Sourdough focaccia doesn't get much faster or easier than this! Made with discard starter and optional yeast, this crunchy, chewy bread takes well to variations. Add any toppings or herbs you like.
Bakery life
My first baking job, during my freshman year at UC Santa Cruz, lasted about three months. Our shift began at 4 am. Often as I left my on-campus apartment, frequently still drunk from the night before, my apartment mates, who hadn't yet gone to bed, would set down their joints and pipes to wave goodbye.
I'd work until 11 am or so, then go straight to a day of classes and a night of partying. Then I'd repeat the scenario again at 3:30 the next morning. This all makes me sound rather un-bojon and go-getterish, which I assure you is not the case.
About once a week, I would turn off my alarm clock in my sleep and be awakened, either naturally or by a phone call, around 9am, 5 hours late for work. Needless to say, my roommate hated me. But my boss let me continue to work there, probably because I was the only female/person under the age of 40 out of the dozen or so employees in the bakery.
Working at UCSC's College 8, which provided baked goods for the entire campus's cafeterias, was not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. Most days, my tasks consisted of mixing canned bright red cherry goo into a waiting hotel pan of muffin batter, then scooping out six hundred muffins. Other times I'd operate the "cookie machine," which, when it wasn't getting jammed, spat out a dozen balls of cookie dough at a time onto waiting sheet pans.
My favorite part of the job was dimpling out the oiled, herb-coated focaccia dough as it slowly rose in multiple hotel pans. But my least favorite part of the job was hearing my burly, mulletted boss pronounce the word "focaccia". He'd start in with a sort of growl (fuuuhhhh...), then add a hacking sneeze in the middle ("GAH-tchuh"), followed by a redundant, polysyllabic description of what focaccia means in English ("BRAY-ed"). Sort of endearing, I suppose, but the defilement of such a beautiful language made me want scream "Focaccia you! Eh?"
Easy Sourdough Focaccia
Full of big, "old-dough" flavor, the generous dose of olive oil makes the outsides of this sourdough focaccia addictively crisp and keeps it moist for several days. A sprinkle of flaky salt and fresh herbs add palate pleasing complexity. Cut it into fingers and serve as hors d'oeuvres, or slice horizontally for sandwiches or bruschetta.
Discard & Flours
Because this sourdough focaccia dough uses commercial yeast, this is a great way to use up starter that isn't strong enough to raise bread on its own, such as young or neglected starter, or what you would throw away while feeding your starter to build it up. Just be sure the starter still smells nice.
I've experimented with a few different flours for this sourdough focaccia recipe. I found that using white and whole spelt flour makes a spongy, springy focaccia, while bread flour makes a chewier dough with bigger, more irregular air pockets, as shown in these photos, which I prefer. You can vary the herbs and toppings to your liking. I plan to try pressing whole, roasted garlic cloves into the top next time.
This sourdough focaccia dough is extremely wet, and probably impossible to knead by hand, so use a stand mixer for sure.
For more sourdough recipes:
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this quick sourdough focaccia recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Quick Sourdough Focaccia
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 6 oz. liquid sourdough starter (3/4 cup flat, 1 1/2 cups or more bubbly)
- 1 teaspoon instant, rapid rise yeast (or 1 Tablespoon fresh yeast) (you can omit this if your starter is very active)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (4 1/4 oz.)
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose or bread flour (8 oz.)
- 1 1/4 cups water, lukewarm (10 oz.)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 cup good olive oil (I like Sciabica's)
- 1/4 teaspoon or so crunchy salt, like malden or fleur de sel
- optional toppings: 1/2 cup halved pitted black olives; chopped thyme, rosemary, or sage; whole roasted garlic cloves; anything else you can think of
Instructions
- Combine the starter, yeast, water and flours in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or dough hook attachment (both work!). Mix on low a couple of minutes until combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then increase to speed 3 and beat for 8 minutes. The dough should be very wet and sticky, almost batter-like, but not liquid. Add more flour or water as you knead if the dough seems overly wet or dry. Sprinkle on the salt, and beat on 3 for another five minutes. The dough should still be sticky, but should pull away from the sides of the bowl while it's mixing. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap, and let rise 1-2 hours until doubled or tripled in bulk.
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and place a baking stone on top, if you have one. Place a sacrificial metal or cast iron pan on the floor of the oven - you will put ice in it to steam the oven, and it will become rusted and nasty. (UPDATE: a reader reported that the recipe works beautifully without this step, so I'm calling it optional!) Preheat the oven to 500º.
