectangle shape and let it rest for a few minutes. It probably won’t fill the pan right now, that’s ok!

Stretch out the dough again, spreading it closer to the edges of the pan. If it still won’t fill the pan, let it rest another few minutes, and then try again. Once you’ve stretched the dough out to the right size, drizzle with the last tbsp of olive oil and then cover the dough to let rise.

Once the focaccia has noticeably risen (about 3-4 hours), you can either refrigerate it for up to 12 hours or bake it immediately.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have the convection setting on your oven, I’d recommend using it to ensure even baking.

While the oven is heating, use your fingers to gently make depressions in the surface of the focaccia. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake the focaccia for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake another 12-14 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Let the focaccia cool for at least 5 minutes before you cut it.

Craving more Italian food?

If so, here are some recipes from the Kitchen Counter that you might enjoy:

• Tuscan Chicken Pasta
• Creamy Chicken and Chickpea Soup
• Simple Tomato Galette with Ricotta
• Italian Tomato Bruschetta