beautiful and easy summer sourdough focaccia-made with freshly milled flour

Learn how to make the easiest summer sourdough focaccia! This recipe is so versatile. Whether you’re looking for a way to add beauty to your summer meals at home, how to make a side to wow a guest, or a little something to bring to a dinner or potluck, look no further! I always wondered how to make these lovely breads popping up on my Pinterest and, after trying, discovered they really are so easy. I’m excited you’re here and can’t wait for you to try making a summer sourdough focaccia too!

Picking your summer sourdough focaccia design

For decorating your focaccia the sky’s the limit. I always need to look for inspiration for ‘artsy’ things but if you have a vision go for it! Flowers seemed like the easiest thing to me but you could make an entire scene with veggies and herbs… maybe throw some different cheeses on there as well. (I’m thinking of a pastoral scene with garlic sheep grazing on herby grass) Whether you take some time to muse on your focaccia theme and take a long time meticulously decorating it or just throw some random veggies on, it will always look impressive.

Really there are no down sides to this easy summer sourdough focaccia. It’s delicious, it’s easy, it pairs well with so many foods, and it’s aesthetically pleasing.

What will you need to make your focaccia?

Tools:

• mixing bowl- spoon, handheld mixer, or stand mixer all work just fine. This dough is easy to work with
• cookie sheet- mine is 18″by 13″
• veggies or herbs for the flavor and design

Ingredients:

• freshly milled hard red wheat (or whole wheat flour works fine)
• water
• active sourdough starter
• olive oil
• ANY VEGGIE YOU’D LIKE
• red onions
• garlic scapes
• cherry tomatoes
• jalapeño peppers
• garlic cloves
• mini sweet peppers
• fresh herbs (parsley, sage, and cilantro)
• salt and pepper.

Beginning your sourdough

Remember, this is a super easy recipe, and because it is sourdough, most of the time is spent just fermenting the dough. Ideally, you’d begin by mixing the dough the night before, then put it in the fridge in the morning and bake it for supper. OR you’d mix it up in the morning, let it ferment on the counter all day and bake it for supper. I’ll include a couple sample schedules at the end of the post.

First

Mix the water, starter, salt, olive oil, and flour together in a large mixing bowl. I like to mix for about 10 min in the stand mixer just to let the gluten develop a bit. Then, just cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and leave on the counter.

Now, this is going to ferment in your bowl on the countertop for around 8 hours. Depending on how warm your kitchen is will depend on how fast your summer sourdough focaccia will ferment. Assuming it’s summer (as the title suggests haha) it will be faster. I like to leave this on the counter for at least 8 hours and then if I’m not going to bake it right away I put it in the fridge for however many hours are left… up to days!

Second

After the long-ferment you can either bake it right away or put the bowl of dough in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.

Pour your dough onto a sheet pan lined with olive oil. (Just put a couple tablespoons on the pan and spread it around with your hand) Gently press your fingertips into the top of the dough and spread it to the edges of the pan. Preheat your oven to 450F. Now you’re ready to decorate!

Third

It’s time to decorate your showpiece! This part is all up to you. Whether you need to search for inspiration or if you have it all planned out in your head- awesome. Like I said before, you really can’t go wrong with any form of decoration. You can do a simple garlic and herbs or something way more complicated.

Fourth

Time to bake! Place your sheet pan into the preheated oven for 20 min. All ovens are different so you might need an extra 5 to 10 min. When finished, your veggies will be soft and cooked through and the top edges of bread a very light golden brown.

Sample baking schedules for summer sourdough focaccia

*Remember these are just suggestions not rigorous baking instructions*

Night before (long-fermented):

• 8pm mix dough for around 10min
• Let dough sit overnight in a bowl on the counter with either a damp towel or plastic wrap over it
• 7am put the covered bowl in fridge. re-dampen the towel
• 4pm get dough out of fridge
• 4:15 preheat oven to 425 F, spread olive oil all over pan
• dump dough out on the pan and spread it as much as you can towards the edges
• begin your design!
• when you are finished with your masterpiece (sprinkle with salt if desired) pop it in the oven and bake for at least 20 min. Depending on your oven it might need a few extra min. The top should be slightly golden on the edges and the middle springy to the touch.

Same-day baking:

• 7am mix dough for 10 min. (if you have a stand mixer you can get ready for the day while your bread is mixing!)
• place cover over dough and let it sit on the counter until 4:30
• 4:30 preheat oven- while preheating, place dough on pan and decorate
• 5pm bake focaccia

Let me know how your focaccia turns out! I’d love to hear your design ideas too!

This bread pairs great with a number of dishes: quiche, Swedish meatballs, eggs, sausage links, lentil soup, roasted vegetables and pulled pork, steak and green beans, the list goes on.

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kitchen towels

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