Crisp and Fluffy Sourdough Focaccia
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A very easy focaccia recipe made with sourdough starter. This sourdough focaccia is fluffy, crispy and very light. Switch up the toppings, turn it into a pizza, or even sandwiches! Very good!!
Like so many other recipes, focaccia making is almost more about technique than it is about ingredients.
Why Focaccia and What Makes a Good One?
Focaccia is an Italian rustic flatbread that is very versatile.
According to master baker Jeffrey Hamelman, it may have herbs and oil in the dough or it may be plain. Traditionally, people made it with whatever was in season or whatever they had on hand.
At its simplest and as is shown here, it is made with olive oil, rosemary, and a sprinkling of coarse salt. In Florence, it is popular to use grapes and fennel seeds (As described in “Bread, A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes”).
Many suggestions are shown below under “Variations and Topping Ideas” – just make sure not to overload your focaccia with too much toppings and ensure that you do spread them evenly.
So…there are a million focaccia recipes out there, but what really makes a good focaccia?
Well, my ideal focaccia it must be flavorful with a soft chewy fluffy interior yet crispy on the outside. I also prefer my focaccia on the thick side, but that’s not an absolute must.
A Few Important Tips!
- A long slow rise or overnight cold rise gives the dough that delicious taste that you can only get from a slow rise, much like my favorite NY Pizza dough. Some people may also use a preferment like a biga to get good flavor.
- To get a good crisp, you need the dough to be well developed (long rise) and also need to baking on a baking stone/steel OR in the bottom third of your oven.
- A fluffy interior comes from a long final rise, and the right amount of starter or yeast (must be active)!
- Also, we can’t forget, a high amount of water is going to help give you that beautiful crumb inside.
- Using the right amount of dough for your pan will give you the desired thickness.
This recipe also contains a bit of oil in the dough for more of a chewy crumb.
I love focaccia because it is delicious, soft and chewy on the inside with a crispy crust, and it is so incredibly versatile. Change up the toppings or make it into a sandwich. The options are plentiful.
Read more tips from an Italian baker who shares a top 10 list of tips.
Variations and Toppings Ideas
Here are some focaccia topping ideas (always with salt and a drizzle of olive oil).
- Rosemary, coarse salt, and olive oil
- Red and green grapes with fennel seeds 🍇
- Pesto and chicken 🐓 (precooked chicken)
- Pizza sauce and cheese 🧀
- Olives and lemon zest 🫒
- Oregano, red pepper flakes 🌿
- Garlic, olive oil, and fresh herbs
- Tomatoes, olive, feta 🍅
- Roasted eggplant or zucchini (lightly roasted) 🍆
- Fresh tomatoes, cheese, basil
- Cherry tomatoes and pesto
- Sausage and cheese (precooked meat)
- Artichoke and spinach
- Caramelized onions 🧅
- Pepperoni and cheese
- Roasted garlic and oregano 🧄
- Balsamic reduction
- Thinly sliced potatoes and rosemary 🥔
Focaccia Sandwich Ideas
Thick sourdough focaccia can be easily sliced open to make a great sandwich or, for bigger appetites, use 2 pieces. You can also make paninis by grilling any of these sandwich combinations.
Some ideas for making a delicious focaccia sandwich include:
- Mixed cheeses
- Ham and cheese
- Caprese (tomato and cheese)
- Meatball sandwiches
- Italian meats (ie, proscuitto, capicola, salami, etc)
- Bacon, lettuce, and tomato
- Club sandwiches with turkey
- Grilled vegetables with pesto
- Egg salad or chicken salad
- Cuban sandwich
- Chicken breast with spinach, roasted peppers
Leftover Focaccia
I doubt you’ll have leftover, but just in case here are some ideas….
- Cut and use focaccia to make plain croutons or flavored croutons
- Dry the focaccia and make breadcrumbs (plain focaccia)
Storage, Make Ahead, Freezing
The dough can be made the night before and is best tasting after a long cold proof in the refrigerator.
After baking, the focaccia is best enjoyed the same day.
To freeze place slices in freezer bag for up to 1 to 3 months.
You can flash freeze sliced focaccia on a cookie sheet and then transfer the pieces to a freezer bag or you can wrap pieces in plastic wrap and then place in sealed contained in the freezer.
If you tried this recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
📖 Recipe
Thick Soft yet Crispy Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
Equipment
- 13 x 9, baking sheet, small sheet pan, casserole dish For rectangular focaccia
- 10-inch cake pans (two) For round focaccia
- large mixing bowl
- baking stone or steel optional but highly recommended
Ingredients
- 125 grams (0.5 cups) mature sourdough starter
- 375 grams (1 2/3 cups) water
- 10 grams (2.5 tsp) sugar
- 500 grams (4 cups) bread flour
- 15 grams (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 10 grams (1 3/4 tsp) salt
For the Topping
- 1/4 cup olive oil or as needed (and to drizzle after baked)
- 1 teaspoon salt coarse flaky salt is recommended for topping but use what you have on hand.
- rosemary (fresh or dried) as needed
Instructions
To Mix the Dough
- Mix the mature sourdough starter, sugar, water and flour into a shaggy mass of dough and set aside, covered, in a warm spot for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour has passed, add the salt and olive oil to the dough.
- Mix the dough well after the salt and oil have been incorporated. I like to scrunch/pinch it in, you can use your fingers to press it in and keep folding the dough until incorporated.
First Rise of the Dough
- Place dough in a covered container to let rise for a total of about 1.5 hours in a warm spot. Every 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough. Try to form a square like shape – a square baking dish helps here. You can also coil fold the dough, which is a simple and very effective technique.
