Focaccia is the most amazing bread that has a crispy crust with an airy soft center and is topped with garlic infused oil. You will be amazed how easy to make this focaccia bread recipe with zero skills. Best you will only need a handful of ingredients and it doesn’t need to rise overnight.
I love homemade breads, not just because they taste so great but also because they make such a wonderful smell in the kitchen.
Just like you know from my Artisan Bread (one bowl, Dutch oven), the Cheddar Bay Biscuits, my Hummus Homemade Bread, or the Easy Jalapeno Cornbread.
What is Focaccia bread?
It is an Italian bread that is like a flatbread. It is always made with lots of olive oil and that makes this bread so amazing and utterly delicious. One can combine it with a lot of variations and toppings like olives, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs you can imagine, yummy.
Reasons to love this Focaccia bread
It is a really easy bread that requires zero skills, but you will be really proud of the chevy crusty texture and the soft center.
Also it is really versatile and makes a wonderful sandwich bread or even a great pizza dough.
The garlic-oil topping is really simple, but quite impressive and so delicious. It makes also a great dipping sauce, yummy.
What you need for this Focaccia bread recipe
Of course you need flour. All purpose or bread flour can be used and both create amazing results.
A good amount of olive oil is needed and makes this bread delicious.
Yeast and warm water: I use dry active yeast and mix it with water and sweetener which helps to rise the yeast faster. You should end up with a foamy and creamy texture if you don’t, your yeast isn’t fresh or expired, please discard. Your water temperature is important for the yeast, so best use a kitchen thermometer. Your water should be around 110F. If it is too cold, the yeast can’t rise, but on the other hand, too hot yeast will be destroyed.
Fine salt goes into the dough and I sprinkle coarse salt over the topping before baking.
Finally, for the topping, we use a combination of garlic, olive oil, and rosemary.
How to make Focaccia bread
Activating the yeast
Into a bowl combine warm water (at 110F) , sweetener and yeast. Let it sit for around 5 minutes until you see a foamy and creamy texture.
Checking this result is important. If you don’t see the right texture, the yeast isn’t fresh or is expired. Don’t use the mix and start again.
I recommend to use a kitchen thermometer to check the water has the right temperature.
Prepare the dough
Give the flour and salt into a large bowl and mix well. Make a hole in the middle and add yeast mixture. With a spoon or spatula, combine everything until all flour disappears and is well combined.
Mix in 1/4 cup olive oil. The dough should look wet at this point. The oil will give the dough an amazing richness and make a wonderful texture. Don’t remove any oil it will get incorporated during the next steps.
Cover the Focaccia dough and let it rest for around 30 minutes. After this first rise, the dough should be doubled in volume.
Perform stretches and develop gluten
To develop the dough, perform repetitions of stretch and fold. To avoid the dough sticking to your hands, brush them with water. Take a bit of the dough and pull if upwards. After this stretch, fold the dough back down. Rotate the bowl by 90 degrees. Repeat this 4 times, then let the dough rest covered for another 30 minutes.
Repeat this in total three times.
Prepare the Focaccia topping
Mix 1/3 cup olive oil in a bowl with pressed garlic and finely chopped rosemary.
Baking the Focaccia
Preheat your oven to 425F. Use the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil to grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, stretch it out completely and let it rest for another 40 minutes.
To put dimples in your bread, wet your fingers with water, then poke your fingertips into the dough, fast. Repeat and go over the dough 3 times so you have enough dimples.
Give the prepared topping over the top of the dough and finally sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt.
Bake for around 27 minutes. Before slicing let it cool down for at least 5 up 10 minutes.
Tips and tricks
Focaccia is best the day it’s made, but you can store it for around 3 days. You can even reheat in the oven at 325F for 7 minutes.
For freezing, cover it in several layers of cling wrap and freeze for around 2 months.
Make ahead: You can prepare the dough up to around 3 days and store it in the fridge. Then bake fresh.
Other amazing recipes to try
These recipes go well and amazing with focaccia:
Tag and show off your remakes of my Focaccia on Instagram or Facebook.
Enjoy, Florian.
Focaccia
Focaccia is the most amazing bread that has a crispy crust with an airy soft center and is topped with garlic infused oil. You will be amazed how easy to make this focaccia bread recipe with zero skills. Best you will only need a handful of ingredients and it doesn't need to rise overnight.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 package 2 1/4 tsp (7g) instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cups warm water
- 1.5 tsp salt
For the topping:
- 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 tsp flaky or coarse salt
Instructions
Activate yeast
- In a bowl combine yeast, warm water (110F is ideal), and sugar. Let sit for around 5 minutes until it builds a creamy, foamy texture.
Make the dough
- Combine flour with salt in a large bowl. Fold in the yeast mixture with a spatula and make sure all the flour is incorporated.
- Mix in 1/4 cup of olive oil with your hands. Cover and let the dough rest for around 30 minutes.
Developing gluten and perform stretches
- You will need to perform in total 3 stretches with your dough. Grab a bit of the dough, pull it up to about chest height, then fold it back down into the bowl. If your dough is sticky, wet your hands with a bit of water.
- Rotate bowl by 90 degrees, and repeat the same 4 times in total.
- Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
- Repeat all three times.
Prepare the topping and baking
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, garlic and rosemary.
- Preheat oven to 420F. Transfer remaining 1/4 cup of the olive oil to a 9x13 inch baking pan, add the dough and stretch it out completely. Let the dough rest for another 40 minutes in the pan.
Make dimples
- Wet your fingers and poke finger tips deep into the dough. Do it fast and repeat 3 times until you have enough dimples.
Add topping and bake
- Pour the topping over the dough. Bake for 27 minutes and let it cool down for 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Make sure your yeast is fresh, so always wait 5 minutes for the creamy and foamy texture to develop.
- Check the water temperature (110F), so the yeast can rise properly .
- Freezing wrapped in cling wrap can be done for around 2 months.
- Focaccia is best the day it is made, but you can leave it for around 3 days and warm in the oven at 325F for 7 minutes.
- To make ahead: prepare the dough 3 days advance and stick in the fridge. Then bake when needed.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 372Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 477mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 2gSugar: 0gProtein: 5g
Ramya
Monday 14th of March 2022
Cant wait to make this soon i never had homemade focaccia bread before i love focaccia soooooooo much perfect for my office snacks
Florian
Monday 14th of March 2022
Enjoy! It is really amazing! 😋