Sourdough Focaccia Bread

This recipe for Sourdough Focaccia Bread takes just a few ingredients and makes golden brown, delicious focaccia. This focaccia has a nice crunch on the outside with a soft and fluffy center. Seasoned with a little sea salt, garlic and rosemary, this bread is perfect for dipping in oil and balsamic vinegar or even slice it in half to make a tasty sandwich.

Other bread recipes to try: Easy Dutch Oven Bread or Challah Bread.

Sourdough Baking

Ok, so let me start out by saying I am a newbie to this whole sourdough baking world, so let me give you a few tips of things that helped me jump in.

To start, I did not have a starter and I read SO many blog posts, like this one, and recipe books about how to make a starter. However, in the end I ultimately ended up purchasing a starter, and it was the best decision I made in regards to getting started with sourdough.

Buying a Sourdough Starter

I looked around on local for sale pages to see what it would cost to purchase a sourdough starter, and most of them were priced at about 12 dollars for one pound. I moved on and kept looking.

I finally decided to ask the bakery where I typically purchase already made sourdough from if they would sell me some starter….They said YES!! I was so excited, because I knew that it would already be good and have great flavor.

The best part, it only cost me 5 dollars. So I suggest, if you don’t want to wait for a starter, reach out to your favorite bakery or even grocery store and see if they would sell you some of theirs.

First step in making Sourdough Focaccia

As soon as I got home with my starter, I gave it its first feeding. So I measured equal amounts of starter, flour and water. Mix it all together until it is nice and combined. I had my starter in a tall plastic container, so I just put an elastic band around the container to mark where the start was at after it was fed, because I needed it to double in size.

Leave the starter out at room temperature with a loosely fitting lid. It took about 5-6 hours for my starter to double and be ready to bake with.

How to make Sourdough Focaccia

Once the sourdough starter has doubled in size, it will be bubbly and ready to use. First, measure out the amount of sourdough starter you will be using and place into a mixing bowl. I like to use a kitchen scale for accurate measuring for this recipe.

Mix the starter with lukewarm water until it has dissolved into the water.

Next, pour the starter mixture into a large mixing bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the flour, salt and honey and mix on medium speed for 5-7 minutes with the dough hook, or by hand for about 10-12 minutes.

The dough still be very sticky at this point and that is exactly what you are looking for. Place the dough into a greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour.

After the first hour, fold the dough inside the mixing bowl over 3-4 times. Simply scrape the side of the bowl and fold the dough in towards the center.

Next, drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the bottom of a half sheet baking pan. Place the dough into the pan turn over to coat all of the dough in the olive oil. Use your hands to stretch and spread the dough as far out to the edges as you can.

Let rest for about 10 minutes after the first stretching and then stretch it out one more time. Cover the pan with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray to help it not stick to the dough.

Place the pan into the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. I place mine in the refrigerator overnight so I could work with again in the morning.

Take the dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425º F. While the oven is heating, pour olive oil over the top of the focaccia dough and with oiled fingers, gently press dipples all over the top of the dough allowing the olive oil to fall into the holes.

Sprinkle the top with sea salt, garlic powder and fresh rosemary. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it is golden on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing or breaking apart.

How to Store Sourdough Focaccia

This focaccia recipe is best eaten the day that it is made, but if you need to put it away so you won’t eat the whole thing yourself, store in an air tight container or zip top bag once it has cooled. Store for up to 4 days on the counter.

Focaccia can be frozen for 1 month as well to eat at a later date.

Sourdough Focaccia Recipe

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As I said, I am new to baking with sourdough, a few of the resources I found helpful are Bless This Mess Please as well as King Arthur Sourdough.