Sourdough Focaccia is soft and fluffy with crispy outer edges and a light golden brown topping, studded with sweet red grapes and a sprinkling of rosemary! It’s a truly delicious and simple focaccia recipe that you can enjoy as a snack, side dish, or sandwich bread!
There’s something truly rewarding about making Italian focaccia bread from scratch. The extra care and time required to make this sourdough focaccia is rather therapeutic, and the results speak for themselves!
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🗝️ Recipe's key points
- This rosemary and grape focaccia is soft and fluffy with crispy edges and studded with juicy sweet grapes - perfect for snacking with cheese and salami.
- Enjoy this sourdough focaccia as a delicious appetizer alongside various other finger foods or as a side dish to stews, soups, and other hearty main meals.
- Give yourself enough time to allow the dough to rise sufficiently when making this sourdough focaccia - it’s worth the preparation!
Sourdough focaccia will add a touch of sophistication to your dinner table and is easily adaptable to suit your preferences!
🛒 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
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- honey -- we like using raw honey that's unfiltered. It's the perfect natural sweetener that's good for you.
- instant yeast -- this is the brand we've been using for years and it's never failed us. We keep it in the freezer and it stays fresh for a long time.
🗒 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Combine the starter and water in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine the flour and remaining ingredients in the bowl with the water and starter.
- Mix and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. A stand mixer will take 5-7 minutes on low speed with a dough hook attachment while kneading by hand will take 12-15 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl that’s been lightly coated with olive oil. Cover it and allow it to rise for an hour.
- Gently fold the dough over 3-4 times.
- Allow it to rise for another hour.
- Drizzle olive oil onto a large-rimmed baking sheet.
- Transfer the dough to the pan and turn it over to coat with oil. Stretch the dough gently to the edges and corners of the baking sheet.
- Cover and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes. Gently stretch the dough out again in the pan and repeat this process as many times as necessary until the dough fills the pan. Cover again and transfer to the fridge to rise for 14-16 hours.
- Remove the pan from the fridge the next day and preheat the oven. Dimple the dough at irregular intervals with your clean fingers, drizzle olive oil over the dough, and arrange the grapes across the surface.
- Sprinkle with rosemary.
- Bake the focaccia for 20-25 minutes, until light golden brown. Allow the bread to cool enough for you to handle it (10-15 minutes) and then turn it out onto a rack.
🥫 Storage
This focaccia is best enjoyed the same day it is made, but it can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days, or in the freezer (wrapped tightly with plastic wrap) for up to 3 months.
Frozen leftovers can be defrosted, sliced, and toasted or warmed in the oven at 350F.
📚 Variations
- Use two 9" x 13" pans for this recipe to make two focaccias - one to enjoy immediately and the other to keep for later use.
- Halve this recipe to make a smaller focaccia in a single 9x13 pan.
- Stud this focaccia with kalamata olives instead of red grapes.
- Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan cheese over the assembled focaccia before baking as a delicious topping.
- Turn this simple focaccia into a pizza by adding homemade marinara sauce and your favorite pizza toppings.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- Make your own starter for this recipe if you like (about 5-7 days prior to baking with it).
- I don’t recommend using over-fermented sourdough when making focaccia. The taste will be much more sour and the bread will be more dense instead of light and fluffy.
- Sourdough starter can be purchased from your local grocery store or online. The King Arthur flour brand sells a good starter that can be purchased online.
🤔 FAQs
Focaccia uses more yeast which makes the dough rise more and become more fluffy. Pizza dough uses less yeast and is therefore more compact.
It can be! In fact, focaccia is a style of pizza in some parts of Italy. Focaccia provides a sturdy base that is thick enough to hold a good amount of toppings for a pizza.
Focaccia is also known as pizza bianca, which means white pizza.
Focaccia is a versatile bread. You can enjoy it as a side dish with dips and olives. It also makes great sandwich bread with your favorite deli meats and cheese. Plus, you can use it as a base for delicious pizza toppings.
