focaccia is like sourdough’s super chill, completely unfussy sister that pulls everything off without even trying. you know the type — the ones that throw their hair up in a bun without having to check their reflection, throw on a jacket that’s just laying about, and still manages to bounce out the door looking effortlessly cool.
some days i want making bread to feel like this too, and on those days i make focaccia. throw everything together, go to sleep, and in the morning, poof, without having to really even think, out comes this miraculously delicious, beautiful thing.
think it’s too good to be true? let’s make it even better. this sourdough focaccia recipe is leavened with sourdough starter discard.
you’re welcome 🙂
notes
i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of water in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.
you might realize you like a different thickness of focaccia than the one described here. a 10×10 inch brownie-ish or cake pan for this quantity of dough will give you a focaccia that just fills the crevices. for a thicker focaccia, use a smaller pan or scale up your dough. i use a pan where the dough doesn’t quite reach the edges and get a thinner focaccia i personally really enjoy. tldr; use what you got!
if you find your focaccia is sticking to the pan or worry it might, a few readers have recommended using parchment paper in addition to oil.
though this recipe tastes great on its own, it is also very adaptable to include whatever toppings you wish and enjoy on focaccia. a few suggestions:
- roasted garlic: roast 1-2 heads of garlic. dimple in the garlic before adding salt and additional olive oil.
- zataar: after dimpling and after drizzling olive oil and salt, sprinkle a handful of zataar. drizzle another bit of olive oil on top.
- veggies: slice a couple handfuls of raw grape or cherry tomatoes in half, and some red onion and peppers into slivers. dimple in the veggies before adding salt and additional olive oil.
- grapes: dimple in a couple handfuls of grapes before adding salt and additional olive oil.
- rosemary: top with a few sprigs of rosemary at the end.
baker’s percentage & basic timetable
the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.
| ingredient | baker’s percentage |
| all purpose flour | 60% |
| einkorn* flour | 20% |
| bread flour | 20% |
| water | 80% |
| unfed levain (discard) | 20% |
| step | time |
| autolyse | 30 – 60 min |
| bulk rise | 10 – 12 hours |
| folds | 1 – 2 folds |
| bake | 15 – 20 min |
*you can sub einkorn flour with whole wheat, or all purpose flour
sourdough discard focaccia
formula
- 180 g king arthur all purpose flour
- 60 g king arthur bread flour
- 60 g einkorn flour
- 234 g water, 90-95°F
- 7 g sea salt
- 60 g sourdough starter discard
- 6 g additional water (optional)
- 4 g coarse salt
- 9 g extra virgin olive oil (perhaps more to drizzle)
method
- in a medium to large bowl, mix all flours together. slowly add the water, mixing with a rubber spatula, making sure to incorporate the water into the flour well, stopping when all the flour is hydrated. let sit, covered, for 30-60 minutes.
- sprinkle salt evenly over autolysed dough, and pour additional water over the salt to encourage absorption. incorporate gently by folding dough over a 2-3 times.
- then, measure out discard starter (room temp or from fridge), and add to bowl. this is a very wet dough. mix using rubaud or slap and fold method until well incorporated, for about 6-7 minutes.
- this dough needs an overnight bulk rise at room temperature of about 10 – 12 hours, until the dough is doubled and bubbly, with 2 stretch and folds in the first 2 hours. i usually do one stretch and fold 30 min after mixing, and then another 30 minutes after that.
- preheat oven to 500°F. this takes a while for my oven so i usually do it 30-45 minutes before i plan to bake. at this point the dough should be jiggly and bubbly!
- generously oil the bottom of a metal pan (whatever size pan you prefer or have. see notes for recommendations. these photos show a 9×13.)
- turn the dough out carefully onto the greased pan.
- using your fingers or knuckles, gently stretch the dough to the shape of the pan, until about 1/2 inch thick, dimpling the dough in the process.
- top with any other toppings that suits your fancy: a head of roasted garlic, a couple sprigs of rosemary, a handful of zataar, grapes.
- sprinkle coarse salt and drizzle olive oil, to taste on top of dimpled dough.
- let rest for 5 minutes.
- bake at 500°F for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the top becomes golden brown.
- let cool on rack for 5 minutes. enjoy while warm or at room temperature, on its own or with a meal.
Hello! Will this work with discarded starter that is immature? My starter isn’t ready yet and i’ve been storing the discard the fridge. Would I be able to make this bread or will it require additional yeast? Thank you!
