Easiest 4-ingredient focaccia starts with no-knead, overnight dough. Here's how to make it
Served plain, dunked in olive oil or used to make sandwiches, a versatile, homemade focaccia is undeniably life-changing.
While the chewy, warm bread is the grand finale, it’s the dimpled, jiggly raw dough that’s taken social media by storm. Once you start making it, you'll understand why. The satisfaction of simply poking the no-knead dough is second to none.
This Italian bread is surprisingly easy to make. The most challenging technique is patience. But, if you give the dough a full 24 hours (and up to 72 hours) to rise, you won’t regret it.
It requires almost zero effort on your part — just time and four ingredients.
How to make focaccia bread
There’s no kneading, no electric mixer with a dough hook, no shaping and no fussing when it comes to making focaccia. You simply need a bowl, a 9x13-inch baking pan and your refrigerator.
And it's your refrigerator that holds the secret to restaurant-quality focaccia. The cold environment slows the rising process for the first phase (or first “rise”) of this recipe. For the second rise, the chilled dough takes longer to come to room temperature, and this slow, gentle rise is the key to light, pillowy dough.
Be sure to coat your baking pan generously with olive oil. You can also add a layer of parchment paper to make removing the focaccia from the pan a quick-and-easy process. I find that coating the bottom of the pan with cooking spray before adding the parchment paper helps keep the paper from slipping.
Another tip: Bake your focaccia immediately after dimpling. Why? Because if you don't, your dough will continue to rise and fill in all the indentations you just made.
And can you skip the overnight refrigerator rise? Though I don't recommend it, yes. If you want to make the focaccia the same day you prepare the dough, let your dough first rise at room temperature until doubled in size (about 2 hours), then proceed with the recipe. Take note: Your second rise may take just 30 to 45 minutes.
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What is focaccia made of?
With only four ingredients and endless variations, this is a bread that can easily become part of a weekly baking ritual, so long as you have a few staples on hand.
Flour: All-purpose flour is fine, as is bread flour. Note that bread flour has more gluten, so your focaccia will be chewier.
Yeast: I prefer instant (rapid-rise) yeast. If you only have active-dry yeast, sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and let it stand for 15 minutes or until it gets foamy. Proceed with the recipe after that.
Many bread recipes call for sugar to help feed the yeast, but the truth is, you don’t need sugar to activate the yeast, its just helpful for speeding up the process. Since speed isn’t our intention here, we can leave it out.
Do note that the first step in the recipe is to combine the flour and salt before adding the yeast. Salt kills yeast, so this is done to provide a buffer between the two.
Salt: Nothing fancy is needed when it comes to salt. Since the dough is just flour, yeast and water, we need to bump up the flavor with course sea salt, kosher salt or any salt you have on hand. I used kosher salt in the dough and coarse flakey sea salt for sprinkling over top to add a delightful crunch.
Water: Use distilled or filtered water.
Olive oil: I suggest good-quality olive with great flavor. There aren’t many flavorful ingredients in this recipe, so you will surely taste the nuances of the olive oil. And don’t skimp on how much you use; olive oil is essential for the bottom and top of the dough. The olive oil in the pan prevents the focaccia from sticking, and the olive oil on top encourages browning while baking. Plus, one of the most cherished features of focaccia is its slightly oily exterior.
Make sure you generously coat your raw dough with olive oil before refrigerating; this will prevent the dough from drying out and forming a crust.
Optional herbs. I add the classic fresh rosemary, but you can certainly leave it out or substitute your favorite herbs. Just be sure to press fresh herbs into the dough during the “dimpling” step before baking. Once nestled into the dough, you can also brush the herbs with more olive oil to ensure they don’t burn.
Optional toppings: For variety, consider adding other toppings to the dimpled dough before baking. Sun-dried tomatoes, olives, caramelized onions, red onions, garlic, feta, freshly ground black pepper and lemon zest all make great choices. Remember to coat all toppings with olive oil before baking.
Focaccia recipe
Focaccia is best eaten the day it’s made but will last 2 to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Wrap all leftover focaccia tightly in plastic wrap or a sealed container. If you plan to store your focaccia longer than a few days, I suggest freezing it for up to 3 months.
Makes: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour (see note above)
2 teaspoons salt, plus more for sprinkling over top, preferably coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt
1 packet (¼-ounce) instant yeast or active-dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
2 cups lukewarm water (100 to 110 degrees F)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for coating dough
2-3 teaspoons fresh herbs of choice, I prefer fresh rosemary leaves (optional)
Instructions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Sprinkle the yeast over top (do not be tempted to whisk the yeast into the flour mixture as salt kills yeast; we’re keeping them “sort of” apart on purpose). Add the warm water and stir with a spatula until the water is absorbed, any dry streaks are gone and the mixture forms a tacky ball (more of a cohesive mass than a ball).
Using your hands, coat the top of the dough with a generous amount of olive oil to make sure it’s well coated so it doesn’t dry out and form a crust in the refrigerator. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours (and up to 72 hours).
The next day, coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil (or line with parchment paper and then add the oil. Coating the pan with cooking spray helps keep the parchment paper in place).
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and, using two forks, release the dough from opposite sides of the bowl and pull the dough towards the center. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Do this two more times (the goal is to create a ball while gently deflating the dough).
Use a spatula to gently shape the dough into a rough ball. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and turn to coat all sides with the oil. Let rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like on top of the fridge or a preheating oven), until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 4 hours, depending on your room temperature and humidity. (Mine took 2 hours sitting on top of my preheating oven). Your dough is ready when you can leave a visible indentation with your finger (if the dough springs back quickly, it’s not ready).
Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
If you’re using rosemary or other ingredients, place them on top of the dough. Cover the top of the dough with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Using oiled fingers, press straight down into the dough, reaching the bottom of the pan to create deep dimples. Sprinkle the top with coarse salt.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until puffed up, golden brown on top and the edges have just started to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from oven and allow the focaccia to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
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Questions or comments? Email the culinary team at cooking@azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Focaccia is the easiest homemade bread with 4 ingredients, no kneading
