Sourdough Focaccia: The Easiest Sourdough Bread You Will Ever Bake

📖 7 min read · Updated July 2026

By SourdoughCalc Team

Focaccia is the easiest sourdough bread to make. No shaping, no scoring, no banneton. You mix the dough, let it rise, dimple it with your fingers, and bake. The result is a thick, fluffy, golden slab of bread with a crispy bottom and an oily, herby top. This guide gives you the recipe, the timeline, and every trick to get restaurant-quality focaccia at home.

Why Is Focaccia Perfect for Beginners?

Most sourdough breads require shaping, scoring, and a Dutch oven. Focaccia skips all of that. You pour the dough into a pan, let it rise, poke it with your fingers to create the classic dimples, and bake. The dimples hold olive oil, herbs, and salt. There is no way to mess up the shape because the pan contains it.

Focaccia is also the most forgiving sourdough recipe. Over-fermented dough? It still works. Under-fermented? Still works. Forgot to score? Nothing to score. Focaccia forgives almost every mistake a beginner makes.

What Is the Best Sourdough Focaccia Recipe?

This is a 75% hydration dough, lower than a round loaf because focaccia needs to hold its shape when you dimple it. The higher the hydration, the more the dough spreads in the pan.

Bakers percentages:

• Flour (bread or 00): 100%
• Water: 75%
• Active sourdough starter: 20%
• Salt: 2%
• Olive oil: 5% (in dough) + extra for pan

For 500g flour (1 pan, 9x13 inch):

• Bread flour: 500g
• Water (warm, 80F): 375g
• Active sourdough starter: 100g
• Sea salt: 10g
• Extra virgin olive oil: 25g (dough) + 30g (pan)

How Do You Make Sourdough Focaccia?

Step 1: Mix (5 minutes)

Dissolve salt in water. Add starter and mix by hand until it breaks up. Add flour and mix until no dry flour remains. Add 25g olive oil and mix to incorporate. The dough will be shaggy. Cover and rest 30 minutes for the autolyse.

Step 2: Stretch and Fold (every 30 min, 3 sets)

Over 90 minutes, do three sets of stretch and folds. After the third set, the dough should be smooth, pillowy, and elastic. It will still be sticky but hold its shape better than at the start.

Step 3: Bulk Ferment (3-4 hours at 75F)

Cover and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen by 50-75% and shows visible bubbles on top. Time depends on kitchen temperature: 3 hours in summer, 4 hours in winter.

Step 4: Pan and Cold Proof (12-24 hours)

Pour 30g olive oil into a 9x13 inch metal pan. Tip the dough into the oil and coat both sides. Stretch the dough to fit the pan as much as it allows. Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. The cold proof develops the sourdough tang and makes the dough easier to dimple.

Step 5: Dimple and Top (15 minutes)

Take the pan out of the fridge 1-2 hours before baking to warm up. Drizzle another 20g olive oil over the dough. With oiled fingers, press firmly into the dough to create deep dimples all over. Do not be gentle: you want the dough to touch the bottom of the pan in the dimples.

Top with flaky sea salt, fresh rosemary, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced olives, or sliced red onion. Press the toppings into the dough so they stick.

Step 6: Bake (25-30 minutes)

Preheat oven to 450F. Bake on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes until the top is deep golden brown and the bottom is crispy. To check, lift the focaccia with a spatula: the bottom should be dark golden and crackly.

Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Focaccia is best eaten warm but keeps well at room temperature for 2 days wrapped in a tea towel.

What Toppings Work Best on Focaccia?

Classic focaccia uses just olive oil, flaky salt, and rosemary. But you can top with almost anything savory:

• Classic: olive oil, flaky sea salt, fresh rosemary
• Tomato: halved cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, balsamic reduction drizzle after baking
• Mediterranean: sliced olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, oregano
• Garlic: roasted garlic cloves, thyme, parmesan, black pepper
• Everything bagel: everything bagel seasoning, melted butter after baking
• Caramelized onion: slow-cooked onions, thyme, gruyere

Why Is My Focaccia Dense or Gummy?

Focaccia is dense and gummy

Cause: under-proofed or under-baked.

Fix: bulk ferment until the dough is visibly puffy and jiggly. Bake until the bottom is dark golden: lift with a spatula to check. If the top is browning too fast, tent with foil.

Focaccia is too dry

Cause: not enough olive oil in the pan, or baked too long.

Fix: use at least 30g olive oil in the pan (it looks like a lot, but that is the point). Bake only until golden, not dark brown. Drizzle more oil on top after baking.

Dimples disappear during baking

Cause: over-proofed, so the dough inflates too much in the oven.

Fix: stick to 12-16 hours cold proof, not longer. Bake immediately after dimpling. If your kitchen is warm, reduce cold proof to 10 hours.

Focaccia sticks to the pan

Cause: not enough oil, or wrong pan material.

Fix: use a metal pan (not glass or silicone, which stick more). Use plenty of oil. Cut and remove focaccia from the pan within 15 minutes of baking.

Is Focaccia the Easiest Sourdough Bread?

Focaccia is the gateway sourdough bread. If you are new to sourdough, make this before anything else. No shaping, no scoring, no Dutch oven. Just mix, rise, dimple, bake. The result is a thick, fluffy, golden slab that will make you look like a professional baker.

Use our free hydration calculator to scale the recipe to any pan size, and our discard recipes to use up what you remove when feeding your starter.