Name: Cheesy Garlic Sourdough Foccacia
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 5 h 20 min
Yield: 36
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups fed sourdough (feed it the day before); 1 cup warm water; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1 cup flour; 1 Tablespoon honey; 1/3 cup olive oil; 4 cups flour (give or take); 2 teaspoons salt; 2 Tablespoons olive oil; 2-3 teaspoons garlic salt; 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

Jump to Recipe

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!

squares of cheesy foccacia stacked on top of each other

Grab a piece of this cheesy sourdough foccacia 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!

Big bowl of sourdough sponge ready to be made into focaccia.

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I originally made some chocolate banana bread, but saw there were quite a few other chocolate recipes on the list.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 foccacia 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!

dough with dimples being brushed with oil.

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.

cheesy corner of freshly baked bread in sheet pan fresh from oven.

She has gotten quite complacent spending her days in the fridge and usually being fed and quickly returned. I tend to use the 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!

shrimp and broccoli fettuccine alfredo and slices of foccacia on plate.

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 foccacia and cheesy garlic bread.

stack of foccacia slices on cutting board

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

Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Sourdough Waffles

Sourdough Crescent Rolls

More great bread recipes

Bao Buns from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Chocolate Babka from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Sourdough Rye Bread from Caroline’s Cooking
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Dinner Rolls from Cooking for My Soul
White Chocolate Mocha Braid from The Baking Fairy

Yield: 36 Servings