Sourdough Focaccia -

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This homemade recipe of Sourdough Focaccia is surprisingly simple but makes rich, flavorful, chewy and soft bread with ultra crispy edges with olive oil oozes down and the flavor is infused every bite that you’re going to love!

This easy focaccia recipe is the best! Just mix, rest, stretch and chill overnight to let all that amazing flavor develop.

After starting my sourdough baking journey and feeling mostly confident in the vitality of my starter plus the resulting breads, it was time to experiment beyond the standard loaf. First it was naan and the latest – sourdough focaccia. Puffy and fluffy. Bubbly holes throughout.

WHAT IS SOURDOUGH STARTER?

A sourdough starter, also called levain, is a fermented dough filled with natural, wild yeast and a bacteria called lactobacilli. The starter is what makes sourdough bread rise.Along with leavening the bread, the starter also brings that classic sour flavor.

WHAT IS FOCACCIA?

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread similar in style and texture to pizza dough. Focaccia can be used as a side to many meals or as sandwich bread.

Focaccia is an Italian yeast bread. At the heart of it, focaccia is pizza dough without the sauce and cheese. Though it appears plain, focaccia is anything but boring. Its defining characteristics are the olive oil infused flavor and deliciously crisp exterior. Olive oil enrobes the entire crust, seeping into the interior as the bread bakes. Herbs and garlic are popular toppings, but you can add anything like olives, tomatoes, sesame seeds, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, pesto, caramelized onions, and more.

Focaccia can be part of a meal, an appetizer, a soup dipper, a sauce soaker-upper, and even the crust of a sandwich or panini.

WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED?

Focaccia bread is made with very few ingredients,

Sourdough Starter : Have used matured (unfed) whole wheat sourdough starter

Warm Water: When combined with liquid and sugar, yeast makes dough rise. Use warm water to cut down on rise time.

Sugar or honey: Whichever you have on hand, to give the bread a hint of sweetness and help to activate the yeast.

Active dry yeast: Yeast raises focaccia bread.

Bread Flour or All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour is perfect for making focaccia bread. You can use bread flour but bread flour has a higher protein content so it yields a chewier texture.

Salt: A lot of focaccia’s flavor comes from salt and this dough requires a lot of it.

Olive Oil: Some recipes only call for olive oil as the topping, but adding olive oil to the dough creates a richer tasting bread. You’ll also use it to coat the pan and top the dough before baking.

Fresh garlic: It is essential for perfect garlic focaccia. I use two cloves, but for a really garlicky bread, you can increase that.

Herbs: Use what you love and have available to you.

HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA?

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the starter and water together.

Then add in the olive oil, honey, garlic, basil, chilli flakes, cilantro and salt. Mix well until its combined together.

Add the flour and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a bowl that’s been lightly coated with olive oil, cover, and allow to rise for 60 minutes.

Drizzle olive oil into the center of a square pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, and coat it with the oil.

Gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pan and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Cover the pan and transfer it to the refrigerator to let the dough rise for 12 hours or overnight.

The next day, remove the pan of dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest on counter top for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Just before you’re ready to bake, gently dimple the dough with your fingers, pressing down firmly but not abruptly; you don’t want to deflate the focaccia too much.

Drizzle olive oil over the dimples, then top with olives and cilantro.

Bake the focaccia for 20 to 25 minutes, until light golden brown.

Remove the focaccia from the oven. Allow it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack.

TIPS TO MAKE PERFECT FOCACCIA:

I have used matured (unfed) whole wheat sourdough starter in this recipe.
Make sure your starter is healthy and strong, able to double in size 4-6 hours after feeding and passes the float test
Do scoop the flour out of the container with your measuring cup. Make sure spoon and level the flour into measuring cup.
Always use warm water to bloom the yeast and it wakes up the yeast so that it is ready to help the dough rise. It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold.
The warmer the spot, the faster the dough will rise. I often place rising dough on top of my stove, with the oven turned on to the lowest setting.
For the BEST flavor, let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.

FOCACCIO TOPPING SUGGESTIONS:

Focaccia can be topped with just about anything you can imagine.

Here are a few more ideas:

Tomatoes, capers, oregano, garlic, olive oil
Thinly sliced Yukon gold potatoes with coarse sea salt, fresh thyme, and olive oil
Sliced and olive oil-marinated red onions, olives, and fresh chopped tomatoes
Grated hard cheeses of all kinds (parmesan, pecorino, etc.), rosemary, olive oil

HOW TO STORE FOCACCIA?

Freezing dough: You can also freeze focaccia dough just as you would freeze pizza dough. After the dough rises in the mixing bowl, punch it down to release the air, coat it with a little olive oil, then cover and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator. Once thawed, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter. Finally, shape the dough on the baking sheet and continue with the recipe.

Refrigerate or freeze leftover focaccia: Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil. Keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days and in the freezer for about a month.

HOW TO SERVE FOCACCIA?

Enjoy it as a snack, slice it to make sandwiches, or serve it with shakshuka for brunch or serve it with a hot bowl of soup any night of the week.

You might also like other sourdough recipes,

Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Sourdough Naan

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sourdough starter, ripe (fed)
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 cups bread Flour
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for the pan and the top of the focaccia
1 tsp salt
2 tsp honey
1 tsp instant yeast
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dired basil
1 tbsp red chilli flakes
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
Olives and Cilantro, for topping

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the starter and water together. Then add in the olive oil, honey, garlic, basil, chilli flakes, cilantro and salt. Mix well until its combined together.
Add the flour and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic for about 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a bowl that’s been lightly coated with olive oil, cover, and allow to rise for 60 minutes.
Drizzle olive oil into the center of a square pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, and coat it with the oil.
Gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pan and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Cover the pan and transfer it to the refrigerator to let the dough rise for 12 hours or overnight.
The next day, remove the pan of dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest on counter top for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Just before you’re ready to bake, gently dimple the dough with your fingers, pressing down firmly but not abruptly; you don’t want to deflate the focaccia too much.
Drizzle olive oil over the dimples, then top with olives and cilantro.
Bake the focaccia for 20 to 25 minutes, until light golden brown.
Remove the focaccia from the oven. Allow it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack.

RECIPE NOTES:

I have used matured (unfed) whole wheat sourdough starter in this recipe.
Make sure your starter is healthy and strong, able to double in size 4-6 hours after feeding and passes the float test
Do scoop the flour out of the container with your measuring cup. Make sure spoon and level the flour into measuring cup.
Always use warm water to bloom the yeast and it wakes up the yeast so that it is ready to help the dough rise. It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold.
The warmer the spot, the faster the dough will rise. I often place rising dough on top of my stove, with the oven turned on to the lowest setting.
For the BEST flavor, let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.

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