Looking for the best, most foolproof sourdough focaccia recipe? This is it!
With a soft chewy interior and crispy edges, this sourdough focaccia bread is topped with fresh rosemary and roasted garlic for an explosion of flavor in every bite!
Are you ready for another ridiculously easy sourdough recipe? You are going to love this recipe!
The inside is soft and chewy and the bottom and edges are nice and crispy. Perfect for dipping in your favorite sauce or flavored oil!
Not only is focaccia great to serve alongside breakfast, lunch or dinner, you can actually make it a meal by changing up the toppings. Think, "focaccia pizza".
We've gone old school Italian with this basic focaccia recipe by using roasted garlic and rosemary, but feel free to use any topping your heart desires!
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Step by step instructions
Let's go over the basic steps needed to make the best sourdough focaccia bread ever!
- Mix the ingredients in a batter bowl. Cover and let rest 30-60 minutes.
- Use your hands or a bowl scraper to stretch and fold the dough for one minute, while in the bowl. (The dough will be very wet.)
- Use your hands to coat an 8" x 8" baking dish with olive oil.
- Dump the dough into the baking dish and use your oiled hands to gently press it in the pan. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 12-14 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add roasted garlic and rosemary on top of dough and bake for 40 minutes.
HOW TO ROAST GARLIC
- Preheat your oven to 425°. Cut off the top of the head of garlic. Place the head of garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Wrap the garlic in the foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool until ready to bake focaccia.
Don't forget to roast your garlic while the dough is fermenting. It can be roasted ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to bake!
Tips for success
Make sure your sourdough starter is active when mixing the dough. It's best to feed your starter up to 12 hours prior to mixing depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Don't skimp on the olive oil when greasing the pan. The dough needs the oil to get that crispy crust you're looking for!
Use regular olive oil if you can find it. It has a higher smoke point at 468 degrees, then extra virgin olive oil, which is 410 degrees. I find it better for baking because it can handle the higher heat.
This is a very wet dough. Because of this, you will not be able to make the traditional "indentations" in the top of the dough before baking. However, the dough will still bake up perfectly!
The focaccia is ready to bake when the dough has risen halfway up the side of the pan and there are bubbles on the surface and edges of the dough.
Don't have a kitchen scale to measure flour?
Use the scoop and level technique to measure your flour if you do not have a kitchen scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour in the bag. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup until it is heaped on top. Take a butterknife and level off the top. This should give you the most accurate measurement for flour.
Because flour is measured by weight in these recipes, if the flour is scooped straight out of the bag with the measuring cup, there will be more flour than called for in the recipe.
Tips for baking in warm and/or high humidity areas - When baking in high humidity and/or warmer areas, it's often a good practice to use less water and bake a little longer than the recipe calls for. Reduce the water by 50 grams in the initial mix and then slowly add the remaining water until you achieve the correct hydration level. You may need to bake the focaccia a few minutes longer than called. This will take some trial and error!
How to store and freeze for later
You can keep leftover focaccia bread stored at room temperature for up to 2 days before it will start to get stale. Just keep it in a plastic bag or a container with a lid.
Focaccia is best served the day it’s made, however, you can easily freeze leftover focaccia.
After the focaccia has completely cooled, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then in a layer of foil. It can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Allow to thaw at room temperature, then reheat in a 325°F oven until warmed through and crispy, about 10-15 minutes.
Sample baking schedule
- Friday 6 PM: Feed sourdough starter.
- Saturday 6 AM: Mix dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature.
- Saturday 7AM: Stretch and fold dough for 1 minute. Dump into oiled pan. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 12-14 hours. (Roast garlic in the meantime.)
- Saturday 7PM: Add toppings and bake.
Other recipes you may like:
- Sourdough Pizza Crust
- Olive and Walnut Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Country Loaf
- Sourdough Discard Crackers
We hope you love the ease and versatility of this recipe as much as we do! Leave us a message in the comment section below!
Sourdough Focaccia Bread Recipe
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Ingredients
Focaccia Dough
- 1 ¼ cups + 1 tablespoon (325 g) water
- ¼ cup (50 g) sourdough starter "levain" (active)
- 1 ½ teaspoons (8 g) fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) olive oil
- 2 ¾ cups + 2 teaspoons (350 g) all-purpose flour
Other ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil (for coating baking pan and roasting garlic)
- 1 head roasted garlic
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Prepare sourdough starter in advance: You will need to prepare the "levain" before you begin mixing the dough. To a clean jar add 10g starter + 25g water + 25g flour and let rise until doubled. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the maturity of your starter, this can take anywhere from 4-12 hours.
- Add the water, starter, salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil and all-purpose flour to a large mixing bowl and use a stiff spatula or your hands to mix thoroughly. (Dough will be very wet.) Cover and let rest 30-60 minutes.
- Leave the dough in the bowl and use your hands or a bowl scraper to stretch and fold the dough for one minute.
- Use your hands to coat an 8" x 8" baking dish with olive oil. Dump the dough into the baking dish and use your oiled hands to gently press it in the pan. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 12-14 hours. (It's ready to bake when it's risen halfway up the side of the pan and there are bubbles on the surface and edges of the dough.)
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Add garlic and rosemary on top of dough and bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and serve warm.
Roasted Garlic
- Preheat your oven to 425°. Cut off the top of the head of garlic. Place the head of garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap the garlic in the foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool until ready to bake focaccia.