“Skee-ah-CHAH-tah ahl ooh-vah”.
📗 Related Recipes
- Focaccia Pizza - This focaccia pizza is soft and fluffy, topped with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and creamy ricotta cheese.
- Focaccia Italiana - This Italian flatbread is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It’s the perfect side dish for a variety of meals.
- Focaccia Pugliese - This light and crispy bread comes from the Puglia region of Italy. It is typically studded with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives, with a sprinkling of salt and parmesan cheese.
🍽 What to serve with sourdough focaccia
Serve this focaccia warm or at room temperature alongside various spreads, such as homemade hummus or this baba ghanoush. You can also enjoy it with tomato bisque, chicken cacciatore, or venison chili!
Imagine yourself in a cozy Italian trattoria. Enjoy this delicious Italian bread with our Garlic Olive Oil Bread Dip.
🔪 All Our Way recommends the following
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The following items make this recipe easier to create.
- rimmed baking sheet -- we keep several handy for baking and moving smaller baking items to and from the oven.
- kitchen digital scale -- whenever we need to measure accurately, we use a kitchen scale. Baking requires that your ingredients be right on the mark.
- stand mixer -- this is similar to the heavy-duty mixer we use. We've also bought the accessories for making pasta and grinding meat.
- liquid measuring cup -- for measuring the water in the recipe.
- measuring spoons -- you'll need these type of spoons for getting the right quantity of yeast.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
Get ready to impress your loved ones with this amazing sourdough focaccia. They'll be in awe when you serve it! The combination of lush grapes and fragrant rosemary will transport your taste buds on an unforgettable journey. The best part? This recipe is surprisingly easy, allowing anyone to become a culinary genius in the comfort of their own kitchen.
So gather your ingredients, embrace the joy of baking, and let the heavenly scent of this focaccia fill your home. Remember, cari amici (dear friends), you have the power to create magic in your own hands. Happy baking!
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📖 Recipe
Easy Sourdough Focaccia Recipe With Rosemary and Grapes
Equipment Needed
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 ½ cups ripe (fed) sourdough starter 340g
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water 340g
- 6 cups unbleached Bread Flour 720g
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 74g plus extra for the pan and the top of the focaccia
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt 18g
- 2 tablespoons honey 43g
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
Topping:
- 1 ¼ lbs red grapes seedless (about 80 grapes)
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 25g
- fresh rosemary sprigs for topping
Instructions
To make the dough:
- Combine the starter and water in a large mixing bowl.
- Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the flour with the starter, water, and remaining ingredients. Mix and knead — by hand or stand mixer — until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you're using a stand mixer, this should take 5 to 7 minutes on the lowest speed using the dough hook attachment. f you're kneading by hand, you'll need 12 to 15 minutes.
- Place the dough in a bowl that's been lightly coated with olive oil, cover, and allow to rise for 60 minutes.
- Gently fold the dough over three or four times, and let it rise for another 60 minutes.
- Drizzle a generous 2 tablespoons olive oil into the center of a large rimmed baking sheet (half sheet pan).
- Transfer the dough to the pan, and turn it over to coat it with the oil.
- Gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pan. As soon as the dough begins to shrink back, cover it, and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Gently stretch the dough again, repeating the rest once more, if necessary, until the dough fills the pan.
- Cover the pan and transfer it to the refrigerator to let the dough rise for 14 to 16 hours (overnight).
- The next day, remove the pan of dough from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 425°F for 30 minutes (if your kitchen is warm) to 60 minutes (in a cooler kitchen)
To make the topping:
- Just before you're ready to bake, gently dimple the dough at irregular intervals with your fingers, pressing down firmly but not abruptly; you don't want to deflate the focaccia too much.
- Drizzle 2 Tablespoons olive oil over the dough and arrange the grapes across the surface. Sprinkle with the rosemary.
- Bake the focaccia for 20 to 25 minutes, until light golden brown.
- Remove the focaccia from the oven. Allow it to cool enough for you to handle it comfortably, 10 to 15 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
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