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If you love burgers and focaccia, this Cheeseburger Sourdough Focaccia is for you. Made with pickle juice instead of water for extra flavor, it’s topped with seasoned ground beef, melty cheddar, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and finished with a drizzle of burger sauce.
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“This was so fun to make and tastes amazing! Made it this morning for my kids’ lunch! This will also be perfect for a Super Bowl” -Jaylene
This beginner-friendly recipe is adapted from my Same-Day Sourdough Focaccia, so you can start it in the morning and have it on the table in time for dinner. Serve it as a fun game day sourdough appetizer or enjoy it for dinner.
If you love cheeseburgers, make sure to also check out my Sourdough Hamburger Buns recipe as well!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Same-day recipe- Just like many of my same-day sourdough recipes, you can start the dough in the morning and have it in time for dinner!
- Made with pickle juice- Just like how I swapped water for marinara sauce in my Margherita Pizza Sourdough Focaccia, this recipe uses pickle juice in place of water for maximum flavor.
- Customizable– This cheeseburger sourdough focaccia is easy to customize with your favorite vegetables and toppings.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Pickles- When choosing pickle juice, avoid brands that contain sodium benzoate, as it can inhibit fermentation. Look for cleaner or organic pickle brands, which typically don’t include it, or use homemade pickle juice instead.
- Sourdough starter- In this recipe, you will use an active and bubbly sourdough starter to leaven the dough.
- Salt or garlic salt- I used garlic salt to infuse extra flavor into the dough but you can just use salt if preferred.
- Bread flour- In a pinch you can swap bread flour for all purpose flour but I recommend cutting the amount of liquid by 25-50 grams as all purpose flour does not absorb as much liquid.
- Toppings- Just like sourdough pizza dough, you can use whichever toppings you would like. Since this is parbaked, you will want to use cheese to bind the toppings to the focaccia.
See all ingredients in the recipe card.
Instructions to make Cheeseburger Sourdough Focaccia
Step 1: In a bowl or straight edge container, mix room-temperature pickle juice, active and bubbly sourdough starter, and garlic salt with a danish dough whisk, spoon or hands. Add the bread flour and mix until the flour is fully incorporated. The dough will be wet and sticky. Cover and let it sit at 75°F for 30 minutes.
Step 2: Perform 3 sets of stretch and folds with a 30-minute rest in between each set. To stretch and fold the dough, grab one side with a damp hand and gently shimmy the dough up, and then fold it on top of itself. Repeat this 3 more times, rotating the bowl 90 degrees each time. Cover and keep the dough warm between each set.
Step 3: Continue to let the dough rise for the remainder of bulk fermentation until it is risen 50% and is jiggly with bubbles forming around the sides of the bowl.
At 75°F, this will take about 5 hours.
Step 4: Grease a 9×13″ pan and add 2 Tablespoons of oil to the bottom of the pan. Dump the dough into the pan and flip it once to coat both sides in oil. Gently stretch the dough to fill the pan.
Step 5: Cover the pan and let it rise until it mostly fills the pan and is puffy.
At 75°F, this will take about 3 hours.
Step 6: Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the dough, then dimple it with your fingers, pressing all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Par-bake for 15 minutes at 425°F.
Step 7: Cook the meat and prep the toppings. Add to the top of the focaccia and return to the oven.
Step 8: Bake with the toppings for an additional 18-20 minutes.
Step 9: Mix together the homemade burger sauce and drizzle over the focaccia. Cut and serve warm.
Sample schedule
This is based on the dough temperature being at 75°F, although your timing may look different. Make sure to watch the dough, not the clock.
| Step | Time |
| Feed sourdough starter a 1:5:5 ratio (15 grams starter: 70 grams flour: 70 grams water) | 10 pm |
| Mix dough together | 8 am |
| Stretch & Folds | 8:30-9:30 am |
| Add dough to 9×13 pan | 1:00 pm |
| Bake | 4:00 pm |
Recipe Tips
- When choosing pickles, avoid brands that contain sodium benzoate, it inhibits fermentation. Look for cleaner or organic pickle brands, which typically don’t include it, or use homemade pickle juice instead.
- Add dough to a straight edge container so you can easily see when the dough has risen 50%.
- Make sure to let the dough get puffy and rise in the pan. Baking it too early will result in a denser focaccia.
