Sourdough focaccia bread

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Sourdough focaccia bread is Italian bread baked in a tall sheet pan, it is flavored with rich olive oil and delicious herbs and seasonings. It has an irresistible crispy crust, yet it is fluffy and airy on the inside! Are you ready to feel like an Italian bread maker? You probably have everything you need to make this ridiculously easy sourdough focaccia Bread!

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Even though making sourdough focaccia may seem a little intimidating, it’s not that hard to make. There is only about 20 minutes of actual hands on work! Most of the time the bread is rising! I will walk you through step by step on how to achieve the perfect sourdough focaccia bread!

Tools you will need to make sourdough focaccia bread

Sheet pan with tall sides.

bowl

saran wrap

tea towel

Ingredients

Dough

• 450 grams bread flour
• 100 grams risen sourdough starter
• 375 grams warm filtered water
• 10 grams salt
• 15 grams olive oil

Toppings

• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbl pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 Tbl chopped basil
• 1 Tbl chopped oregano
• 3 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbl butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp flaky salt

Start the day before

Whip up a batch of dough the day before and the next day it will be ready to bake for dinner! While the bread is baking, your family’s mouths will water as the incredibly delicious aroma of baking bread circles through the house! To sum it up briefly, this recipe will make you look like a kitchen master with minimal effort on your part! While there is a long rise time, it’s almost completely hands-off and the dough is as simple as tossing 5 basic pantry staples into a bowl and stirring it all up.

How to make sourdough foccacia

For this recipe you will need a leavened sourdough starter. Read my other post I wrote about sourdough starter. I fed my sourdough starter at 9am and by 12:00 it was ready for me to use.

Once your sourdough starter is leavened ( risen) its time to mix the dough. To a bowl add 450 grams of bread flour, 100 grams risen sourdough starter, 375 grams warm filtered water, 10 grams salt, 15 grams olive oil. I use a food scale for accuracy. This is the one I have and love! It comes with a charger for easy charging.

Using your hand mix all the ingredients together, do not knead the dough. Mix the dough in circular motions, to form a ball. It will look wet and shaggy. Cover the bowl with either saran wrap or a tea towel. Recently I started to use shower caps to cover the bowls with. It works so well! I just slip it over the bowl and it stays in place. I bought a whole pack of them specifically for this and I keep then in my proofing baskets for sourdough bread.

Cover, then let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Did you notice there’s NO KNEADING? In the past, I always thought that you had to do a lot of work, including kneading to achieve a beautiful, rustic, richly flavored bread with lots of big, irregular holes. But that is not the case at all!

Stretch and fold

You will do three sets of stretch and folds, with 30 minute breaks in between. It will look like this:

1. Stretch and fold, cover with a wet towel and rest for 30 minutes
2. Stretch and fold, cover with a wet towel and rest for 30 minutes
3. Stretch and fold, cover with saran wrap then place in the fridge for a cold proof.

This will help to develop gluten which will create structure. It will also introduce air into the dough that will result in those beautiful air bubbles focaccia bread is known for! Grab an edge and pull up, Be careful because focaccia dough has more water than regular sourdough bread. Sourdough focaccia bread is lighter and it will rip much easier. Pull upwards as much as it would let you without ripping ( you can wet your hands to prevent them from sticking to the dough) Fold it over to the middle. Turn the bowl and do the same till all sides are folded. Cover the bowl with saran wrap or a clean shower cap

Refrigerate

Refrigerate 18-48 hours. This gives the dough time to develop also it gives the bread its distinctive flavor. this is called cold proofing.

The secret to a delicious sourdough focaccia bread is to refrigerating the dough, it is also important to use a high hydration dough, meaning a dough with a high proportion of water. The high proportion of water will create a dough with beautiful air pockets throughout. This dough is 75% hydration.

This is what the dough looks like after 30 hours of cold proofing in the fridge.

Once your dough is out of the fridge, transfer the dough into a tall sheet pan. I lined mine with parchment paper and drizzled 1 tbl of olive oil over it. If you have a good nonstick sheet pan you don’t need to line it with parchment paper, just drizzle it with 1 tbl of olive oil.

Let is rest!

Once your dough is transferred into your baking vessel, gently spread it out to fit the pan. Try to be gentle, you don’t want to deflate it or rip it. Use your finder tips to spread it into all corners. Don’t dig your fingertips into the dough, you don’t want to disturb the bubbles inside. If the dough is too difficult to spread out, let it relax at room temperature for 20 minutes while covered with a towel, then continue.

Once the sourdough focaccia bread dough is spread out, cover it with a tea towel and let it rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature. The dough will almost double in size.

Pre-heat your the oven to 450 F

Toppings

Sprinkle the topping evenly all over the dough. You can use any toppings your heart desires! You can do rosemary and flaky salt, olives and tomato’s, mozzarella cheese, you decide! Let your inner Ratatouille guide you 😉

My tip is to add the salt and toppings before you make the dimples. When you make the dimples the toppings will make its way inside the bread, this makes it that much more delicious!

Make dimples

Once the topping are added, dip your finger tips into olive oil. To make dimples simply place your finger tips into the bread till you reach the bottom of the pan. Do this till all over the dough. Place the sourdough focaccia into the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes or till the center hits 190f degrees.

Once you take the sourdough focaccia bread out of the oven, melt 2 table spoons of butter and to it add 2 minced garlic cloves , mix then drizzle over the bread.

Let it cool down for 10 minutes before digging in! I like to dip my bread into balsamic vinegar with olive oil and fresh chopped basil. Enjoy!

Pair sourdough focaccia bread with Lemon ricotta pasta for a perfect dinner!

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