How to Make Sourdough Focaccia - Flour On My Face (2024)

How to make Sourdough Focaccia with a healthy active homemade sourdough starter.

Crispy focaccia is a delicious appetizer you can serve to guests at a dinner party or to serve along with your favorite Italian meal.

The most important part of making any type of homemade bread is kneading the dough properly.

This recipe was originally shared on Jan 6, 2014 and has been updated on August 25th with new images and recipe details.

It doesn't matter if you are makingfocaccia or a loaf of white bread the dough will need to be kneaded.

If you are newly embarking on making homemade bread at home it can be a little confusing figuring out the correct amount of time kneading the dough.

You can read a hundred recipes giving you the amount of time to knead the dough but a recipe can not show you or teach you how a properly kneaded batch of dough should look or feel.

The only way to learn is to make homemade bread and knead the dough correctly is to get your hands into a batch of dough and knead it yourself.

Kneading Focaccia

Almost all homemade bread recipes will give you an estimated amount of time to knead the dough.

That kneading time is an estimate only because there are many factors that come into play when you are making homemade bread.

The type of flour used, the amount of humidity in the air and the temperature in your kitchen will affect the dough.

Recipe Prep: Sourdough Starter

Obviously you are going to need an activesourdough starter to make this recipe.

For those of you who do not have a active sourdough starter on hand you can find my very easy instructions on How To Make a Sourdough Starter.

A starter is very easy to make but you will need to start making the starter at least 3 to 5 days before using it to bake with it.

If your house is cold it may take longer to get a starter going. You will need to keep your starter in a very warm place like on top of the refrigerator or in the kitchen on the top of your stove when you are first making it.

The natural sourdough yeast needs warmth and time to develop.

If you already have a live, healthy and active starter in the refrigerator you should take it out at least 24 hours before starting this recipe and feed it at least 3 times to get it active and bubbly.

Ingredients

To make this sourdough recipe you will only need a few ingredients.

• an active and bubbly sourdough starter
• all-purpose unbleached flour
• warm water
• olive oil
• honey
• sea salt
• toppings

Recipe Tip

This recipe can be doubled to make one large rimmed 11 x 17-inch baking sheet or two 9 x 13-inch baking sheets of focaccia.

Directions

• Step 1: The first thing you will need to do is make a sponge with sourdough starter, warm water, olive oil, honey, and flour.

Do not skip the honey or substitute another sweetener like sugar. The very small amount of honey is needed to feed the sourdough sponge.

It will make a huge difference in the amount of rise and softness the final baked bread will have.

• Step 2: Add the flour to the bowl and mix well to combine. Cover the bowl and place the bowl in a warm spot in your kitchen - like inside a cold oven with the light turned on.

Allow the sponge to get bubbly. This could take anywhere from one to two hours depending on how warm the area is where you place the bowl of sponge and how active your starter is.

Pro Tip

Notice the small popped bubbles on top of the sponge. This is how the sponge should look. The sponge will have risen slightly and bubbles will be all over the surface.

This is how the sponge will look when it is ready to use. When it looks like this you are going to add the next ingredients.

• Step 3: Add1 ½ cups of the all-purpose flour, the olive oil and salt to the bowl with the sponge. You will use the remaining ½ cup of flour to knead the dough.

• Step 4: Mix the dough until it comes together into a somewhat shaggy ball of dough that is too stiff to mix with a wooden spoon.

• Step 5: You can turn the dough out onto a flour dusted counter top or leave the dough in the bowl to knead. Dust the top of the dough with some of the remaining ½ cup of flour and start kneading the flour into the dough.

Add more flour as needed until the dough is soft and somewhat smooth and elastic.

• Step 6: Form the dough into a tight ball, drizzle with olive oil to coat the surface. Cover the bowl and place in a warm area to allow the dough to rise.

Allow to dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

• Step 7: Drizzle about a ¼th cup of olive oil into the bottom of a 9x13 inch rimmed baking pan.

Uncover the bowl of dough and punch the dough down. Place the ball of dough into the center of the baking pan.

Begin working the dough out from the center of the pan into the corners using the heal of your hand. Some of the olive oil should seep over the dough.

PRO TIP: If the dough seems too elastic and will not move into the corners of the baking pan allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes then continue to work the dough into the corners.

Cover the dough with a lint free dish towel and allow to rise until the dough rises up to the edges of the pan.

This could take 1 to 2 hours. In a warm kitchen, it takes around an hour.

• Step 8: Once the dough has doubled use your finger tips to dock or dimple the dough. (Preheat the oven to 450 F. degrees at this point)

If you don't see olive oil pooling in the dimpled dough drizzle more oil over the dough until it starts to slightly pool in most of the docked areas.

At this point the Focaccia is now ready to be baked. You may add any toppings you would like.

You can drizzle with extra olive oil (if needed) and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt before popping it in the oven.

This recipe is perfect because you can top it with whatever you want or eat it plain. Both ways will taste exceptional.

• Step 9: Bake in a 450 F, degrees oven for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for five minutes. Carefully remove the flat bread from the pan using a wide spatula.

Place the bread on the wire rack and cool to room temperature before cutting into bread sticks.

Recipe FAQs

Focaccia Toppings

I like to add toppings to focaccia like I did with this White Cheddar Cheese and Onion Sourdough Focaccia.

There are many topping options you can use. Or you can simply sprinkle the top of the focaccia with sea salt and bake it.

• Sea salt
• Thinly sliced red and green peppers
• Tomato
• Thinly sliced onion
• Green or black olives
• Chopped garlic
• Cheese

Using the right tools is just as important as using the right ingredients. Make sure your recipes turn out perfect every time.

Recipe Expert Tips

• Water: always use untreated water when baking with sourdough starter or yeast.
• Sourdough Starter: You will need a fed and active sourdough starter to make this recipe. Feed your starter for at least 24 hours before starting.
• Times: The time listed here for the Sourdough Sponge and Focaccia rising times are an estimated time based on my experience. You may find that these steps take longer or less time based on the environment you are cooking in. The temperature and humidity will effect the times.
• Focaccia Baking Pans:If doubled this recipe will make one large rimmed 11 x 17-inch baking sheet or two 9 x 13-inch baking sheets.

Check out this Onion Cheddar Cheese Focaccia Appetizer recipe I made using this Sourdough Focaccia recipe.

More sourdough recipes

Check out these other sourdough recipes you can make with sourdough discard or a well fed sourdough starter.

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