Hi Sarah! Unfortunately this recipe probably won’t work as well with immature starter and would likely require additional yeast. If you’re looking for a recipe to try in the meantime, I’d look at the everything seasoning crackers, chocolate chip cookies, or scallion pancakes!
Is the overnight bulk fermentation done on the counter or in the fridge?
Great question Erin! The overnight bulk fermentation is done on the counter, at room temperature. I’ve updated the recipe to clarify, appreciate the feedback.
Thank you for your reply! I assumed so, since I noticed that some of your other recipes actually reference a cold bulk fermentation in the steps outline, but this one didn’t. I just wanted to be sure. I am now turning the focaccia into a birthday greeting card for my dad, with artwork made from grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, shallots, rosemary and chives. They look like poppies! Thanks for a fun and easy discord recipe! Always looking for those!
Wow, that sounds INCREDIBLE. I love this idea so much, sounds so beautiful and also so delicious. Definitely going to copy this birthday gift!
I just have to tell you that in a span of 3 days I’ve now made this focaccia 3 times! It is BY FAR the easiest and loveliest sourdough focaccia I’ve ever made. It’s so forgiving and so fantastic that I can make it with dregsy, hoochy starter that hasn’t even been fed for a whole week, straight out of the fridge and I still get a wonderful result. It’s almost too good to be true, but my gorgeous focaccia are right in front of me as evidence!! This is the kind of recipe that lets people experiment and be able to have fun with sourdough, instead intimidating the heck out of them like so many other sourdough recipes! Thank you so much Du!
This comment easily made my month. Thank you so very much for sharing those kind words! They mean a lot to me.
Hi ~Do you know if this recipe work using 100% all purpose flour (no einkorn and no bread flour) and/or if it would need to be tweaked for 100% all purpose? I realize 100% all purpose would not produce as complex a flavor and not quite the same structure, but in terms of the basic functionality of the recipe working….?…. Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, thank you for this great question — I haven’t tested it myself but I am pretty confident it would still work! The recipe is pretty forgiving. My hunch would be to decrease the hydration to 78% as all purpose flour absorbs water differently, and to perhaps give it an extra fold or two to boost gluten development depending on the protein content of the flour. If you give this a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out for you!
Lovely bread but it always comes out of the oven with the base stuck to the bottom of the pan even though it’s well oiled. Can you suggest where I have gone wrong ? Thanks
I use parchment paper and oil that. Both times that I made it without, it stuck to the pan. With the parchment paper I can just lift it out onto my cutting board.
Thank you so much for sharing the pro-tip Cathy! I’ll add to the post for future readers 🙂
Good to know as I made mine this morning and it really stuck to the pan! However it was delicious!
If I need to do a longer bulk fermentation – like 18 – 20 hours – should i put in the fridge? Or still leave on the counter? My dough began resting at 2PM and want to wait until morning to bake.
Hi Michelle, great question, and sorry for the delay! I haven’t personally tried this so you’ll have to let me know if this works — I would recommend letting it start out on the counter for maybe 5-6 hours and then moving it to the fridge to complete the bulk rise.
Great recipe! Followed it as instructed and as per photos!! Many thanks!
Delicious and so simple to make! Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe!
Hi, can I leave my dough to bulk rise for 24hrs at room temperature? or would you recommend leaving it in the fridge in this case? Thanks
Hi Ling, great question. I haven’t tried myself, but for a 24 hour time frame, I would recommend a bulk rise in the fridge. Please let me know how it goes if you try it!
I left it on the counter for about 5 hours before I put it in the fridge overnight. The following morning, I let it return to room temperature for 3-4 hours then baked it. It turned out really well and I loved it! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
Oh my God, this recipe is a dream! On to my second time baking this baby this week, it’s definitely the simplest most delicious focaccia recipe of all times! Discard recipes are often a bit “meh”, but this one is an absolute win!!! Thank you so much for sharing, Erica, you’re a star! Xxx
Wow, you’re too kind, thank you for the kind words and for visiting my corner of the gluten universe — so happy to hear you love this one as much as I do!!
I made this last night and baked this morning after liberally smothinger with fresh thyme, garlic and olive oil. Added tomato, salt and fresh basil when it cooled. What a brillliant recipe for the discard. I’m about to feed my starter but will use today’s discard to make another one. I had no idea focaccia was so easy. I’ve used a couple of recipes but love this because it’s using the discard. Thanks for sharing your recipe. This is my new go to. Would love to share my pictures but not sure how to!
