Simple Sourdough Focaccia Bread [bubbly + delicious]

You need a good sourdough focaccia bread recipe in your collection. This sourdough focaccia recipe is super simple – it really just requires patience – but that’s not new for sourdough, right?

You can top sourdough focaccia bread with anything you like! I love the classic flavors of sea salt and fresh rosemary, but I’ve put some other suggestions further down for you to try. You’re really only limited by your imagination! And if you love trying different toppings, check out these sourdough focaccia bread muffins.

I know you don’t want to know my life story … but focaccia bread is something that I have been making from scratch since I lived in Italy as a teenager. Back then I made it with yeast, but now I love that I can make it even more special by using my sourdough starter. It really does add a depth of flavor that you just can’t get from commercial yeast.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

Simple Ingredients – Flour, water, salt, olive oil and whatever herbs you have on hand are all you need to create this delicious bread.

No Fancy Equipment – you don’t need a stand mixer for this recipe, a bowl and spatula is just perfect. It’s a wonderful beginners recipe!

Endless Flavors – there’s no limit to the flavor combinations you can create with this simple sourdough focaccia recipe! From sweet to savory, you’re only limited by your imagination.

What is Sourdough Focaccia Bread?

Focaccia is an Italian bread, generally baked with good quality olive oil, fresh rosemary and salt. It is said to be similar to sourdough fougasse. Its magic lies in its simplicity.

Traditionally it’s made with yeast (and more yeast than regular bread). Baking it with lashings of olive oil mean that it has a crusty, golden bottom and top with a light, yet chewy crumb inside. It’s quite springy and spongey.

Similar to pizza dough in many ways, focaccia is sometimes referred to as “pizza bianca” or white pizza because it doesn’t have the toppings that a pizza does.

Sourdough bread made with ripe sourdough starter has a deep sourdough flavor. It’s fermented for a long time to develop the signature bubbles. Using a strong sourdough starter will give you the best chance at developing gorgeous bubbles as the dough ferments.

The time your focaccia bread takes will depend on the strength of your sourdough starter.

Ingredients

• Sourdough starter – This simple sourdough bread recipe requires a strong sourdough starter that’s active and bubbly.
• Water 
• Bread Flour
• Salt – I use regular fine salt for making the dough and then add flaky sea salt to the top of the dough before baking in the oven.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Rosemary Leaves –  you can use fresh or dried rosemary, or really any dried or fresh herbs you like. Italian seasoning is really lovely with this if you don’t have fresh rosemary on hand. If your rosemary bush is laden with leaves, you might also like to try this sourdough olive bread or this sourdough parmesan and rosemary wreath.

How To Make Sourdough Focaccia Bread

This beautifully simple recipe has very few hands on steps. It starts out as a wet, soupy mess, but through the power of fermentation, turns into a light, bubbly bread that will easily become your favorite!

You’ll need a healthy, active sourdough starter that has been fed and is at its peak. This will give you the best chance of getting those beautiful bubbles (seriously whatever you do, don’t pop these).

1. Here’s how to make bubbly sourdough focaccia bread:
2. Weigh out your active starter and water into a large mixing bowl. Mix the water and starter together briefly. 
3. Then add flour and salt and mix whole lot together until it forms a sticky dough. You don’t want any dry flour left at all. You can use a jar spatula for this, it makes it much easier! Cover your bowl with cling film and let it sit for around 1 hour.
4. After the dough has been through autolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre. You should feel the dough strengthen as you do this. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth or tight, just work around the bowl stretching and folding (around 10 – 15 times is perfect).
5. Now you want to leave your dough to bulk ferment at room temperature. Cover it with plastic wrap and leave it alone to double.
6. Once the dough has doubled you need to shape the dough. Shaping sourdough focaccia is super simple (and absolutely forgiving).
7. Oil the bottom of the pan you’re going to use (or line it with some parchment paper). Use a dough scraper to gently ease the dough into a lined baking tray or cast iron skillet. Rub your hands with a little olive oil and gently pull the dough out to fill the tray. Again it doesn’t have to be perfect as it will naturally fill the tray as it proofs.
8. Let your dough rise again (this is the proof or second rise). Leave it until it’s spread out and filled the tray. It will be puffy and pillowy … you might even have some gorgeous bubbles popping up.
9. Once the dough has filled the tray and is looking puffy and full of volume, you need to dimple the dough and add the toppings. Pour olive oil over the top of the dough and then push your finger tips into the dough to create dimples. You might see some bubbles pop up as you do this.
10. Now sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary. Preheat the oven to 200C (390F).
11. Bake for 30 minutes at 200C (390F) or until golden brown.

