It’s time to grab the marinara!
This Amish Friendship Bread focaccia is easy and delicious. I made this one with garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and coarse sea salt but you can top it with any combination of herbs, cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes or diced jalapeños … it’s totally up to you. This is a one-bowl recipe, meaning that everything goes into a large mixing bowl at once. If you own a stand mixer with a dough hook or have a bread maker, it’s even easier.
Here’s a quick video of how I put this recipe together:
The key is to use your starter when it’s recently been fed (today or the past 24 hours) and it’s active and bubbly. Since there’s no added yeast in this recipe, you are counting on your starter to do the heavy lifting. Literally!
Start by stripping some rosemary off the stem and mincing 3 cloves of garlic.
I used a friend’s bread maker to knead the dough, but if you’re willing to put a little elbow grease into the recipe, stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well incorporated. Turn onto a floured board and continue kneading until a sticky dough ball is formed. Add flour as necessary.
Place in an oiled mixing bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Leave in a warm area of your kitchen and allow to rise for two hours. You can also put the dough in the fridge overnight (8-24 hours) for a long, slow fermentation. Either way, you’ll want to see it double in size before you use it.
Grease a rimmed baking sheet. Punch down the dough and turn onto the sheet, carefully pressing the dough towards the sides of the sheet. If the dough is really loose, use two spoons to help you fold the dough onto itself a few times before turning onto a baking sheet.
Press the dough with your finger — if it shrinks back right away, let it rest for a few minutes and try again. When it springs back slowly, cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 hours (warm kitchens may go faster, cool kitchens may take up to 4 hours).
Preheat oven to 450° F (232° C). Remove plastic wrap and gently dimple the top of the dough with your fingertips.
Drizzle with olive oil and coarse sea salt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan before turning onto rack. Optional: you can brush the tops with melted butter. Slice and serve warm as a side to a heaping plate of pasta or beef ragu or as an appetizer with a marinara, ranch dipping sauce, or even some homemade hummus.
Amish Friendship Bread Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter bubbly and active
- 1½ cups water warm (more if needed)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus extra to drizzle)
- 5 cups flour (plus extra as needed)
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt (plus extra as needed)
- 4 tablespoons butter melted to brush on top (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for the butter in a large mixing bowl (if using a bread maker, add into bread maker pan and set to "dough" feature).
- Turn onto a floured board. Knead until a sticky dough ball is formed, adding additional flour as necessary.
- Place dough ball in an oiled mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. All to rise for 2 hours. You can also put the dough in the fridge overnight (8-24 hours) for a long, slow fermentation. Either way, you'll want to see it double in size before you use it.
- Grease a rimmed baking sheet. Punch down dough and turn into baking sheet, evenly pressing dough to the sides of the sheet. If the dough pulls away, let it rest for few minutes before continuing.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a draft-free area until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. Warm kitchens may go faster; cool kitchens may take longer, even up to 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450° F (232° C). Gently dimple the top of the dough with the tips of your fingers.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan before turning onto rack. Melt the butter and brush on the top of the foccacia if desired. Slice and serve warm.
- ENJOY!
Notes
- Use your starter when it’s recently been fed (today or the past 24 hours) and it’s active and bubbly.
- Experiment with other toppings! Try chopped olives, sliced bell peppers or tomatoes, red pepper flakes, sliced jalapeños, and any combination of shredded cheese.
>> Have you tried this recipe? Give the recipe some stars or leave a comment below and let us know how it worked for you!
This was so amazing that my husband couldn’t stop raving about it last night. I did make a couple modifications and I mixed the dough and did the first rise in my bread maker:
– Added about a tsp of active dry yeast because my starter was a little on the flat side
– Definitely had to add about half a cup or so more warm water to increase the dough hydration. (Conversely, one could cut back on the flour by about a cup, too)
– Added 1 tsp of salt to the dough (I’ll add a bit more next time to balance the sweet)
– Drizzled olive oil BEFORE dimpling and let it rest for another 10-15 minutes before baking after the dimpling.
I sprinkled granulated garlic, sea salt, and dried rosemary on top before baking instead of mixing into the dough. This dough would make an EXCELLENT Detroit style pizza dough!
I tried but mine didn’t rise at all and I let it set for 4 hours then 2 hours but I’ve always felt that my starter doesn’t seem to be as active as those I see pictures of. Oh well at least I can say I tried, on to the next one 😁
My starter didn’t look too hot, either, so I added a bit of extra active dry yeast to give it a boost and it came out great!
I think I should have taken my focaccia out at the 17 minute mark, because it was a little darker than the picture, but it certainly didn’t effect the taste! This was delicious, and it’s definitely going in my regular rotation!
I made this today and OMG it was delicious!! I topped it with sliced olives, sliced cherry tomatoes, grated Parmesan, pepper flakes and made a ricotta cheese spread to go with it. I’ll definitely be making this again!!
I have been making great bread with my starter for several months but want to try the Pizza crust and focaccia. I have been using only bread flour so far. Should I continue to use bread flour or use plain flour for Pizza and focaccia??
Hi Missy! Yes, you can definitely still use your starter with the bread flour to make pizza or focaccia! A lot of people use bread flour for pizza crust, which usually makes the crust on the crispier side.
What size baking sheet do you use for this recipe?
A half sheet pan (18” x 13”) works great, but if you want a thicker focaccia, you can use a small pan.
This was a bust for me. Didn’t rise and was hard as a brick. Same as the pizza dough. I wonder if yeast is needed?
Hi Mary! You don’t need to add additional yeast to this recipe, but you want to make sure your starter is bubbly and active when you use it in any recipe that relies on a rise. You also want to allow enough time for your dough to rise — did it rise at all? Did you add any extra flour?
I had the same issue. After sitting for 7 hours it didn’t raise at all. I did not need to add extra flour.
Mine was hard as a rock and didn’t rise after 4 hours by the stove. One area of confusion: after I feed on day 10, I want to make several items and have my cup of starter left. Do I feed it, then wait for a few hours to get bubbly again? Or, do I not feed it, take out what I want to bake for the day, and feed the last cut? It is really bubbly until I feed it and begin to use it.
Hi Janet! We’re sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you. Usually when there is any issues with the rise, it has to do with how active and healthy the starter is. When you are using your starter for a recipe where it is the main leavening (like this one), you want to make sure your starter is strong and active. That means that it has gone through at least several rounds of the 10 day cycle, and you will want to feed it within 8-12 hours. After feeding it but before using it, it should double in size. Here’s a post that talks about getting a super active and healthy starter: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/tutorial-how-to-get-a-bubbly-active-amish-friendship-bread-sourdough-starter/ Let us know if you have any other questions!
Love focaccia
How sweet is the bread? Do the savory ingredients overcome the large amount of sugar in the starter?
Hi Polliwogette! Yes, the savory ingredients do result in a savory focaccia bread. Just as in most Amish Friendship Bread recipes, there is still that hint of Amish Friendship Bread sweetness, but it compliments the sea salt in this recipe nicely and still results in a savory bread. If you’re concerned about the level of sweetness in this recipe, you can always half the amount of sugar added on day six and day ten of feeding your Amish Friendship Bread starter before you bake. Happy baking!