Focaccia is that delicious olive oil based bread known for its dimples and tasty sea salt on top. Focaccia bread is a great starting point if you’ve been thinking about trying your hand at making bread. It’s a yeast-based bread which means it needs rising time, but it doesn’t require a starter. Focaccia is easily formed in a sheet pan or baking dish, and doesn’t require a lot of kneading or shaping to look beautiful.
Focaccia can take on a variety of flavor profiles by adding ingredients to the dough, like herbs and spices, rosemary and sea salt, or cheese. You can even press fruit, like red grapes, into the top of your Focaccia to give it a hint of sweetness.
The perfect Focaccia is crispy on the outside, airy and chewy in the inside. This requires a few key steps in the process of preparing the dough.
The main ingredients are pretty simple: You need flour, salt, dry active yeast, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, warm water, and whatever herbs, spices, or other flavor profiles you like. Warm water between 100-105 degrees is important. It it’s too hot it will kill the yeast, too cold and the yeast won’t activate.
Once the dough is mixed it needs several opportunities for rising time. Rising time is also called proofing. Proofing gives Focaccia its chew and elasticity. Bakers refer to these qualities in the baked bread as the “crumb.”
Folding the dough in between rising time introduces air and develops the gluten. Gluten development is important for developing structure in the dough, so it doesn’t collapse. Putting the dough in the refrigerator overnight allows it to ferment further creating structure in the dough.
Once the dough is ready to bake you simply spread it into a baking sheet or baking pan. The dimples on top are created by simply dipping your fingers in water and gently pressing into the dough. Then add any additional ingredients to the top, drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and sprinkle with course sea salt.
You’re gonna love it!
Prep Time: 5 hours (includes rising time)
Serves: 10-12
Recipe Ingredients:
4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 Package dry active yeast
1 3/4 Cups warm water 100-105 degrees. Too hot will kill the yeast, too cold and the yeast won’t activate
Add salted water into flour
1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Course sea salt for sprinkling
Recipe Ingredients:
Combine warm water and yeast in a bowl and let bubble and become aromatic for about 15 minutes.
Using your hands or a stand-up mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix flour, 1 Tablespoon salt, 1/2 cup oil and the yeast mixture on low speed, until dough comes together.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large mixing bowl. It needs to be big enough to rise in the bowl.
Grab the dough from underneath and fold it over 3-4 times until the dough has been completely folded. Sprinkle with a bit of flour if it’s too tacky.
Cover with a wet towel and let dough rest for a bout 20 minutes. Repeat 3-4 times until the dough is smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and let the dough double in size. You can do this in the refrigerator overnight. Dough should resist when you poke it with your finger.
Transfer the dough to a 9x 13 inch pan that’s been greased with EVOO
Stretch the dough into the pan by pressing it outwards toward the edges and corners of the pan with your fingertips.
Cover the pan with a damp towel and let it rise one more time in a warm place for about an hour. The second proofing step will allow the dough to produce more gas which will improve the crumb, and allows the gluten to stretch out and trap the gases and keep the dough from collapsing as it rises.
After the second proofing create the dimples by dipping your fingers in water and gently pressing into the dough. Take care not to deflate the dough. The water will keep your fingers from sticking to the dough.
Before baking, add whatever you want to the top. Fresh rosemary, sliced red grapes, course sea salt and drizzle generously with EVOO.
Bake at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until crust is firm and golden brown.
Pop bread out of the pan and let it cook on a cooling rack. Drizzle more EVOO over the golden brown crust.
The bread is ready to cut after about 30-45 minutes, while it’s still warm, but not piping hot.