Caprese Sourdough Focaccia

I’ve been making a version of this caprese sourdough focaccia with tomatoes, basil pesto and mozzarella cheese for years. It’s one of our favorites with ripe summer cherry tomatoes, pesto – homemade or store bought – and of course good quality mozzarella. I serve this for company or we all enjoy it on a summer evening. I know you’re going to love it!

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Why You’ll Love Caprese Sourdough Focaccia

• Cheesy: There’s cheese layered throughout the dough, making this sourdough focaccia extra cheesy and irresistible. For more cheesy bakes, you’ll want to try this Italian Herbs and Cheese Sourdough and my pizza-inspired Pizza Sourdough Bread.
• Simple: This recipe is not too crazy—the steps are very easy to follow.
• 100% Sourdough Recipe: My recipe for caprese sourdough focaccia has a long fermentation because no commercial yeast is used.

Sourdough Baker’s Timeline

A sample baking schedule helps me when baking with sourdough. I’ve been baking sourdough for over a decade and this schedule helps me plan my bake. Please Note: This schedule assumes the dough temperature is 78-80ºF throughout the process.

Important Ingredients in Sourdough Caprese Focaccia

• Focaccia Dough: When mixing your focaccia dough, there is no autolyse or fermentolyse. Instead, you’ll mix all of your focaccia dough ingredients together at the same time (including the salt). I also recommend using bread flour with a strong protein content for this dough. I almost always use a 12.5% protein bread flour for my breads. This focaccia with it’s high water content needs to be paired with a strong flour. If you don’t have bread flour and substitute all purpose, you will need to reduce some of the water in the recipe.
• Mozzarella: Shred the mozzarella cheese yourself. Pre-shredded mozzarella is usually coated with an anti-caking agent making it more difficult to melt.
• Pesto: I spread fresh pesto – store bought or homemade – on the focaccia before dimpling and baking it. Choose a pesto that you like the flavor of.
• Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes give this focaccia deep, delicious, tomato flavor.
• Olive Oil: Good quality olive oil that you like the flavor of is important in this recipe. The dough will take on the flavor of the oil as it bakes. I like using a light olive oil that doesn’t have distinct flavor.

How to Make Caprese Sourdough Focaccia

Mix Levain

1:10:10 levain (ready in 10-12 hours/overnight): This recipe calls for levain mixed the night before you want to mix your dough. Prepare the levain and keep it overnight at 78-80ºF. It will be ready in approximately 10-12 hours (overnight). Mix together:

• 5 grams of ripe/mature sourdough starter
• 55 grams water
• 55 grams all purpose or bread flour

Note: To make it a true 1:10:10 ratio, it would be 5.5 grams of ripe/mature starter and 55 grams bread flour, 55 grams water. Chances are you are going to be somewhere in the ballpark of 5-6 grams of starter, and it will work out just fine. Sourdough doesn’t have to be exact – it’s a method of learning to read your dough and its readiness.

If you prefer to mix the levain the morning you mix the dough, you can mix a 1:1:1 Levain (ready in 3-4 hours/same day): It should take 3-4 hours to rise and peak if kept at 78-80ºF. Levain is ready when it has at least doubled in size, has lots of bubbles, a slightly sour aroma and is just about to start going down from its peak height. Mix together:

• 35 grams ripe/mature starter
• 35 grams warm water
• 35 grams all purpose or bread flour

Mixing the Dough: Begin Bulk Fermentation

Once the levain is ripe, bubbly, and has doubled in size, it’s time to prepare the dough. Combine the ripe levain, water, salt, and bread flour in a bowl. Mix until a sticky dough forms using a dough whisk or your fingers. This recipe has high hydration (over 80%), resulting in a sticky consistency. It’s designed to rise in a pan with minimal additional kneading. Mixing the ingredients together briefly is sufficient as the gluten will develop during the long fermentation. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Bulk Fermentation: Coil Folds and Adding Cheese

Coil Folds: Over the course of the next 2 hours, perform sets of “coil folds”. Coil folds are a way of aligning gluten stands in high hydration dough instead of kneading it. To perform a coil fold, wet your hands with water. Place your hands under the middle of the dough and pull up. The dough will stretch up (but should not tear) and release from the bottom of the bowl. Once the dough releases, let the dough fall back under itself. Repeat the process for both sides of dough. Then turn the container and repeat the coil fold. Watch a video of the coil fold process here. Perform 4-6 coil folds. The dough will be very sticky for the first set of coil folds, but will strengthen over time. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. You will repeat this process a total of 4 times over a 2 hour period.

Adding Cheese: After your first set of coil folds, shred mozzarella cheese. During your second set of coil folds, add the mozzarella cheese. Perform the other three coil folds, mixing the cheese into the dough. Your inclusions will become more fully incorporated with the third and fourth set of coil folds.

Bulk Fermentation: Rise and Shape

After your fourth set of coil folds, cover and rest the dough at 78ºF for 1.5-2 hours until the dough has risen, is starting to dome and has a few scattered bubbles around the edges. Note, the dough will not double in size at this point, but it will rise 30-40%.

Prepare a pan by drizzling most of the olive oil into a 9 by 13 metal baking pan or a 12 inch skillet. Reserve about 2 Tablespoons or 30 grams of the oil for later. Tip the pan around to coat the entire bottom of the pan. If your pan has issues with dough sticking put some parchment paper down before the butter/oil.

Turn the dough out into the pan and stretch slowly to fill the edges of the pan. Pull up gently on the underside of the dough to stretch it into place. If it doesn’t want to stretch, let the dough rest for a minute and then try again.

Pour the rest of the oil on top of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the oil over the top of the dough and cover with plastic wrap to proof. At this point you can cover the dough and refrigerate it for up to 48 hours before proceeding with a second proof and baking.

Overnight Option: After the dough has risen about 4 hours at 78ºF, you have the option to cover the dough and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to 48 hours if that works better with your schedule. Proceed with the recipe as outlined and let the dough warm back up and rise before baking. The cold fermentation brings flavor, color and helps you plan your bake. I’ve also found it makes the texture even more soft and fluffy.

Proof the Dough

Place the dough in a warm spot (78-mid 80ºF) and let the dough rise until puffed up, aerated and jiggly. After about 3-5 hours, the dough should have doubled in size. The key to a light, airy and bubbly focaccia is letting the dough rise long enough to have large air bubbles in it. This will take more or less time depending on the temperature of your dough as it’s rising. If the dough doesn’t look like this, warm it up a little more and let it rise longer.

Top, Dimple and Bake

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. After the dough is puffed up, jiggly and aerated with air bubbles, spread pesto over the top of the dough. You can add more or less depending on how much you like the flavor of pesto. Take your fingers and gently dimple the dough. Start at the top and work your way down the dough until the entire focaccia is dimpled and bubbly. Slice the tomatoes in half and add them on top of the dimpled focaccia. Sprinkle with a little shredded mozzarella if desired.

Bake caprese sourdough focaccia for 25-30 minutes until bubbly, crispy and light golden brown on top and the baked focaccia registers 200ºF. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Frequently Asked Questions