- Line a 9x12" (1/4 sheet) pan with a sling of parchment paper (the paper should lay flat in the bottom with the long ends sticking out.) Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil all over the bottom and sides of the paper. With a plastic scraper, turn the dough over in the bowl a few times, tamping out some of the air bubbles, then blob it onto the center of the oiled parchment. Drizzle the remaining oil on top and use your fingers to dimple the dough outwards towards the sides and corners. Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour, until it mostly fills in the pan, dimpling out the dough a few more times to fill in the corners. The olive oil will pool in the corners, so use a teaspoon to "baste" the top of the focaccia with that oil. Sprinkle a bit of crunchy salt over the top, and any other toppings you like, and give the dough a last dimpling.
- Fill a 1 cup measure with ice cubes. Quickly place the focaccia pan on the baking stone and toss the ice cube into the sacrificial pan on the floor of the oven. Close the door and don't open it again for the next 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, rotate the focaccia, then turn the oven down to 450º and bake for another 5 - 15 minutes, until golden and lovely on top. Remove to a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then lift out of the pan and cool completely before snarfing.
- Store the focaccia at room temperature in a plastic bag for up to a few days (but I doubt it will last that long!)
Notes
- mix the dough - 20 minutes
- first rise - 1-2 hours
- second rise - 45-60 minutes
- bake - 30-40 minutes
- cool - 1 hour
Nutrition
Have you ever done it without the instant yeast and just use the starter?? I want to try it that way, and thinking it would be fine, just longer rise times, right?
I never have! Please let me know how it goes. :)
Ok- so I did it and it worked good but not great. Well- the taste is amazing- but it's a bit flat and dense. The first rise was about 6 hours and then I put it in the fridge overnight, took it out in the morning and let it warm up for a few hours- then baked. Also, I added fresh sliced figs and they were so juicy that it made the dough way more liquid than I realized. Dimpling was impossible- so that may have attributed to the rise problem. But it is so delicious and I will keep working on it to perfect. Keep you posted how it goes next time!
Thank you for the recipe and Tracy, thank you for the information on making without commercial yeast. I'm about to try to make it with just my starter, as you did. I'll report back!
I have, with a longer first rise, like 12-18 hours. Turned out great!
This turned out wonderful in every way. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank-you so much for providing weights of ingredients! Bubbly sourdough starter is not easy to measure by volume.
I completely agree!
Have you done this with active dry yeast instead of instant? If so, how does that change the rise time? Looking forward to trying this soon!
I haven't tried but please let me know if you experiment. :)
Had little faith in the dough since it was very sticky and I down own a stand mixer so was kneading by hand. So I went and made a different leas hydration focaccia. I’m pleased to say this turned out so good that I gave the others away!! I didn’t use ice or stone, just made it in a baking sheet
I'm so glad this was a success in spite of hand mixing that sticky dough. Thanks so much for the rating and comment! :)
I made this recipe and it turned out amazing!! Bread lasted only a day so I better make a double batch next time. Personally, the dough was still manageable by hand and was a delight to watch rise.
Absolutely fantastic! Cut way back on the total amount of olive oil, added minced garlic and rosemary when the sea salt was added. Can’t wait to use it for a panini, if it lasts that long!
Baking recipes need weights, grams preferred.
Hi,
I’m just about ready to try your quick and dirty sourdough focaccia and I noticed you say to use the paddle attachment on the mixer, but in one of your photos it shows a dough hook attachment. Do you switch attachments at some point in the process or is the photo just for looks?
Ah nice catch! It should be the dough hook. Please let me know if the dough hook works if you give it a try, and how it comes out!
The timing for baking seems too much. The bread becomes brown on the top in the first 15 minutes. Or at least mine did😅
Hm thanks for letting me know! Is your oven calibrated and do you have an external thermometer in there? My oven runs about 25 degrees cold so I have to use an external thermometer. Also which rack did you bake the bread on?
I began reading and realized without reading the full recipe we had attended the same alma mater. I decided to try your recipe and it turned out perfectly on the first try! Thank you so much for sharing!
Aw I love meeting fellow banana slugs! I graduated in 2004 - how about you? I'm so glad you liked the recipe and that it worked well! :)
Do you add any olive oil to the dough, while mak8ng or when it is resting? Or
Only while baking?
