Name: Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Focaccia
Prep time: 480 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 510 min
Ingredients: 1 cup pumpkin puree; 3/4 cup warm water; 1/4 cup maple syrup; 1/2 cup sourdough starter; 3 1/2 cups flour; 1 Tbl salt; 2 cups brown sugar; 2 Tbl pumpkin pie spice; 1/2 cup melted butter; 1 cup powdered sugar; 2 Tbsp milk

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This sourdough pumpkin spice focaccia recipe is filled with a delicious cinnamon sugar and pumpkin spice filling, baked to perfection and then drizzled with a sweet glaze. All of my favorite fall flavors are wrapped up in this beautiful focaccia bread that is perfect for a cozy fall day, along with a cup of tea or coffee.

Simple and easy to make, this is one of my family’s favorite fall treats. Similar to my artisan sourdough bread, this recipe is perfect for a batch of sourdough that may have accidentally gotten over-fermented. If that happens to you, like it does to all of us sometimes, just turn it into a delicious focaccia. Don't let fall pass you by

pan of pumpkin focaccia with frosting close up

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Cozy – all my favorite fall flavors are wrapped up in this cozy fall dish. We make it all throughout the fall and winter season.
Healthy – made with long fermented sourdough for the maximum gut health benefits. I also like to use my homemade pumpkin puree from pumpkins we grow in our garden.
Delicious – of all the sweet things that I make, this one is always gone the quickest. It's like pumpkin pie wrapped up in a bread.
Snack or Dessert – this sweet sourdough focaccia makes a great snack or the perfect dessert for a fall picnic.
Quick and Easy – If you’re needing a last minute bread for an evening meal, you can quickly whip up a focaccia in the morning using discard from your refrigerator, and have it baked in time for supper.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Sourdough?

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion. Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well. When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest. A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”.

In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

Ingredients

Flour- I like to use bread flour when making sourdough bread, but all-purpose flour works just fine too. I prefer to source my flour from Azure Standard, but I can sometimes get good quality flour from Sam’s club as well. You can also use whole wheat flour, but I prefer to mix it 50/50 with all purpose flour.
Water- Non-chlorinated water is best. You can leave chlorinated water sit out on the counter for a few hours and the chlorine will naturally evaporate. Always use warm water when working with sourdough as it will better activate the wild yeast in the sourdough. If you like a stronger lemon flavor, you can also use lemon juice for part of the water in this recipe.
Salt- I prefer to use Redmond Real Salt, but use whatever you have available.
Sourdough Starter- Sourdough discard works just fine for making focaccia, but you can use active sourdough starter if that’s all you have available.
Pumpkin purée- I like to bake a homegrown sugar pie pumpkin from our garden at least once a week during fall and winter and then make something with it like this pumpkin focaccia, or a maple pumpkin pie.
Maple syrup- This gives a slight sweet taste to the bread and adds more of the delicious fall flavor we all love.
Brown Sugar- Combine with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to make the filling of this pumpkin focaccia. You can also use cane sugar or regular sugar, but brown sugar has the best flavor.
Cinnamon- Gives some added cinnamon sugar flavor that is absolutely delicious.
Pumpkin Pie Spice- If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, it's easy to mix up your own out of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice.
Powdered Sugar- Powdered sugar and milk makes a delicious glaze for this pumpkin focaccia.
Milk

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Tools

How To Make Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Focaccia

Mix Ingredients

In a large bowl, add water, sourdough starter, maple syrup, pumpkin puree and flour. Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough. You can add the salt now, or when you do the first stretch and fold. It doesn’t really matter for focaccia. Leave it for 15-30 minutes to “autolyse”. This just means you’re giving the flour a chance to absorb the water and the starter. Do one or two sets of stretch and folds or coil folds just to make sure the ingredients are well mixed.

mixing up ingredients for pumpkin focaccia

Bulk Fermentation

Cover bowl with a loose fitting lid like a plate and leave it in the bowl at room temperature for 3-8 hours to bulk ferment. It doesn’t matter if it over ferments, in fact that’s really what you want for focaccia.

Make The Filling

Combine brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice.

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Spread out the dough in a greased pan like a 12” cast iron skillet or a 9” x 13” pan.

adding dough to skillet for pumpkin focaccia

Cover the focaccia dough with half of the filling mixture. Fold one side towards the center, and the other side towards the center, fully enclosing the filling. Gently spread the dough back out.

adding filling to skillet for pumpkin focaccia

Allow to rise for an hour or two in a warm spot, or in the refrigerator overnight.

Spread the remainder of the filling over the top of the dough. Dimple the surface of the dough with your fingers (see video). This will allow the rest of the filling to be fully incorporated into the dough.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bake

Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze

Combine powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl to make a glaze and drizzle over the top of the warm focaccia.

adding frosting to sourdough pumpkin focaccia

Slice and Enjoy

For best results, wait until the focaccia is cool to slice. Sometimes I can’t wait that long, and slice it sooner. You’ll never eat anything more delicious!

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

If you make this recipe, be sure to come back and give a 5-star rating so others will know to try it too. Happy baking friends!

FAQ

Sourdough starter is a fermented mix of flour and water that has captured the wild yeast that is in your environment. It uses this yeast to raise your bread so you don’t have to purchase store bought yeast. As long as you have access to flour, water and salt, you can make bread and other delicious recipes like this sourdough focaccia.

Sourdough focaccia is more flat than a regular loaf of sourdough bread, and can be made either sweet or savory. A lot of focaccia’s are made savory with herbs, vegetables and salt, or sweet with fruit, sugar and usually a powdered sugar glaze.

Yes, you can. Since we’re not worried about building structure in the dough and creating a really open crumb like we do in a regular sourdough loaf, then discard works just fine. In fact, I usually make focaccia with discard.

Yes! And in fact, I do that a lot. If you happen to over ferment your sourdough into a sticky dough, just turn it into a focaccia by spreading it out in a greased pan, dimpling it and adding in some sweet or savory toppings.

Yes, long fermented sourdough focaccia is healthier than yeast bread because of the phytic acid that is broken down during the fermentation process. A lot of people that are gluten intolerant can eat long fermented sourdough bread without any digestion issues. Sourdough bread also has a lower glycemic index than regular yeast bread and when eaten with a meal it actually lowers the glycemic level of the entire meal. This is really important for people that are diabetic. More information on the glycemic level of sourdough bread here.

All purpose flour works just fine for making sourdough focaccia. You can use any kind of flour you want though, it really is a flexible recipe.

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Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Focaccia

Prep Time 8

Cook Time 30

Total Time 8 30

Serving Size people

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Equipment

1 Large Mixing Bowl
1 Measuring cups
1 Danish whisk
1 Bench scraper
1 Small bowl
1 12” cast iron skillet or 9” x 13” glass pan

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree
¾ cup warm water
¼ cup maple syrup
½ cup sourdough starter
3 ½ cups flour
1 Tbl salt

Filling/Topping

2 cups brown sugar
2 Tbl pumpkin pie spice

Additional Ingredients

½ cup melted butter

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoon milk