Chocolate Sourdough Focaccia
This chocolate sourdough focaccia is soft, chewy, and rich with cocoa and chocolate chips—an easy twist on a classic focaccia that’s perfect for dessert or brunch.
If you’ve only ever had savory focaccia, buckle up—because this chocolate version is going to blow your mind. It’s soft, slightly chewy, rich with cocoa, and studded with melty chocolate chips. The sourdough tang balances the sweetness perfectly, making it way more interesting than your average chocolate bread.
This isn’t a super-sweet dessert bread. Think of it more like a cross between a brownie and a rich, slightly sweet focaccia. It’s perfect for brunch, snacking, or turning into next-level ice cream sandwiches.
Cocoa powder is acidic and can slow down the activity of wild yeast in sourdough, especially in an enriched dough like this one. After a bit of trial and error, I decided to use a combo of sourdough starter (active OR discard works!) and a small amount of instant yeast. You still get that signature sourdough flavor, but with more consistent and quicker rise times—especially helpful when working with chocolate-heavy doughs.
Why you’ll love this chocolate focaccia
- Rich, chocolatey flavor without being too sweet
- Simple mixing method using a stand mixer
- Bakes up soft in the middle with crisp, buttery edges
- Feels fancy, but it’s super low effort
Love this chocolate twist on focaccia? You might also like my Cinnamon Roll Focaccia—it’s another sweet take on the classic, with gooey cinnamon swirls and a simple glaze. For something more traditional, check out my go-to Everyday Sourdough Focaccia—crispy edges, soft middle, and perfect for sandwiches or snacking. And if you’ve got extra starter to use up, my Sourdough Discard Focaccia is an easy, no-fuss way to make something delicious without wasting a thing.
How to make chocolate focaccia
Here is a brief overview of how to make this recipe. For the full set of instructions, please scroll down to the recipe card below.
Step One: Mix the dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and melted butter. Mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, sticky, and fully combined. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl a bit but still be tacky.
Step Two: Bulk Fermentation with Stretch & Folds
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then give it a stretch and fold.
Repeat this two more times, resting 30 minutes between each set of folds (so three sets total, over 1.5 hours).
Then, let the dough rest until it’s puffy and almost doubled in size. This may take a couple more hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Step Three: Add chocolate chips
Once the dough is nice and puffy, do one more round of stretch and folds, this time gently mixing in 1 cup of chocolate chips. You want them evenly distributed without overworking the dough.
Step Four: Put it in the pan
Pour 2–3 tablespoons of melted butter into a 9×13″ baking pan. Transfer the dough into the pan and gently stretch it to fit. It’s okay if it doesn’t reach the edges right away—it’ll relax during the final proof.
Cover and let it rise again until doubled and jiggly. This can take 1–2 hours depending on your room temp.
Step Five: Dimple and Bake
Once risen, drizzle another tablespoon or two of melted butter over the top. Use your fingers to gently dimple the dough all over—it’s focaccia tradition, even in chocolate form. Sprinkle with some flakey Maldon sea salt.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 20–25 minutes, until the top is set and you see crispy edges forming. It may puff up a lot in the oven—that’s a good thing!
Let it cool slightly before slicing and devouring.
Tips for success
- You can skip the yeast in this bread if you want and rely only on the active starter, but know that it will take longer for the dough to double.
- Chocolate dough can be slower to rise, so give it time.
- Don’t skip the butter in the pan—it’s key to getting those golden, almost caramelized edges.
Sourdough is better when shared
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and rating below.
Love and links are always appreciated! If you’d like to share this recipe, please link to the post directly for the recipe, please do not copy and paste or screenshot. Thank you so much for supporting me. XOXO – Jenni
Chocolate Sourdough Focaccia
This chocolate sourdough focaccia is soft, chewy, and rich with cocoa and chocolate chips and sprinkled with flakey salt—an easy and delicious twist on a classic focaccia that’s perfect for dessert or brunch.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter, discard or active
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon flakey Maldon sea salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, water, sugar, starter, cocoa powder, olive oil, instant yeast, 2 teaspoons salt, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on medium speed until a smooth but sticky dough forms.
- Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Do a set of stretch and folds. Grab the section of dough closest to you in the bowl and stretch it straight up above the bowl, and then fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this until you have done all four “sides” of the bowl.
- Recover and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
- Do a second set of stretch and folds.
- Recover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
- Do a third set of stretch and folds.
- Recover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of chocolate chips on top of the dough and do a fourth set of stretch and folds.
- Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and spread in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
- Place the dough in the baking dish and gently spread it out as far as you can into the pan. Its ok if it doesn’t fit perfectly now, it will reach better after it has finished proofing.
- Cover and allow the dough to rest for another hour, until it has increased in size about 30-40% and is puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 425F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
- Melt an additional 2 Tablespoons of butter and pour over the dough. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips over the top of the dough evenly.
- Use your fingers to dimple the dough, pressing down through the dough, and working your way from one end of the pan to the other.
- Sprinkle with the flakey sea salt.
- Bake for 25-30 minute.
- Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack and cooling the rest of the way.
- Slice and enjoy.
Notes
Store at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days.