Baker’s Schedule

​Many people have asked for ball park timing for this recipe, so I’ve added a sample baker’s timeline here. These are just guidelines, as the actual timing will depend on the strength of your sourdough starter and the temperature of your kitchen.

If you want to cold ferment the sourdough focaccia bread in the fridge overnight, the best time to do this is once you’ve shaped the dough in your chosen baking pan. Allow it to rise a little and then place into the fridge. Take the dough out a few hours before you want to bake it to allow it to come to room temperature. You want the dough to be puffy and full of bubbles before it goes in the oven.

What Baking Pan To Use?

You can really bake sourdough focaccia bread in any pan that has a lip – even a baking tray is fine. I have baked this bread many, many times and my favorite way to do it is in a cast iron pan with lashings of olive oil. Olive oil is the secret to ensuring your dough does not stick to the pan!

I first started baking this bread in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. It comes out perfectly fine – I just prefer it in cast iron. I think that the bottom crisps up a bit more.

Here are a few ideas of what to bake your focaccia bread in:

• Cast iron skillet or bread pan (the skillet I’m using is 39cm x 26cm (15 x 10 inches).
• Divide into two portions and bake in round cake tins lined with parchment paper (I do this with 20cm (8 inch) cake tins.
• Baking tray (either using olive oil or baking paper) – any medium sized tray is fine, the dough can stretch out to fit.

Troubleshooting Sourdough Focaccia Bread

While this recipe is seriously simple, there are still a few issues that can arise. Sometimes it’s the most simple of recipes that can give us the most grief!

I thought I’d put together a few troubleshooting tips that you can use as a reference in case you run into issues while making this bread.

• Dough too wet & sticky – this is a high hydration dough. It will start off really sloppy but the dough should gain strength as you perform the stretch and folds. It should then gain strength and volume during bulk fermentation. Don’t stress too much as this is a “free form” type of bread – you don’t need it to hold its shape as it is baked in a pan. You can see in the photo above what my dough looks like after autolyse (before I start stretching and folding) – it’s a wet mess! But looks how smooth and strong it is after bulk fermentation! Have patience.
• Type of flour – I recommend using bread flour for this recipe. If you need to use all purpose flour, reduce the amount of water by up to 50g because all purpose flour will not cope with higher hydration.
• Not bubbling – ideally you should get some nice big bubbles that form once the dough has been sitting in the pan for proofing. It does need to be placed in a warmer temp (ideally 24C – 28C).
• Dough sticky when dimpling – if the dough sticks to your fingers when you are dimpling it – you need more olive oil!! Seriously, there’s no such thing as too much oil! It will give you a crispy outter and so much flavor!
• Focaccia Not Browning in the Oven – this is most likely due to under fermentation. If the dough hasn’t had enough time to rest and ferment, it won’t brown in the oven, resulting in a pale, unappealing focaccia. Make sure you give your dough plenty of time at room temperature – you want some serious bubbles to form!

How To Eat Sourdough Focaccia Bread

This sourdough focaccia bread recipe can be served and eaten in so many different ways.

Dressed simply with olive oil, rosemary and salt it can accompany just about anything. Tear it, slice it, toast it, dip it – it lends itself to any occasion. And did I mention this bread dipping oil? It will take your sourdough focaccia to the next level!

It really can be a meal in itself (seriously … just add wine lol). Oh and some of this whipped herb butter or this cultured butter!

Some of my favorite toppings for sourdough focaccia include:

• Make it like a pizza – add fresh tomato, red onion, olives, mini pepperoni or roll up some salami, shredded ham or bacon, lashings of mozzarella and a generous sprinkling of pizza herbs – YUM! Check out this sourdough pizza focaccia bread!
• Olives, cherry tomatoes and olive oil, with a sprinkling of dried oregano. Add some shaved parmesan cheese once it’s out of the oven. Chef’s kiss!
• Thinly sliced onion, fresh minced garlic, olive oil and lots of salt.
• Stud the focaccia with red or green grapes cut in half, drizzle with olive oil.
• Drizzle with melted butter, dust it with cinnamon sugar and dip into melted chocolate (seriously it’s sooooo addictive!) or try this sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia bread!
• Maybe this Dill Pickle Cheddar Sourdough Focaccia is more your style?

How to Store + Freeze

This sourdough focaccia recipe is best eaten fresh and warm, right out of the oven. That being said, the olive oil will give this bread a longer shelf life. Stored in an airtight container or plastic bag, this will last a few days on the kitchen counter. It makes the loveliest grilled cheese sandwich when it’s starting to stale.

This recipe freezes really well. You can cut the sourdough focaccia into squares and freeze in ziplock bags for convenience.

Frequently Asked Questions

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