Whipped Ricotta Caramelized Onion Sourdough Focaccia Bread

I am back with another delicious focaccia flavor and this one is Whipped Ricotta Caramelized Onion Sourdough Focaccia Bread. It is salty, a little sweet, creamy and tangy. Truly a perfect combination of flavours!

Focaccia bread is always a winner in our house. It is so easy to make, requires minimal effort, and the texture is sooo soft you can’t beat it. If you’ve been here a while, you know that I love to make flavoured focaccia breads and this ricotta and caramelized onion version is incredible!!!

If you are new to sourdough focaccia, it is a very similar dough to regular sourdough, with the addition of some oil for the classic texture. You simply mix the dough, do some folds, then let it rise and place it in the fridge until you are ready to bake. I like to place the dough in a 9×13 baking dish to get nice and puffy before dimpling and adding all the toppings. In this case, caramelized onions and crispy bacon. Then you bake it until golden, and top with swirls of a creamy whipped ricotta and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

This focaccia bread gives you that glorious soft, chewy and airy texture, but with the most dreamy flavor combination on top. It is a great bread to serve as an appetizer, to enjoy with lunch, or just on its own for a snack! The whipped ricotta adds a decadent creaminess that balances the salty bacon and sweet onions perfectly. You have to try this one….

Tips for Making Whipped Ricotta Caramelized Onion Sourdough Focaccia Bread

1. Use a nice strong and fed sourdough starter. Ideally feed your sourdough starter a 1:4:4 ratio before making the dough. This helps it get nice and strong to give you beautiful rise and texture in the bread.
2. Before baking focaccia bread at anytime, you want to make sure that you give it a good solid 3 hours or so to rise in the pan. This has a huge impact on the final outcome of your bread. If it doesn’t get enough rise before the oven it will be more flat and less airy.
3. With the bacon and onions on this one, you want to cook them enough to get flavours going, but not to where the bacon is super crispy. Both the onions and bacon will continue to cook more as the bread bakes, so if you cook them too much before hand they will just end up super burnt.

Whipped Ricotta Caramelized Onion Sourdough Focaccia Ingredients

Flour– Unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour. Whichever you typically use for bread.

Sourdough Starter– As mentioned above you want a nice active and fed start for this recipe.

Oil– I like to use olive oil for some extra flavor, but avocado oil always works.

Salt– Any fine salt works.

Bacon– Use homemade or store bought. Whichever if your favorite.

Onion– I like a white or yellow onion for caramelizing.

Ricotta Cheese– You want smooth ricotta.

Cream Cheese– This gets blended with the ricotta for a super creamy texture.

The Steps

Make the Dough

1. Start by mixing together the sourdough starter, water and 20g oil in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or dough whisk.
2. Once milky, add in the flour and salt, and stir until you have a shaggy dough.
3. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rest for 45 minutes.
4. After 45 minutes, perform a set of stretch and folds or coil folds. Cover the bowl and let rest another 30 minutes.
5. Repeat this step 2 more times for a total of 3 sets of folds. (If you only have time for 2 sets that is fine too).
6. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel then let rise at room temperature for about 7-8 hours or until doubled in size with some bubble on the surface of the dough.
7. Then, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 8-36 hours.

Add the Topping & Bake

1. A couple hours before you are ready to bake it, remove the dough from the fridge, and dump it into a 9×13 baking dish, that has been generously drizzled with olive oil.
2. Cover the pan, and let the dough rise one last time for about 3 hours or until soft, and very puffy.

1. While the dough rises, add the sliced onions and chopped bacon to a skillet over medium low heat.
2. Cook until the onions start to caramelize and the bacon is about half way to crispy. Season with a bit of salt then remove from the heat.
3. Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425F.
4. Take a bit more olive oil and drizzle it over top of the dough. Then take your fingers and dimple the dough all over.
5. Spoon the onions and bacon evenly over top of the dough, then bake the bread for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Let the bread cool for about 20 minutes while you blend the ricotta cheese and cream cheese together until smooth.
7. Finally, take the whipped ricotta and either spoon it into dollops or pipe little swirls all over the top of the bread.
8. Finish with a generous drizzle of balsamic glaze over the bread, slice and enjoy!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or a recipe review below!

Looking for more fun focaccia recipes to try?

https://cmbarndominium.com/the-best-garlic-butter-herb-sourdough-focaccia-bread/

https://cmbarndominium.com/carrot-cake-sourdough-focaccia-bread-with-cream-cheese-glaze/

https://cmbarndominium.com/hot-honey-charcuterie-sourdough-focaccia-bread/