Only to the pan. Let me know if you make it! :)
I've been using a starter I've had for about nine years. It's from a small pack I sent away for from Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail (no kidding, it's been in his family that long.) With the pandemic, all my friends started asking for starter and YOUR RECIPE is, hands down, my most favorite focaccia recipe ever. I use the paddle and it works just fine. I bake for 15, turn pans, bake for 4 more minutes and voila! I don't do the sacrificial pan, the crust is always so crunchy and the crumb is delightfully chewy with great, big holes. Someone asked about skipping the yeast. I made a batch with and without and b/c my starter is so darn active, I couldn't tell which was which. Thank you so very much for this amazing recipe!
Quick question...can someone who doesn't have a stand mixer use this recipe or is it too labor intensive?
That's a great question. Since the batter is so wet, it might be hard to mix by hand. I've never tried so I can't say for sure. Let me know if you decide to brave it!
This is awesome feedback, thank you! I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the recipe so much. Great to know it can be made without yeast and sacrificial pan, that's brilliant! Happy baking to you. :)
Love this recipe! Due to pandemic shortages, I've been making it without instant yeast and just letting it rise longer (2-4 hours,). It is more flat, as another commenter mentioned- maybe it needs even more time.
I also didn't want to sacrifice a metal pan, so I use an ovenproof glass casserole pan to hold the ice cubes - the steam really seems to help!
Best focaccia bread ever!!! Made this to be a side with homemade lasagna... my family has not quit oohing & aawing since! Light & fluffy, topped with fresh rosemary & Himalayan sea salt...no need to have additional oil to dip... My husband claimed "perfection" on Father's Day! Cannot wait to do this again & am thrilled to have a new go-to "quicker" recipe with my sourdough starter.
BTW, I did not use the ice trick, just put the pan in my pre-heated 500* oven for 15 minutes, then rotated pan & baked another 5 minutes at 450*... AMAZING! Thanks for such a great recipe!
I made this yesterday and it was terrific. I was looking for a recipe that could be made with sourdough starter in one day. The addition of instant yeast gave the boost needed to speed things up and it turned out great. We topped it with rosemary, garlic and Kalamata olives, in different combinations. The rosemary and garlic combo was the fan favorite but all were really good. Thanks for the great recipe! I appreciate the inclusion of whole wheat flour.
I just pulled this out of the oven. I did apply a layer of tomato paste to half of it in an effort to see if I can make tomato pie like we have in Philadelphia. My only issue I had was that the dimples would fill in after a minute and I think that means I needed a bit more flour. I had already added about a half a cup at the point in the recipe indicated to do so but maybe I needed a bit more. Will taste in a few minutes after cooling.
Absolutely the best focaccia I’ve tried; and that’s been trying different recipes since I’ve been on furlough since April. The use of the starter discard made all the difference. In addition, I roasted my garlic in olive oil and used that olive oil for the bread. Oh yum, thank you.
Ooh that sounds like heaven! Thanks so much for the sweet note and rating, I really appreciate it!
This was fantastic! I was looking for a sourdough focaccia I could have ready in just a few hours. I didn't have whole wheat flour so did half rye/half AP in place of it. I didn't use the ice cubes, and it was still so crunchy on the outside, and chewy/tangy inside with lots of air bubbles. I will definitely make this again! I added fresh rosemary and cracked pepper before baking.
Sounds delish. One question: if you use a stainless steel bowl or pan for the ice, why would it have to be sacrificed? It should survive just fine.
I'm not sure about that, but you can certainly try!
Have made this twice already. It's so good! And an excellent way to use up sourdough discard :) I cooked minced garlic in olive oil for a few minutes and used that to coat the bottom and drizzle on top.
That garlic oil sounds divine!! I'm so glad you like the recipe. Thanks a bunch for the note!
I made this today because well... why not. My first attempt at focaccia using a different recipe was an epic failure after a much, much longer period of waiting. I found this quicker version and gave it a shot. I did not use the ice and instead of a baking pan I used a 12" cast iron skillet. So now I have a round focaccia that smells divine and I cannot wait for dinner time to try it out. It sure looks the part.
Oooh I bet this is beautiful and delicious made in a skillet. Please let me know how you like it!
I don't like the taste of wheat flour bread and my sourdough starter is all bread flour. Can bread or all purpose flour be used instead of wheat flour? Should either the bread flour or all purpose flour be added in the same amount as the wheat flour? I am almost ready to try this recipe but don't want to waste my starter discard by not getting the amounts of flour correct. Thanks!
Hi Linda, You can absolutely use all white or bread flour instead of the whole wheat flour. Just add all the flour together as per the instructions. I bet it turns out extra lofty and chewy that way! Please let me know how you like it. :)