Sourdough Focaccia

This sourdough focaccia is light and airy, and loaded with flavor. You can top it simply with some olive oil, herbs, and sea salt for a delicious dipping bread to go with your meal. 

You can split squares of this bread through the middle to make sandwiches like you might find in an Italian American deli and load it up with deli meats, cheeses, pesto, and veggies. You'll have the perfect sandwich for a picnic. 

For some unconventional sandwiches, you can even use this bread to make a beef dip or a grilled cheese sandwich! 

This focaccia is an adaptation of the fluffy focaccia with garlic oil and herbes de Provence that I posted in March. What's different is that I used dried Italian herb seasoning and standard extra virgin olive oil rather than garlic oil for drizzling. 

The other difference is that today's focaccia is made with sourdough starter rather than commercial yeast. This adds a nice faint tang to the flavor of the bread, plus, it lengthens the time that it takes to make this bread because of a longer rising time. As an example, for the yeasted focaccia, the second rise is less than an hour, while for this bread, the second rise could be anywhere between 3 to 6 hours. It's worth it, both for the flavor and the simple joy of baking with sourdough. 

With this bake, I ran out of time for the second rise, and had to bake the bread at around 2 hours (recommended time was 4 to 6 hours), but the dough had so much oven spring and it continued to rise high and become super airy as you can see!

I do have one other sourdough focaccia. It's a sweet focaccia with butter in the dough and topped with egg, cream, and jam: sourdough focaccia with preserves. 

Ingredients in this Focaccia: 

Sourdough Starter: You will need a generous amount of starter, one cup. Your starter should be "ripe" and active and should have been fed the day before. If you've been neglecting your starter, it's a good idea to feed it over a couple of days to get it active. 

Water: It should be about 90 to 110 degrees F, especially if your kitchen is colder. 

Salt: You can use table, kosher, or sea salt. It's a good idea to measure it with a scale to take into account the variations. I used table salt for the dough and flake sea salt for the topping. 

Sugar. 

Dried Italian Herbs: You can use your favorite blend of herbs such as herbes de Provence or sprinkle it with some chopped fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme. 

Olive Oil: Both for the dough and for topping. 

To Make this Focaccia:

First, combine all of the dough ingredients together by hand or dough whisk in a large bowl. 

After that, you will stretch and fold the dough every 15 minutes in the bowl over the next 45 minutes and then let the dough rise until almost doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Once the dough has risen, gently lay it into an oiled 9 inch by 9 inch square pan and flip the dough over to coat it with oil. Cover the pan and let the dough rise until nearly doubled. 4 to 6 hours. I ran out of time and baked mine at 2 hours. Fortunately it had been sitting in a warm spot, was puffy, and continued to rise in the oven. 

Sprinkle the dough with more olive oil and dimple the top with your fingers. Sprinkle the top with the dried herbs. 

Finally, bake the focaccia for about 18 to 20 minutes in the pan, and then 5 to 8 minutes on the oven rack after having been removed from the pan (for more browning). 

You will need a 9 inch by 9 inch square baking pan with straight sides. A dark pan is recommended. King Arthur Baking has a pan modeled after a Detroit Style pan. I don't have this pan and used a slightly darker toned square cake pan. 

You can also use a pan with different dimensions, and your bread will end up either thicker or thinner. I do have a Lloyd's Detroit style pizza pan that I want to try with this recipe (but haven't yet). 

"S" is for Sourdough, Smoothie, Spinach, Spicy, Scallops, Semitas, and More!

To continue the 2025 Alphabet Challenge, we are sharing recipes that begin with "R" or include ingredients that that begin with "S." 

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Focaccia 
• A Messy Kitchen: Marionberry Lavender Chiffon Cake 
• Blogghetti: Spinach and Cheese Crescent Rolls 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Spicy Peas 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Semitas 
• Food Lust People Love: Fresh Scallop Sashimi 
• Culinary Cam: Semifreddo al Miele 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Weeknight Sweet Italian Sausage Gravy with Beer 
• Magical Ingredients: Shahi Paneer Dip
• Palatable Pastime: Seasoned Baked Chicken Legs
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Chermoula Sweet Potato Salad

For the 2024 Alphabet Challenge (last year), I made Cold Sesame Noodles. Try them! They're delicious! 

 

Sourdough Focaccia

Yield: 12 large pieces

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 30 MinInactive time: 6 HourTotal time: 7 Hour

This sourdough focaccia is light and airy, and loaded with flavor. You can top it simply with some olive oil, herbs, and sea salt for a delicious dipping bread to go with your meal. 

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 240 grams (1 cup) ripe sourdough starter
• 171 grams (3/4 cup) water, 90 to 110 degrees F
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (19 grams) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups (300 grams) bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 grams) table salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 grams) granulated sugar

For Panning and Topping

• 2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs for topping
• Large pinch of flaked sea salt for topping

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the starter, water, olive oil, flour, salt, and sugar. Cover and the bowl and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
2. Stretch and fold the dough in the bowl (about 12 pulls with your wet hand around the bowl each time) four separate sessions over the next 45 minutes, covering the bowl between sessions. The stretch and fold sessions should add strength to the dough and help develop the gluten.
3. Let the dough rest in a warm part of your kitchen for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until nearly doubled.
4. Spray a 9 inch by 9 inch square baking pan with spray oil and spread a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of the pan. Place a strip of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan with the ends overhanging the sides of the pan so you can use it to help lift the focaccia from the pan.
5. Gently transfer the dough in one piece into the pan without deflating it. Flip the dough over with your hands so that all sides are coated in olive oil. Cover the pan and let it spread and rise until the dough has risen about one inch. If your dough deflated when transferring, let it rise a bit more. 
6. Heat the oven to 475 degrees F. Drizzle the top of the dough with one to two tablespoons of olive oil and, using your fingers, dimple the top of the dough, gently pressing into the dough. The dimples should be about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Sprinkle the top with the herbs and salt.
8. Bake the loaf for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the focaccia from the pan to the oven rack and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until the top, sides, and bottom are deeply golden.
9. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

155

Fat (grams)

5 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

23 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

22 g

Sugar (grams)

0 g

Protein (grams)

4 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2025/09/sourdough-focaccia.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

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Recipe adapted from King Arthur Baking.