I’m sure this 5-minute easy focaccia recipe will be your favorite from now on.

Focaccia is always easy to make, but this recipe is so easy you won’t believe it comes out so good. You can make it with your kids, or even let them make it on their own. You will only need a bowl a spoon and the ingredients. No kneading skills whatsoever. Moreover you can make it with your sourdough discard, so you won’t waste your starter and get an amazing focaccia.

Key ingredients for the best focaccia

Flour: who follows me already knows I do not like white flour. So usually I make bread or pizza or focaccia with at least half whole wheat flour. I’l lucky enough to live in Italy where I can buy super high quality flour directly from little stone mills. However you can make this recipe with what you have on hand, I only recommend to buy the best flour you can afford. You can also use white flour, or bread flour and then add some grounded seeds to the mix, to make it better.

Water: whenever you make bread, pizza or focaccia with sourdough use filtered water. Too much calcium or chlorine can disrupt the fermentation process and you might not get a good result. Also water is useful to regulate the temperature of the dough, so if it is too cold you can add lukewarm water, if it’s too hot you might want to use colder water.

Extra virgin olive oil: olive oil is very important when making focaccia. Half of the flavor comes from the flour, the other half from the oil. A very high quality olive oil will change the recipe a lot. There are a lot of great olive oils from Europe, the best come from Italy, Spain and Greece, but Turkish olive oil is very tasty too.

Sourdough discard: should I always discard part of the starter?

My answer on this will probably be controversial for some people. I almost never discard the starter, unless I am forced to.

The fact that you need take out half of the dough and feed the other half to make it lively and active is certainly true, however, you can actually find a way around to avoid wasting your starter every time. The first one is use the discarded part to make other recipes and this focaccia recipe is perfect for the job. To me this happens when I want a quick easy recipe that is ready in a few hours.

The second however is avoding the discard altogether by following a simple routine. Usually when I need to make bread or other recipes using the sourdough, I first take out of the fridge my sourdough starter. Then I use half of it to make a levain to use in the recipe and refresh the other half in the jar. This way I will have the levain made with the same flour of the recipe (that will be more active) and the starter fed, ready to be put again in the fridge. No waste in the process. If  you want to know more about how to feed your starter check my article.

Fluffy gummy focaccia, or tasty and nutritious?

On social media I see often those super high soft and fluffy focaccia, that people squeeze like sponges and that come back to their shape in seconds. I can’t help but think what kind of flour has been used? The more your focaccia springs back into shape the more gluten it contains. And it’s not high quality gluten, it’s that type that is so resistant your body will take a long time to digest. So you will be eating a big chunk of gummy sugar, that will surely make you look a great baker on Instagram but will not be so good for your health.

I do not believe gluten is the source of all evil, but there are different types of this protein and the quality matters a lot when it comes to digestion. If you choose stone milled, ancient grains you’ll still get the gluten, but it won’t be so resistant. And your body with thank you for that. Whole wheat will also allow you to add some good fibers to your diet in a very very tasty way.

At the end of the day, unless you are a professional baker, is it really important if your bread is instagrammable? Does the fact that the bread looks good on social media change its nutritional value? And lastly, who says that a wonderful bread should be as any other you see on social media?

My recommendation will always be to check the benefits of what you eat first, then see if you can also make it beautiful.

How to store focaccia

As any other bread recipe, this focaccia can be stored in the freezer for a long long time. You can let it cook and  slice it then freeze it portioned so, whenever you need a piece you can take it out of the freezer and thaw it in the microwave or in the oven at low temperature for around 10minutes. Or simply at room temperature.

Print Pin

Sourdough discard easy focaccia

Make a super simple focaccia with your sourdough discard (or your vital sourdough). You will only need 4 ingredients, a bowl and a spoon!

VARIATION: you can add onions on top to make a super tasty onion focaccia, or you can add olives, cherry tomatoes or other vegetables.

Course Focaccia, Pizza

Cuisine Italian

Keyword 100% hydration focaccia, easy focaccia, focaccia recipe, sourdough discard focaccia

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Resting time 5 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 150 gr bread flour
• 150 gr whole wheat flour
• 100 gr sourdough discard or vital sourdough
• 350 ml filtered water
• 5 g salt
• 20 gr extra virgin olive oil
• rosemary optional

Instructions

• In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients. Mix well for a minute or two until smooth.
• Cover and rest until almost doubled in a warm spot.
• Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (430F).
• Grease a 24cm cast iron pan o a baking tray and pour the dough.
• Spread the dough onto the pan evenly, then sprinkle with rosemary and salt.
• Drizzle some olive oil on top and cook in the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.