- To speed up the process, find a warmer spot for the dough to rise and use warm ingredients. If room temperature is not warm enough, use a temperature-regulated dough mat (use code country10 for 10% off) or proofing box to keep it warm. Learn more tips to keep your dough warm here.
- If you want to bake the next day, you have two options. After the first rise, you can place the dough in the fridge and then transfer it to the pan for the second rise the next day. Or you can complete most of the second rise before covering and refrigerating for up to 12 hours. Then let the dough come to room temperature before dimpling and baking.
How to store Cheeseburger Sourdough Focaccia
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. To reheat, you can warm it in the microwave, or to get a crispy crust again by adding it to an airfyer or hot oven for a couple minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your focaccia baked up dense, it likely needed a longer rise. Try placing the dough in a warmer spot or allowing more time for it to rise.
If the dough deflated when you dimpled it, it likely overproofed and rose for too long. In that case, shorten the rise time slightly next time.
Be sure to check the ingredients on your pickle juice. You’ll want to use one without sodium benzoate, as it can severely impact or even stop fermentation.
Focaccia dough is a wet and sticky dough. Through the stretch and folds, the dough will become stronger and smoother.
If your dough is extremely sticky throughout, it could be an issue with your sourdough starter. An acidic starter can cause the dough to be extra sticky and unmanageable.
More sourdough focaccia recipes
Sourdough Bread Recipes
Hawaiian Roll Sourdough Focaccia
Sourdough Bread Recipes
Salsa Sourdough Focaccia
Sourdough Bread Recipes
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Sourdough Focaccia
Sourdough Bread Recipes
Margherita Pizza Sourdough Focaccia
Tried this Sourdough Cheeseburger Focaccia or another recipe from the site? I’d love to hear about it! Drop a star rating and share your thoughts in the comments—can’t wait to see what you’re baking!
Cheeseburger Sourdough Focaccia
Equipment
Ingredients
Sourdough Starter or Levain
- 15 grams active sourdough starter, 1 Tablespoon
- 70 grams all-purpose or bread flour , ½ cup
- 70 grams water, ⅓ cup
Sourdough Focaccia
- 375 grams pickle juice (48oz jar of pickles) , don't use one with sodium benzoate (see note below), 1½ cups
- 8 grams garlic salt, 1 teaspoon
- 175 grams active sourdough starter, ¾ cup
- 500 grams bread flour, 3⅔ cups
Toppings
- 55 grams olive oil, divided, 1/4 cup
- 110 grams onion, thinly sliced, 1/2 cup
- 340 grams ground beef, cooked, 2 cups
- 75 grams cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup
- 35 grams pickles, chopped, 1/4 cup
- 200 grams cheddar cheese, freshly shredded , 2 cups
Burger Sauce
- 80 grams mayonnaise, 1/3 cup
- 30 grams ketchup, 2 Tablespoons
- 5 grams white vinegar, 1 teaspoon
- 5 grams pickle relish, 1 teaspoon
Instructions
Feed starter the night before
- The night before, about 10 hours before making the dough, make a levain or feed your sourdough starter and leave it covered at around 72℉ to double in size. Skip this step if your starter is already activated and ready to bake with.15 grams active sourdough starter, 70 grams all-purpose or bread flour , 70 grams water
Prep Focaccia
- Drain juice: Drain the pickle juice from the jar. If your pickles are stored in the refrigerator, warm the pickle juice until it reaches room temperature or is just slightly warm. If you don’t have enough pickle juice, add water to make up the difference.Make sure to use pickles without sodium benzoate. 375 grams pickle juice (48oz jar of pickles)
- Mix ingredients: In a bowl or straight-edge container, mix pickle juice, active and bubbly sourdough starter, and garlic salt with a danish dough whisk, spoon, or hands. Add the bread flour and mix until the flour is fully incorporated. The dough will be wet and sticky. Cover and let it sit at 75°F for 30 minutes.375 grams pickle juice (48oz jar of pickles) 175 grams active sourdough starter, 8 grams garlic salt, 500 grams bread flour
- Stretch and folds: Perform 3 sets of stretch and folds with a 30-minute rest in between each set. To stretch and fold the dough, grab one side with a damp hand and gently shimmy the dough up, and then fold it on top of itself. Repeat this 3 more times, rotating the bowl 90 degrees each time. Cover and keep the dough warm between each set.
