Belly Warming Sourdough Focaccia Bread

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A simple sourdough focaccia bread is one of the easiest, hands-off sourdough creations out there. Its crispy crust pairs perfectly with a yummy homemade soup or cut in half and used as sandwich bread. Imagine a cold, rainy fall day, and you are cozied up with your favorite soup and a yummy slice of crisp focaccia bread. Nothing sounds better. 

I refer to this bread as floppy bread because it doesn’t take much kneading or stretching and folding to process. You simply flop all the ingredients together, rise, flop the dough into a casserole dish, flop it to the other side, rise, poke with your fingers, and bake. There’s lots of flopping in the making of focaccia bread. 

Ingredients Needed:

• Flour
• Sourdough Start
• Water
• Salt
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• Any seasonings you want to add (The go-to’s for me are fresh garlic, Italian seasoning, a little more salt, and parmesan cheese. You can always add things like tomatoes, onions, and whole herbs to create focaccia art).

Tools Needed: 

• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon
• Tea Towel
• Glass Casserole Dish

Instructions:

Night Before Prep

The night before you want to make your bread, make sure your starter is fed so it will be happy and bubbly when you mix it in the morning. 

Morning Of

In the morning, mix together your flour, salt, water, and sourdough starter. This mixture will look slightly wetter than a traditional sourdough loaf. That’s okay; that is how it’s meant to be. 

Cover your bowl with a damp tea towel and place it somewhere warm in the kitchen. I live in a fairly cold area of the world, so I use really hot water to dampen my towel. Then, I place my bowl next to the stove, where I know I will eventually be cooking. 

Let this mixture rise for 4-8 hours until it at least doubles in size. 

A Few Hours Later

After your dough has risen, prepare your glass casserole dish with a generous amount of olive oil. (This is what gives the focaccia its unique crispy texture and yummy flavor).

Wet your hands and scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl. (Sometimes, if the dough is really loose, I will stretch and fold it right here just to give it a little strength.) 

Flop your dough into the casserole dish with the oil. Then, flop it on its other side to ensure both sides of the dough are well coated with oil. 

Let this rise on your counter for 1-2 hours.

30-45 minutes before you plan to bake your bread, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. 

After the 1-2 hour rise, pour another little bit of oil over the top of your bread, wet your fingers with water, and begin poking your bubbly dough. Be generous with the pokes and work your dough into the corners of the dish. It should spread the entire span of the dish you are using. 

Here is where you can add any of your desired toppings to your sourdough focaccia bread. My favorites for a savory loaf are fresh chopped garlic, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese, or salt. These are simple and give your focaccia bread an AMAZING flavor. You can also play with “focaccia art” by making flowers from rosemary sprigs, tomatoes, and onions. There’s a lot you can do with focaccia bread. 

Cook for 30 minutes and enjoy hot with butter or some of your favorite spreads.

Want to try making something sweeter? Try this recipe out!