Final Rise of the Dough
- Place the dough on your baking sheet (which must be well-oiled) and allow it to rest at room temperature in a warm location for 3 to 4 hours until it's nice and bubbly. It should spread out naturally on its own, but if it needs some help, gently stretch it.
- If you are using cake pans (10-inch), divide dough in half and gently place into the cake pans. (500 grams or 1 lb of dough in each one).
- Alternatively, instead of the 3 to 4-hour warm rise, place in the refrigerator overnight (or up to 2-3 days), cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap (so it doesn't stick to the dough), and bake the next day. The focaccia can be baked directly from the refrigerated state.
Baking the Focaccia
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and insert a baking stone or baking steel if you have one, in the center of the oven.
- Before baking, dimple the top of the focaccia heavily by pressing your fingers in the dough and pushing all the way down to the bottom. Do this repeatedly all over the top of the focaccia.
- Top your focaccia with olive oil, salt and rosemary (or whatever topping you'd like) and bake on the baking stone or steel for about 20 minutes until golden and the bottom is crispy.
- IMPORTANT: If you don't have a baking stone or steel, ensure you are baking the focaccia in the bottom third of your oven so the bottom gets nice and crispy.
- To finish, drizzle the baked focaccia with additional olive oil l
I have been trying to make the perfect sourdough focaccia and have tried a dozen recipes! This is the perfect one!!! I made it in a 10″ pan so it was 3 1/2″ tall and pillowy soft inside! I can’t wait to try different toppings!
This turned out great! I baked if off in the morning after a night in the fridge. I added a few cherry tomatoes from my garden as well. Making it again this weekend and plan to add carmelized onions.
How many times do you stretch and fold?
After mixing the dough, I would stretch and fold at 30 minutes and then again at 60 minutes and possibly again at 90 minutes if the dough isn’t holding its shape at all or it seems too slack. if kitchen is warmer, 2 sets of folds should be good and if cooler, try 3 sets (ie, at 30, 60 and 90 minutes)
Hi! I’m not sure why but before the final rise my dough is not sad bubbly it seems. Do you have any recess or ideas on what would cause that and how I can resolve it? It still has about 3 hours to rise for second rise but no bubble yet.
Thanks!
hard to say but I would try to warm it up a bit – time and temperature are the best ways to help. maybe place it near a large pot of simmering water. Another question is was the starter pretty active? I always recommend refreshing a few times if your starter has been dormant. A good sign is if it doubles or triples at room temp within 4 to 6 hours of feeding. I use a 1:2:2 ratio of starter to flour to water to feed. I hope this helps!
This was amazing! So crispy and flavorful. It was such a big hit. My family couldn’t stop talking about it. Thank you for this recipe!
🙏 😊
Made this last night and it was delicious. I did let it proof for 2 days in the fridge. Question I used a lot of oil in my glass pan and still had some issues with it sticking to the bottom. Suggestions??
Is your pan well seasoned? That’s the first recommendation I’d make. Otherwise, use a bit more oil or try oiled parchment as a liner for your pan
This receipe is the best! After trying others, I tried it yesterday and baked today. The best texture and flavor. I used fresh pesto and sliced cherry tomatos on top, amazing!!
Must try that! yumm
By mature starter, do you mean discard that is mature or starter that has peaked?
You can use either but the key is that it should double or triple within 4 to 6 hours after being fed. Of your discard has been refrigerated for a while without activation, it will probably take a few feeding intervals to get there
I totally misread and added in the olive oil and salt with the starter, water, and flour…HELP! Do I just a lighter version, or do I skip step 2?
If I were you, I would probably just skip to the first rise of the dough, but it might take a little longer – try doing 2 to 2.5 hours instead of 1.5 hours.
I am making this tonight and can’t tell if you are supposed to cover pan before putting in frig for long ferment. Please help.
Thank you so much.☺️☺️
Yes, cover loosely with plastic wrap. Hope you love it!
Wowww just wowww…I’ve been trying so many sd foccaccia recipes..but this on has got to be my favourite.
I used 00 flour. a rhy starter and omg……it’s everything you want from a foccaccia…I can only imagine using a white flour starter.
Thank you so much Maria.
Hi im curious about the overnight proof part? Recipes usually require a proof after the refrigeration – what do u mean bake out of the refrigerator? If i transfer the dough to a pan it will deflate, do i not let it rise again? Thanks.
Sure, so I often use a technique where I will shape it before I place it in the refrigerator. So do the final shaping in your pan cover place it in the refrigerator and the dough will continue to rise until it reaches the refrigerator temperature. At that point when you bake it cold, it will increase the oven spring, which means it will get larger bubbles and poop up more because the dough is cold. Does that make sense?
When you put RP the dough in the baking pan to let set for 3-4 hours, do you cover it with something like a tea towel? Thank you! Would like to try this today.
It’s best to do that yes. Hope you love it!
Hello, I’ve got a question! You mean leaving the dough in the pan and placing it on the stone right? I can’t imagine taking the dough out of the pan and placing it on the stone (; This looks amazing and I can’t wait to make it!
Yes, for sure. Leave in the pan and bake as directed. I like to make sure it has risen enough that when you give it a gentle shake, it is nice and puffy and jiggly
I’m baking this today. After 20 minutes, the top isn’t brown yet. How many more minutes can I add to the baking time?
I would move it up a little in the oven for more color on top – if you need more bottom color, you move it up and vice versa. Hope it worked for you!
Hi, I love cooking and trying different recipes. I need to ask what is sourdough mature starter?
It is a sourdough starter that doubles to triples within 4 to 6 hours after feeding. I use a small ball jar to keep/feed mine and mark the starting point with a rubber band, and then set my timer.