- First rise: Continue to let the dough rise for the remainder of bulk fermentation until it has risen 50% and is jiggly with bubbles forming around the sides of the bowl. At 75°F, this will take about 5 hours.
- Prep pan: Grease a 9×13″ pan and add 2 Tablespoons of oil to the bottom of the pan. Dump the dough into the pan and flip it once to coat both sides in oil. Gently stretch the dough to fill the pan.55 grams olive oil, divided
- Second rise: Cover the pan and let it rise until it mostly fills the pan and is puffy.At 75°F, this will take about 3 hours.
- Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 425℉.
- Prep fillings: Prep the fillings by sautéing the onions for a few minutes, then add the ground meat. Add seasonings and salt, and cook until browned. Dice the tomatoes and pickles, and shred the cheese.340 grams ground beef, cooked, 75 grams cherry tomatoes, 110 grams onion, thinly sliced, 35 grams pickles, chopped, 200 grams cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the dough, then dimple it with your fingers, pressing all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Par-bake for 15 minutes.
- Add the toppings to the top of the focaccia and return to the oven for an additional 18-20 minutes.
- Mix together the burger sauce in a small bowl. Add it to a small baggie and cut the corner. Drizzle over the cooked focaccia. 80 grams mayonnaise, 30 grams ketchup, 5 grams white vinegar, 5 grams pickle relish
- Let it cool on a cooling rack and serve warm!
Notes
- When choosing pickles, avoid brands that contain sodium benzoate, it can inhibit fermentation. Look for cleaner or organic pickle brands, which typically don’t include it, or use homemade pickle juice instead. You will need a 48-oz pickle jar to get enough liquid.
- Make sure to let the dough get puffy and rise in the pan. Baking it too early will result in a denser focaccia.
- To speed up the process, find a warmer spot for the dough to rise and use warm ingredients. Learn more tips to keep your dough warm here.
- If you want to bake the next day, you have two options. After the first rise, you can place the dough in the fridge and then transfer it to the pan for the second rise the next day. Or you can complete most of the second rise before covering and refrigerating for up to 12 hours. Then let the dough come to room temperature before dimpling and baking.
- This recipe was updated on 1/27/26 to adjust the liquid from 400 grams to 375 grams and increase the starter from 150 grams to 175 grams. The salt was reduced from 10 grams to 8 grams. The focaccia is now parbaked before adding the toppings, which helps prevent excess grease from soaking into the bread and causing a gummy texture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this for the Super Bowl this year after stumbling upon the recipe on Instagram and I will say it was quite the rollercoaster experience! I typically read through comments on recipes before attempting them, and I almost always practice a recipe before I bring it to an event, but for whatever reason I did NEITHER of those things before making this.
As so many others in the comments, my dough never came together. My pickle juice didn’t have sodium benzoate listed as an ingredient, so something else in the pickle juice must have interfered with the fermentation. I did the stretch and folds, I tried (very messy) slap and folds and left the dough on my heat pad set to 75 degrees for approx 5 hours to no avail! Finally I just plopped the shaggy, shaggy dough into my focaccia pan and hoped for the best on the parbake. After the first 10 min, it had puffed quite a bit, but it didn’t have those lovely peaks and valleys that is typical of a healthy focaccia. Timidly, I topped the dough with all the appropriate toppings and threw it back in the oven for the remainder of the time. The lovely aromas wafted through the house and I must say, it looked pretty good!
Upon cutting into it, I was ready to be greeted by a dense, crumbly, low-rider of a focaccia but was very pleasantly surprised to find quite a squishable, airy and DELICIOUS outcome! This was a hit – it was moist, flavorful but totally not over-the-top pickley (although my hands remained stained with pickle aroma for hours). I don’t quite understand how this worked out in my favor despite my lack of prep and advanced research – but I just may keep making this for years to come! Thank you for the inspo!
Well I’m happy to hear it baked up well! Can you share what brand of pickles you use? I’ve tried a couple brand and my dough always comes together so just curious. Did it rise on the mat?
Yes! I was using Trader Joe’s brand pickles
This Cheeseburger Sourdough Focaccia is an excellent recipe. It turned out so well and is absolutely delicious. I am posting a reel of me making it on my Instagram tomorrow morning: normabakes.765
The dill aroma when it’s baking is so wonderful. The partaking ensures perfect texture and the melted cheese holds the toppings in place beautifully. So nice that it can be eaten by hand. Thanks for this great recipe!
Thanks so much Norma!