Foolproof Focaccia; a deliciously fluffy and simple Italian style bread sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt, perfect for snacking on, dunking in soup or making epic sandwiches!
There aren’t many foods that make me as happy as bread does. It’s both filling AND delicious, and it goes well with pretty much anything.
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I’ve been trying to make a loaf or two a week recently on my days off, and I really enjoy the whole process, even if there is a little bit of time to wait for each pillow of dough to bake into a fluffy, crusty loaf.
This foolproof focaccia has been a staple bake for years, my family adores it, and it even has approval from my Italian boyfriend! We love to eat it with soup for dinner, or as chunky panini. It goes especially well with my Parsnip, Cheddar and Apple Soup.
The best thing about this bread is that there is NO kneading involved! No rolling up your sleeves to pound and stretch away at a ball of stubborn dough for ages, just a few hours of letting it rise, with the occasional dough fold. Perfect lazy baking. Minimal effort for maximum pleasure.
If I can make this foolproof focaccia, then you can too! The recipe was inspired by a similar one in James Morton’s Brilliant Bread, one which I will endlessly recommend to anyone who wants to try their hand at homemade bread. The book is perfect for beginners or enthusiasts and he goes into great detail about every aspect of the bread making process, from mixing your first white loaf to shaping sticky rye sourdough. Do have a look if you’re interested!
This foolproof focaccia recipe’s sticky dough becomes a gloriously golden fluffy bread, with beautiful irregular holes throughout the inside and a gorgeously soft, chewy and savoury crust.
It does take a few hours to make this loaf, but YOU only have to involve yourself in about 10 minutes of this time, the rest is just waiting for the dough to rise! Plus, the wait is well worth it. Homemade bread is the best.
This foolproof focaccia recipe is one that is perfect in our current circumstances. I write this as the UK is beginning to shut down public gatherings and send workers home for public safety. Many of us across the world are spending a lot more time indoors, with less work to do and more mouths to feed during the day.
You can bake this bread using store cupboard ingredients, or ingredients that will keep fresh for weeks and months. In the likely case that many of us fear leaving the house or will only venture out for staple ingredients, this focaccia can easily become a recipe in your repertoire.
It is simple enough for beginners. It requires very little hands-on time, meaning that home-workers or parents with unexpected childcare duties can get on with life while this is created in the background. It also creates a big loaf of delicious and nourishing bread that will feed a lot of mouths, or keep a small household fed for a few days.
Importantly, the making and eating of this focaccia is likely to help you stay calm in our strange new world. Anything we can do to take care of ourselves, our families or our struggling neighbours is worth doing at the moment.
Before I leave you to make and enjoy this foolproof focaccia, I just want to emphasise how grateful I am for you guys to be consuming my content and engaging with me. Also how much I wish you all a healthy and safe time over the next few weeks and months.
Thank you, and take care.
To make this foolproof focaccia, simply follow the recipe below!
Foolproof Focaccia
Foolproof Focaccia; a deliciously fluffy and simple Italian style bread sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt, perfect for snacking on, dunking in soup or making epic sandwiches!
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: As I mentioned before, feel free to top this loaf with any toppings you like!
This focaccia will keep well in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 10g salt
- Generous twists of black pepper
- 1 sachet of dried fast-action yeast
- 400ml lukewarm water
- 50ml oil (extra virgin olive oil gives the best flavour but it doesn’t matter too much!)
- Optional add-ins and toppings: flaky sea salt, ground black pepper, fresh herbs such as rosemary or basil, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, grated cheese, anything you like really!
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, measure out your flour.
- Pour the salt, pepper and yeast into separate sides of the bowl and mix them in. Separating them prevents the salt from killing the yeast!
- Add the water and olive oil and give everything a nice mix until you have a fairly consistent, wet, celluloid dough.
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm or a towel and leave it somewhere warm or just at room temperature for 40-60 minutes.
- After this time, the dough should have relaxed a little bit and become softer and smoother. At this point, lift off the clingfilm/towel.
- Oil your hand, slide it to the bottom of the dough and fold it over itself. Turn the bowl by 90 degrees and repeat. Repeat again until you have folded the dough at least 4 times and it appears to hold its own shape a little better.
- Return the clingfilm or towel to cover the bowl, and leave it to rest for a further 40-60 minutes.
- After this hour, the dough should have doubled in size. This is what happens when the yeast eats up all the sugars in the flour and grows, expelling little bubbles as it goes.
- At this stage, repeat the folding process as you did before.
- Oil a large baking tray and plop the big bubbly dough out on to it.
- Oil your hands again and flatten the dough out completely into a big rough rounded rectangle type shape. Focaccia isn’t known for being pretty!
- Leave this flattened dough to rise for a further 40-60 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven - 220 C / 200 C fan / 425 F / gas mark 7.
- Once the dough has risen again, and the oven is hot, you can get the dough ready to bake.
- Oil your fingers again and use them to push holes all over the dough, this helps ensure an even bake and that classic focaccia appearance! Simply drizzle over a little more olive oil, sprinkle over some salt and any other toppings or herbs you like.
- Bake the dough in the preheated oven for roughly 25 minutes until risen and turned a gorgeous golden colour.
- Allow the bread to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing, serving and eating.
- Enjoy!
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I’ve made this bread 3 times and I love it! Definitely one of the best recipes I’ve ever seen. I do have to cook my bread for about 40 minutes to an hour due to a very cheap oven provided by my college apartment. But, I make it work and it comes out amazing once I adjust for baking time!