Hi Tina, thank you so much for sharing, this makes me so happy! What an amazing flavor combo. Haven’t figured out a way to easily share photos in comments yet, but until then, feel free to shoot me an email at dusdoughs@gmail.com with them 🙂
This recipe is great and so flexible!
I use generic all purpose flour (240g) and 60g whole wheat flour. I also have a 100% hydration starter and don’t change anything else, and it comes out delicious and perfect every time.
I have also done combinations for bulk fermentation (as written; fridge overnight, then a few hours on counter; a few hours on counter, then fridge), and it turned out great every time.
The only thing I’d recommend is to use parchment paper in the pan. Both times that I didn’t use paper, the focaccia fused with the pan.
Yes, so right about the parchment. You do lose a bit of crispness on the bottom of the crust with the parchment, especially when it’s a double recipe and it completely fills a 9 x 13 pan, but it’s worth the tradeoff to not have it stick. You can always pop out back in to the 500 degree oven on a pizza stone (mine lives in my oven) to crisp up the bottom – takes about 2 or 3 minutes. I have made this so many times now with many different toppings and friends beg for it! One friend who is a pharmaceutical sales rep has been trading me 5 rapid return covid tests each week for my family , in return for making him 2 of these focaccias! If our government isn’t going to figure out a way to provide regular testing then I’ll figure it our for myself!
hi Cathy, i also have 100% hydration starter instead of the 80% that’s mentioned. So you used 240 AP and 60g WW flour, along with how much water and how much discard? THank you for your help.
This focaccia was delicious! The flavor is wonderful and I got lots of nice little bubbles. The only problem I had was that some of the bottom got stuck to the pan and the edges got a bit burned (that was my bad, I think I just made it a bit too thin). I plan on making this recipe again just on a smaller pan and I’ll use parchment paper in addition to the oil.
I have been making sourdough for several months (Covid project) and looked for a recipe using discard for focaccia. I found this one. Nice site. I did make alterations as noted on my Blog with a link to this recipe. https://www.foodispersonal.net/sourdough-discard-foacaccia/ I have made it a number of times now and enjoy the texture. I also found the limit to my discard’s viability which I posted in another piece. Discard fed yesterday works well, 2nd day post feed was a failure for me.
When looking at your blog for this recipe, I did not see it under Sourdough or Discard categories. I had to go and search my saved link to get here. I was able to find it with your Search function but it would be a shame if more people could not easily find this recipe.
Does this recipe work well as the base for a Sicilian or grandma-slice style pizza?
Hi David, I haven’t tried but I imagine it would! I have a ricotta & caramelized onion focaccia recipe that very much resembles pizza and is so delicious. If you give it a try you’ll have to let me know 🙂
This is soooo goood! Just pulled a pan out of the oven and may devour it all by myself!! Rosemary and crunchy salt. So dang good. Thank you!
Hello! This is the perfect recipe for focaccia. I’ve done it so many time and it is my family’, colleagues and friends favourite . Thank you for sharing it!
Hi, i wanna ask how do you move the dough to the greased pan? I try with turning it upside down and i think the bubble degassed. should i move it with spatula or hand? Thankyou before!
Hi Karen, usually I gently move it (as gently as possible!) from the bowl to the pan by tipping the bowl, and gently coaxing the dough out with a slightly greased hand. Hope that helps!
So delicious. I enjoy every piece with hummus! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi, Du! I have made this delicious recipe from you many times, but just realized after a bulk ferment of over 9 hours now that, due to being distracted, I did not perform any of the stretch and folds!! 😫 Will this be a make or break thing?
Hi Cristina! I don’t think it should make or break anything (you’ll still get a tasty focaccia!), but you might not get as nice as a rise relative to doing the folds. Stretch and folds help develop the gluten structure. Hope that helps!
I stumbled on this recipe as my first focaccia recipe a few years ago, I have tried ken forkishs recipe, worked through a few other famous ones, and everyone who eats them, myself included, agrees this is the best friggin focaccia recipe out there. I add asiago as my only topping and it disappears in literal moments. Thank you for the recipe. Making another batch tonight for baking tomorrow.
Awww, that’s the sweetest 🥹 – thank you for the kind words 🥹. Happy eatin’!!