Easy Focaccia (with any toppings + a video)
Ingredients
For the focaccia dough
- 5½ cups [715 g] all-purpose flour*
- 2¼ tsp [13 g] salt
- 2½ tsp [8 g] instant yeast
- ⅓ cup [70 g] extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups [470 g] water, at room temperature
- Herbs (optional, see list): ¾ cup [30 g] chopped fresh** leafy herbs, or 2 to 4 Tbsp [10 g] chopped fresh woody herbs
For the topping
Instructions
- Make the dough: Combine the flour, salt, yeast, oil, water, and herbs (if using) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment (or large mixing bowl). Mix together on low (or using your hand in the bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer) until it forms a lumpy dough and then increase the speed to medium. Knead with the hook for about 3 minutes, just until it smooths out quite a lot and starts to look stringy instead of lumpy (about 5 minutes mixing by hand). The dough should be very wet and sticky but not soupy.
- Let it rise: Cover and place the bowl of dough at room temperature. You can let it rise overnight or quickly. To do it overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, then place in the fridge overnight (up to 36 hours). If you do it quickly, let it rise at room temperature for a total of about 60 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Shape the focaccia: Spread out about 1 Tbsp of the olive oil on an 18 by 13 in [46 by 33 cm] rimmed baking sheet. Move the dough to the pan, bottom-side up, and drizzle on 1 Tbsp of the oil. Use the pads of your fingers to work the dough out into a flat rectangle. Leave little dimples as you go, digging your fingers almost all the way to the baking sheet below, but try not to pop any big visible bubbles. Then fold into thirds like a trifold pamphlet and flip it so the overlapping flaps are on the bottom.
- Let rest at room temperature for about 5 minutes. Once it’s rested, top with another 1 Tbsp of the oil and use the pads of your fingers to work it out into a larger rectangle again.
- Repeat the folding one more time, let it rest for 5 more minutes, and work the dough out into a larger rectangle again. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil as well as the sliced garlic, and this time use the pads of your fingers to work the rectangle all the way out to the edges of the baking sheet.
- Top it with the seasonal produce and flavor boosters (if using), pushing them down a little to embed them in the dough, and sprinkle on a little sea salt and extra herbs, if desired.
- Let proof, uncovered, at room temperature for 1 hour, until it’s got a few big air bubbles and looks noticeably larger.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F [220°C] when the dough is almost done proofing.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and it’s cooked through (200°F [93°C] internal temperature). Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
* You can alternatively use bread flour or whole wheat flour. I’ve even used whole wheat pastry flour, which yields a more tender (yet still chewy) crumb.
** You can substitute a smaller amount of dried herbs if you don’t have fresh. Or omit the herbs entirely!
Storage: After completely cooled, store sealed at room temperature for 1 day, and freeze whatever you don’t plan to eat right away (bread keeps much better in the freezer than in the refrigerator or at room temperature).
Pesto: You can use pesto it in place of the herbs, but be sure to also cut back on the olive oil in the focaccia dough to compensate for the extra richness. Simply replace the herbs with ½ cup [115 g] pesto, and cut the oil in the dough back from ⅓ cup [70 g] to ¼ cup [50 g].
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