Cheesy Garlic Sourdough Focaccia

Soft and chewy sourdough focaccia topped with cheese and garlic is the perfect side for any Italian meal. It’s like one big giant bread stick only easier to make!

Grab a piece of this cheesy sourdough focaccia to get that extra sauce left on your plate after a delicious pasta meal.  That sauce on is too good to waste and sometimes it’s even better on the bread than the pasta anyway.  So get that sourdough fed and get ready to make some delicious bread!

It’s National Bread Day and that is a holiday a carb lover like me needs to celebrate.  Besides Big Bertha, my sourdough starter, always thinks she needs to be fed! The nerve! 

So when Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories suggested we celebrate by baking some bread, I had to join in.  One look at her site will give you major bread envy. She makes the most beautiful loaves of bread.  Be sure to check her out, but be ready to want some bread!

I originally made some chocolate banana bread, but saw there were quite a few other chocolate recipes on the list.  Now I do love some chocolate, but I thought it would be fun to have a bit more variety.

So now that recipe will be shared in a couple of weeks.  Today you get cheesy garlic focaccia instead! 

 It just so happened that I was making some of our favorite alfredo sauce with pasta, shrimp and broccoli for dinner.  So I quickly sprung into action and made  this as well.

That alfredo sauce is definitely not something you want to waste, and this gave us a great way to get every last drop!

Luckily I had just fed my sourdough starter the day before when I made some pizza crust. So it was ready to go for this bread. 

It does take a little time to make, but most of it is hands off.  The sponge can be made the night before if you’d like.  In fact, it might even be preferred if you starter is a little lazy like mine.  

She has gotten quite complacent spending her days in the fridge and usually being fed and quickly returned.  I tend to use the sourdough discard for things like muffins and pizza dough more than I use fed starter for boules of bread.  Maybe one of these days that will change!

In the meantime she stays a bit slow and lazy and that works for almost everything I want to do.  It’s just the kind of relationship we have!

The sponge gets more flour and oil before a couple of rests to rise.  Then another brushing of oil, some garlic powder and a trip to the oven. 

 Just before the bread is done, add a nice generous handful of mozzarella to top it all of.  The result is the perfect combination of soft and chewy focaccia and cheesy garlic bread.  

If you’d like more sourdough recipes, check these out: 

• Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Waffles
• Sourdough Crescent Rolls

4.86 from 7 ratings

Cheesy Garlic Sourdough Foccacia

Author: Carlee

Servings: 36 Servings

Soft and chewy sourdough foccacia topped with cheese and garlic is the perfect side for any Italian meal. It’s like one big giant bread stick only easier to make!

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Prep: 30 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Additional Time 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total: 5 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Equipment

• OXO Mixing Bowl Set
• Sheet Pan

Ingredients 

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Sponge

• ▢ 1½ cups fed sourdough feed it the day before
• ▢ 1 cup warm water
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil
• ▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon honey

Bread

• ▢ ⅓ cup olive oil
• ▢ 4 cups all-purpose flour give or take
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt

Toppings

• ▢ 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• ▢ 1½ cups shredded mozzarella

Instructions 

• In a large glass or plastic bowl, mix together sponge ingredients. Allow to sit for at least a couple of hours but as long as overnight. It should be bubbly when it is ready to proceed.
  1½ cups fed sourdough, 1 cup warm water, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon honey
• Stir in the additional olive oil, salt and start with 3 1/2 cups of additional flour. Mix until well combined and start to knead on a floured surface. Slowly add flour a little at a time as necessary. The mixture should be soft and moist but not stick after 5-7 minutes of kneading.
  ⅓ cup olive oil, 4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons salt
• Put dough in an oiled bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and place in an oiled sheet pan.
• Use your fingers to press the dough to the edges of the sheet pan. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for another hour.
• Press your fingers randomly into the dough to create the trademark foccacia dimples. Gently brush with remaining oil and sprinkle with garlic salt.
  2 Tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and sprinkle with mozzarella and return to oven for 5-10 minutes more or until bread is done and cheese is lightly golden.
  1½ cups shredded mozzarella
• Cool then cut into pieces and serve. Store extras in an airtight bag.

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Nutrition Information

Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 285mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g

“Cooking With Carlee” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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