Celebration Pull Apart Focaccia
Pillowy focaccia balls dunked in vanilla butter, rolled in sprinkles and colored sugar, then drizzled with a crackly glaze. Perfect for birthdays, holidays, or any celebration that calls for shareable, crowd pleasing bread.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- 9x13 inch baking pan
- Parchment paper
- Small bowl for butter
- Medium bowl for coating mixture
- Whisk
- spatula
Ingredients
Sourdough Focaccia Dough
- 500 g bread flour 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons
- 400 g water 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons
- 75 g active sourdough starter ⅓ cup
- 10 g salt 1¾ teaspoons
- 4 g vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
- 12 g sugar (optional)
Coating
- 85-113 g unsalted butter melted (6 to 8 tablespoons)
- 14 g vanilla extract 1 tablespoon
- 100 g granulated sugar ½ cup
- 50 g colored sugar ¼ cup, or use 150g total granulated sugar if you prefer
- 85 g rainbow sprinkles ½ cup
- 16 g cornstarch 2 tablespoons
Vanilla Glaze
- 60 g powdered sugar ½ cup
- 15-30 g heavy cream 1 to 2 tablespoons
- 4 g vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
Instructions
Make the Sourdough Dough
- In a large bowl, combine the water and sourdough starter. Mix until the starter is mostly dissolved.
- Add the flour, vanilla extract, sugar (if using) and salt. Mix until no dry flour remains.
- Cover and let rest for 1 hour.
- Perform a set of stretch and folds: grab one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over itself. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat 4 to 6 times total.
- Cover and let proof at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours, until doubled or tripled in size. The dough should be jiggly and full of bubbles.
Shape and Coat
- Prepare your coating station: Melt the butter and stir in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine the granulated sugar, colored sugar (if using), sprinkles, and cornstarch. Mix well.
- Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Oil your hands lightly. Pinch off golf ball sized portions, or however large or small you want to make your servings.
- Dunk each ball in the vanilla butter, letting excess drip off.
- Roll generously in the sprinkle sugar mixture until completely coated.
- Place in the prepared pan, nestling them close together.
- Cover loosely and let proof for 1 to 2 hours, until visibly puffy, jiggly, and touching each other.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Oil your fingers and gently dimple the center of each focaccia ball, pressing almost to the bottom of the pan. This prevents the balls from puffing up too much and creates wells for the glaze.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top and the balls have puffed together.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.
Glaze
- While the focaccia cools, whisk together powdered sugar, cream (start with 3 tablespoons), and vanilla until smooth. Add more cream if needed.
- Drizzle the glaze over the warm focaccia, allowing it to drip down between the balls.
- Add additional sprinkles on top for a fun color pop.
- Let the glaze set for 15 to 20 minutes until it hardens.
- Pull apart and serve while still warm.
Notes
YEAST SUBSTITUTION SECTION
NO SOURDOUGH STARTER? USE YEAST INSTEAD!
Don’t have sourdough starter? No problem! You can make this Birthday Cake Pull Apart Focaccia recipe using instant yeast or active dry yeast with fantastic results. The bread turns out just as fluffy and delicious with the same irresistible pull apart texture.
REPLACE THE 75G ACTIVE SOURDOUGH STARTER WITH:
37g (about ¼ cup) all purpose flour
37g (about 2½ tablespoons) water
7g (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast OR 9g (2¾ teaspoons) active dry yeast
USING INSTANT YEAST (RAPID RISE):
Mix everything together at once. Add the 37g flour, 37g water, and 7g instant yeast along with ALL the other recipe ingredients (the bread flour, water, vanilla, sugar and salt) right from the start. Mix until no dry flour remains. No activation needed with instant yeast.
Rest for 30 to 60 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature. 30 minutes is standard for yeasted focaccia; 60 minutes will give you slightly more flavor development but may shorten your bulk fermentation time.
Stretch and fold. With wet hands, grab one edge of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this 4 times total (one complete rotation around the bowl). The dough will transform from sticky and shaggy to smoother and more cohesive.
Bulk fermentation. Cover and let the complete dough rise for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature until it doubles in size and becomes puffy and jiggly.
Continue as normal. Once doubled, proceed with the recipe exactly as written.
USING ACTIVE DRY YEAST:
Activate the yeast. Mix the 37g warm water (100 to 110°F) with the 9g active dry yeast and ¼ teaspoon sugar in a small bowl. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy and bubbly. If it doesn’t foam, your yeast is dead and you need to start over with fresh yeast.
Mix everything together. Once your yeast is foamy, add it along with the 37g flour and ALL the other recipe ingredients (the bread flour, water, vanilla, sugar and salt). Mix until no dry flour remains.
Rest for 30 to 60 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature. 30 minutes is standard; 60 minutes provides more flavor development.
Stretch and fold. With wet hands, grab one edge of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this 4 times total (one complete rotation around the bowl).
Bulk fermentation. Cover and let the complete dough rise for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature until it doubles in size.
Continue as normal. Proceed with the recipe exactly as written.
IMPORTANT YEAST VERSION NOTES:
Worried about wet dough? If you’re new to baking and concerned about sticky dough, start by decreasing the water in the main recipe to 360g (1½ cups). Experienced bakers can stick with the full 400g of water.
Water temperature matters: Use room temperature water for instant yeast. Use warm water (100 to 110°F) for active dry yeast.
Bulk fermentation is 2 to 3 hours instead of 8 to 12 hours with sourdough starter. The rest period is 30 to 60 minutes instead of the sourdough’s 30 to 45 minute autolyse (shorter rest = longer bulk fermentation; longer rest = shorter bulk fermentation). This is the main time difference between the two methods.
Everything else stays EXACTLY the same! Same shaping into 27 dough balls, same butter dip and sprinkle coating, same final proof, same baking time and temperature.
QUICK REFERENCE:
Flour: 37g (¼ cup)
Water: 37g (2½ tablespoons)
INSTANT YEAST: 7g (2¼ teaspoons)
ACTIVE DRY YEAST: 9g (2¾ teaspoons)
PRO TIP: Instant yeast is more forgiving and faster to use. If you’re new to baking, choose instant yeast over active dry yeast. It eliminates the activation step and produces consistent results.
TIMELINE COMPARISON:
Sourdough version: 10 to 14 hours total (mostly hands off fermentation time)
Yeast version: 4 to 6 hours total
Sourdough version: 10 to 14 hours total (mostly hands off fermentation time)
Yeast version: 4 to 6 hours total