Notes
- The "levain" is the amount of active starter we prepare to mix into the dough.
- Use the scoop and level technique to measure your flour if you do not have a kitchen scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour in the bag. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup until it is heaped on top. Take a butterknife and level off the top. This should give you the most accurate measurement for flour.
- Tips for baking in warm and/or high humidity areas - When baking in high humidity and/or warmer areas, it's often a good practice to use less water and bake a little longer than the recipe calls for. Reduce the water by 50 grams in the initial mix and then slowly add the remaining water until you achieve the correct hydration level. You may need to bake the focaccia a few minutes longer than called. This will take some trial and error!
- Make sure you roast the garlic while you're waiting for the dough to ferment. The garlic can be roasted ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready to bake.
- Sourdough focaccia bread is best served warm on the same day it's baked.
- Store leftovers at room temperature in a plastic bag or container.
- Freeze leftovers for up to 3 months wrapped in plastic wrap and foil.
Elise says
Thank you for posting easy instructions - your recipe was much easier to follow than many others. My foccacia was amazing! I did the roasted garlic and rosemary on top and it was delicious, and looks so pretty. I let mine rest overnight, a little longer than suggested and it was great. Such a keeper!
Beth Kennel says
Can you use more whole wheat flour in this and the pizza dough recipe?
Amy Duska says
Yes you can, I would go up to 150g.
Jim Cokas says
I've enjoyed several of your recipes Amy (crackers, banana bread, pizza dough) and this one was pretty simple up to the point where I pulled it out of the over. At that point I wasn't sure whether to let it cool in the pan for an hour or get it to release right away? At the end of your otherwise great video you don't really specify anything. So I'm sitting here pondering how to proceed. You see I just pulled it out of the oven. It's not wanting to come our of the pan easily though. I'll let you know what I do but it would be great if you'd let us know what you do?
Amy Duska says
Hi Jim, sorry about that. Right after I remove it from the oven, I take my focaccia out of the pan and transfer it to a cooling rack and serve it warm.
Sam B. says
I've made the recipe twice now with some variations... olives instead of garlic and rosemary, missing my baking window and letting the dough rise in the fridge overnight and baking the next morning, and adding a bit more starter since mine is not really bubbly. It really didn't matter. It came out great no matter what.I also sprinkled the top with Kosher salt before baking...yummy for salt lovers.
Nancy says
This recipe came out great. Except my roasted garlic burnt to a crisp. I followed the recipe and placed the rosemary and roasted garlic on top of the dough, and baked it for 40 min. Any tips on preventing the garlic from burning? Should I bake the dough for 20 min first and place the garlic halfway through or something?
Amy Duska says
Hi Nancy, yes I would add it halfway next time. Is your oven rack on the top near the heating elements?
C says
Hi,
So I just made this recipe. Love the video and easy steps to follow. Except that the texture came out chewy. The bottom a perfect golden colour. Top a bit pale (I even cooked it for longer than 40minutes). Is it because my starter is fairly new (like a month old?) should I let it rise longer than the 12-14 hours? Just not sure why it came out chewy.
Amy Duska says
It could be the flour you are using. Are you using all-purpose or bread flour?
C says
Unbleached all purpose. I’ll try again with bread flour. Could it be my starter? It’s about a month old, but I find I can only feed it 1:1:1 since it takes at least 12 hours to double (in a warm environment). Is there a way to bulk up the amount of yeast so it rises faster and more?
Amy Duska says
I'm not sure, it probably has something to do with the starter. I'm sorry that I haven't been very helpful!
MK says
I can't get to any video. Could someone please send me the link to the video. My mixture is liquid!?
Amy Duska says
I've added the Jump to Video button at the top of the page. The dough is very loose so don't let that worry you.
Smruti says
So I made this recipe and it turned out pretty well. There were two things I'd end up changing:
1) I used clingwrap to cover it during its rise and the focaccia rose so much that it ended up sticking to the clingwrap and deflating a bit. Maybe I'll oil the clingwrap next time or just cover with a tea towel to prevent this.
2) It tasted delicious but I think I would add another half teaspoon salt (we like salt in our house!). I used regular table salt, not sea salt, so maybe this accounted for the flavor.
HIghly recommend this recipe. Thanks Amy!
Amy Duska says
Thanks for sharing your tips! 🙂
Winnie says
Thanks for the recipe. I just have a question about the sourdough starter. It says in the ingredients that 50g is needed, but in the Notes it says only 100g will be used. Which one is correct?
Amy Duska says
It's 50g. I have corrected that in the notes! Thank you 🙂
Caitlin D says
This turned out really well. I think I underdid it on the olive oil in the pan and ended up with some sticking, but that's my fault for not measuring the oil exactly. Also, this was my 7-year-old son's first time trying roasted garlic, and he loved it so much that he picked all of the garlic cloves off the top of the focaccia when nobody was looking. Clearly I'll have to make more for him in the future. Thank you!
Jennifer says
Another amazing post Amy. Thank you so much and keep them coming
Amy Duska says
Thank you so much! 😊
Leigh says
Can you double this delicious looking recipe?!
Amy Duska says
Yes you can double it. I would cook in a 9" x"13 pan (increase cooking time, probably about 5 minutes, but keep an eye out, as I have not used this size before) or in two 8" x 8" pans.