Last updated on January 31st, 2024 at 07:49 pm

A simple and easy-to-make sourdough focaccia recipe. This easy-to-follow recipe can be made with confidence and without a lot of special equipment. This bread can be topped with so many different ingredients, making it a great addition to your sourdough baking arsenal.

Easy Sourdough Focaccia, A Staple in our House!

We bake this basic sourdough focaccia recipe weekly at home. Not only is it easy to make but my daughter LOVES to dimple the bread. It’s a great way for her to learn how to work with dough and help me in the bakery. Through the seasons the toppings can be changed and you can really personalize the dough for your baking.

This recipe contains a few affiliate links but all of the products are products I use daily in my baking. The links don’t cost you anything extra but give me a small commission and that is a great way to help support my blog so I can continue to grow my blog.

If you are new to sourdough baking and need a healthy starter you can check out my guide to creating your first sourdough starter here.

Flour Specs:

For this sourdough focaccia, I am using bread flour (Ardent Mills Organic, strong bakers). If you have access to a good quality extracted flour or all-purpose those would work well with a few adjustments to the mixing and hydration. Semolina Rimacinata is a double-milled fine semolina flour and works great for this type of dough. If you don’t have access to semolina you can sub all-purpose flour.

You can also adjust the percentage of whole grains in the dough and I often add 10-30% whole wheat or whole grain spelt in place of the bread flour. This will give added nutritional value and of course better flavour.

83.3% organic strong baker’s flour
- 12.4% protein
- 0.54% ash
16.7% Semolina Rimacinata

Simplifying Sourdough Bread Online Course

Sourdough Focaccia Specs:

Yield	1 X 1300 gram sourdough focaccia
Total dough weight	1300 grams
Pre-Fermented Flour	13.61%
Levain % in Final Dough	33.4%
Total Hydration	84.6%

The bread pan I am using is a (25.4cm x 35.6cm) 10″ x 14″ LloydPan Detroit-style pizza pan. This is a great pan that can handle high heat and be used for focaccia, pizza and more.

Total Formula

Weight	Ingredient	Bakers %
586 grams	Bread Flour	85.7%
99 grams	Semolina	14.3%
578 grams	Water	91.3%
15 grams	Olive Oil	2.2%
11 grams	Levain	1.63%
12 grams	Salt	1.7%

For dimpling	Olive Oil
For dimpling	Maldon Salt

This is the TOTAL formula. Levain + Final dough = Total Formula.

Note: The hydration can be lowered to make the dough easier to handle. If you are new to bread baking, drop the hydration by 5-10% and work your way back up. If you don’t know how to use bakers percentage you can check out my guide to bakers percentage and use the embedded form to help you calculate it.

Sourdough Focaccia Dough Schedule

To help simplify the process and visualize the time commitment for making this sourdough focaccia recipe I have added a schedule. Your sourdough starter’s health and your dough temperatures can change your fermentation schedule so make sure to keep an eye on the dough and don’t rely on just the schedule. Of course, you can also alter the schedule to fit what works best for you and your baking.

Mix the Sourdough Focaccia Levain – 10:00pm

This sourdough focaccia uses an overnight levain fed at 100% hydration. You can also use a young levain by adjusting the levains inoculation. If you need help calculating your doughs percentages and to easily scale it for your baking, you can download my Sourdough Focaccia Dough Calculator.

Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Cover with a lid. I like to place an elastic band around the top of the levain at the beginning of the feed so I can monitor its growth. This build should take about 10-12 hours at 22.2°C/72°F.

Weight	Ingredient	Bakers %
93 grams	Bread Flour	100
93 grams	Water at 22.2°C/72°F	100
11 grams	Levain	12

Total: 197 grams

Autolyse – 9:00am-10:00am

Mix the flour with about 90% of the total water (this is already accounted for below but I wanted to write it here as it is a good habit to develop when mixing.) and let rest for one hour. If you are in a hurry you can also do this step with the levain but I would cut the autolyse time to about 30 minutes.

Weight	Ingredient
443 grams	Bread Flour
99 grams	Fine Semolina
436 grams	Water at 26°C/80°F
197 grams	Levain

I have reserved 49 grams of water to help mix in the salt

Add the water and levain to the mixing bowl.
Add the flour to the bowl and mix well until there are no dry bits.
Cover and leave in a warm place ideally the same as your levain build.
Autolyse for 1 hour with an ideal temperature of 26°C/80°F.

Please note: that this autolyse is WITH the levain and WITHOUT the salt.

Mix the Dough – 10:00am

Weight	Ingredient
49 grams	Water
12 grams	Salt
15 grams	Olive oil

Using the remaining water, mix the salt into the dough by hand. This should take about 5 minutes.
Once the salt is added allow the dough to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Add the olive oil and mix in by hand.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover with a lid.

Desired Dough Temperature – 27°-28C/80-82°F

Bulk Fermentation 10:30am – 1:30pm

Bulk ferment the dough for 3 hours. If you are in a cool environment place the dough in a proofer or somewhere warm in your house. If you are in a warm environment you can bulk ferment for a shorter amount of time or you can place the dough somewhere cool to slow it down.

Bulk ferment the dough for 3 hours.
Give the dough 3 stretches during the bulk fermentation.
After the last fold place the dough in the fridge until the next morning.

Divide and Preshape 9:00am

Take the dough container out of the fridge and allow the dough to come to room temperature for about 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the container onto the table and pre-shape round.
Place the dough into a lightly oiled baking pan cover and let relax for 3-5 hours.
This time will depend on your ambient temperature.

Final Shape – 1:00pm

Using lightly oiled hands gently put them under the dough and stretch it toward the corners of the pan. Be careful not to pull, degas or tear the dough.
Pour some olive oil onto the surface of the dough and using your hands rub the dough to cover it with the oil.
With the tips of your fingers, press down into the pan trying to feel the bottom of the pan without pressing all the way through the dough.
Sprinkle the dough with Maldon salt.

Note: You can sprinkle the sourdough focaccia with herbs like chopped rosemary or oregano.

Baking 1:30pm

Sourdough focaccia bakes exceptionally well in a convection oven. You can add steam to the bake but it is not required. The length of time you bake your focaccia will vary based on the thickness of the dough, the oven and whether or not you use convection or a still oven. Depending on how your oven heats you may also need to place the focaccia pan on another pan to diffuse the bottom heat and prevent the sourdough focaccia from burning.

Preheat the oven to 246°C/475°F for a still oven or 237°C/460°F for a convection oven.
Bake the focaccia for 25-30 minutes until it pulls away from the sides and is golden brown.
Check the dough after 20 minutes and rotate the pan if necessary/
When fully cooked, remove the focaccia from the oven and slide the dough onto a cooling rack.
Let the sourdough focaccia cool completely before slicing.

Sourdough focaccia keeps for a long time due to its high hydration and use of pre-fermented flour. To store your bread, check out my guide on how to store your sourdough bread.

Sourdough Focaccia Final Thoughts

This recipe has become a staple in our house. It’s simple to make, easy to eat, versatile and fun. We use it for sourdough croutons, sandwiches, toast and of course, we love to dip it in nice olive oil.

This sourdough focaccia recipe is also very helpful for our little micro-bakery. We can prepare the dough a day in advance and easily fit it into our baking schedule. If you enjoyed this recipe make sure to check out some of our other sourdough baking recipes like our sourdough rye pretzel or our 50% whole wheat sourdough recipe.