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Sourdough Discard Focaccia with a Crispy Bottom

The secret to focaccia that shatters on the bottom and stays pillowy in the middle is obscene amounts of olive oil in the pan — more than feels polite. I'm talking 4 tablespoons in a 9x13 before the dough ever touches it. Sourdough discard makes this recipe better than standard focaccia: it adds a gentle tang, tenderizes the crumb, and uses up that jar of discard you've been guiltily ignoring in the fridge. This is a same-day recipe, no active starter required, done in under 3 hours.

Why Discard Makes Focaccia Better Than You'd Expect

Discard isn't just a workaround here. It's doing real work. The acids in unfed starter break down gluten just enough to give you that open, almost custardy interior that's hard to achieve with commercial yeast alone.

The tang is subtle — not sour-bread-subtle, but something more like sourdough pizza crust. A background note. It makes people ask what you did differently without being able to name it.

One thing to know: discard from the fridge works fine, but room-temperature discard (around 70°F) incorporates more smoothly. Pull it out 30 minutes before you start mixing. That small step matters.

What You Need — The Exact Recipe

This recipe makes one 9x13 pan, serving 8 to 12 people depending on how generous you're being.

• 500g bread flour (all-purpose works, but bread flour gives you better chew)
• 150g sourdough discard, unfed
• 325g warm water, around 90°F
• 7g instant yeast (one standard packet)
• 10g fine sea salt
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil, divided — 2 for the dough, 4 for the pan
• Flaky salt for the top
• Toppings of your choice (I'll get to this)

The instant yeast is not optional here. This is a discard recipe, not an active-starter recipe — the yeast does the heavy lifting on rise. If your discard is fresh and recently fed, you could reduce the yeast by half, but I'd rather you not guess. Use the full packet.

Mixing and the Shaggy-Dough Moment You Shouldn't Panic About

Combine the warm water, instant yeast, and discard in a large bowl. Whisk until the discard loosens into the water — it won't fully dissolve and that's fine. Add the bread flour, salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix until a shaggy, sticky dough comes together.

It will look wrong. Sticky, rough, like you made a mistake. You didn't. Focaccia dough is wetter than bread dough by design — that moisture is what creates the open crumb.

Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. Then do three sets of stretch-and-folds, spaced 20 minutes apart. Grab one side of the dough, stretch it up as high as it'll go without tearing, fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees, repeat. Four folds per set. By the third set, the dough will feel silkier and hold its shape better — that's the gluten developing without kneading.

The Pan Setup That Makes or Breaks the Crust

Pour all 4 remaining tablespoons of olive oil into your 9x13 metal pan. Spread it to coat every corner. This is not too much. This is exactly right.

Transfer the dough into the pan and turn it to coat it in the oil. Gently stretch it toward the edges — it will resist. Don't fight it. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then stretch again. After two rounds of resting and stretching, it should fill most of the pan. If it still springs back, give it another 10 minutes.

The metal pan matters here. Glass and ceramic insulate too well — they steam the bottom instead of frying it. A dark metal pan at high heat is what creates that shattering, golden-fried bottom crust that makes people flip the slice over just to look at it.

The Rise, the Dimples, and Why Timing Matters

Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Let it rise at room temperature — around 72°F — for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until it's noticeably puffy and jiggly when you shake the pan.

Don't skip the jiggle test. A dough that doesn't jiggle hasn't risen enough and will bake up dense. If your kitchen runs cold, give it the full hour. If it's summer and your kitchen is 78°F, check at 35 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450°F while the dough rises. When it's ready, drizzle another tablespoon of olive oil over the top and use all ten fingers to dimple the dough aggressively — press almost to the bottom of the pan. This isn't decorative. Those dimples hold the oil, create the signature texture, and keep the top from puffing into a smooth dome. Add your toppings and flaky salt immediately after dimpling.

Toppings Worth Actually Trying

The classic is flaky salt and fresh rosemary. It's classic for a reason. But discard focaccia has enough personality to carry bolder combinations.

• Caramelized onion and thyme: Cook two large onions low and slow in butter for 45 minutes before you even start the dough. Worth it.
• Sliced cherry tomatoes and garlic: Press halved tomatoes cut-side down into the dimples. They collapse and caramelize.
• Olives and lemon zest: Castelvetrano olives pressed into the dough with a strip of lemon zest over each one.
• Potato and rosemary: Slice one medium Yukon Gold paper-thin, toss with olive oil and salt, layer over the top before baking.
• Plain with flaky salt: Still the best vehicle for a slab of good butter.

Whatever you choose, add toppings after dimpling and before the oven. They need the full bake time to sink in and meld.

Baking It — Temperature, Time, and the Test

Bake at 450°F for 22 to 26 minutes on the lower third rack. Lower third is key — it puts the pan closer to the heat source and accelerates that bottom crust without burning the top.

At 20 minutes, lift one corner of the focaccia with a spatula and peek underneath. You're looking for deep golden brown — not blonde, not pale. If it looks light, give it 3 more minutes and check again. The bottom should look almost fried.

Pull it from the oven and let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack immediately. If you leave it in the pan, the bottom steams and softens. The wire rack keeps the air circulating and holds that crisp.

Cut it with a serrated knife or kitchen shears. Eat it warm. It's good at room temperature too, but warm focaccia with a crispy bottom is one of those unreasonably satisfying things that reminds you why you bake.

Storing and Reviving Leftover Focaccia

Focaccia is best the day it's made — but leftovers aren't a loss. Store at room temperature, loosely wrapped, for up to 2 days. Don't refrigerate it; the cold turns the crumb gummy.

To revive it: place slices directly on the oven rack at 375°F for 5 to 7 minutes. The bottom crisps back up almost entirely. This works better than the microwave by a factor of ten.

You can also freeze it. Slice, freeze flat on a sheet pan, then transfer to a bag. Reheat from frozen at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes. The texture isn't quite the same, but it's still very good — better than most bread you'd buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use active fed starter instead of discard?

Yes, with adjustments. If your starter is active and recently fed — peak rise, bubbly, passing the float test — you can drop the instant yeast to 3g or skip it entirely. The trade-off is time: an active-starter focaccia needs 4 to 6 hours at 72°F to rise properly, sometimes longer. The flavor will be more developed. If you're working with an active starter and want to dial in your feeding ratios first, our sourdough starter feeding calculator takes the guesswork out of it.

My discard smells very sour — is it still okay to use?

A sharp, tangy smell is normal for discard that's been sitting in the fridge for a week or more. As long as there's no pink or orange streaking, no fuzzy mold, and no smell that crosses from sour into genuinely foul, it's fine. The bake mellows the acidity significantly. If you're ever uncertain about your starter's health, the sourdough starter troubleshooter walks through exactly what's normal and what's not.

Can I make this dough the night before?

Absolutely — and the overnight cold ferment actually improves the flavor. After mixing and completing your stretch-and-folds, cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate overnight (8 to 12 hours). The next day, let the dough come to room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes, then transfer to the oiled pan and proceed as written. The tang will be more pronounced and the crumb slightly more open. It's my preferred method when I'm not in a rush.

Why is my focaccia bottom soggy instead of crispy?