Everybody loves bread. Everybody loves breadsticks. And everybody loves sandwiches. And everybody loves picking up new activities while they sit inside their house during the quarantine. Enter focaccia. Focaccia is a flat, Italian bread that is perfect for breadsticks, sandwiches, and even by itself. Here is how you make it.
First, ingredients. To make focaccia, you will need:
● 500 grams of flour
● 426 grams of lukewarm water
● 10 grams of salt
● 3 grams of yeast
● 16+ grams of oil
First, you will need to bloom your yeast. To do so, add the yeast into the water and mix it
together. Let it sit for around 10 minutes. You will see it bubble with activity. With the yeast
activated, it will help the focaccia become bubbly and gassy down the line.
While the yeast blooms, add your flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Technically a stand
mixer is not necessarily needed to make focaccia or most bread for that matter. However, it will
save you a lot of time and pain since you won’t have to mix it yourself. All-purpose flour works
well, however bread flour will lend itself to better gluten development.
Now that the yeast has finished blooming, begin mixing on the slow setting of your stand
mixer(or by hand if you prefer). Slowly pour the yeast water into the flour. Once it has all been
added let mix for 10 minutes to let it incorporate. Scrape down the sides as needed throughout
the mixing process.
Next, add your salt. I recommend fine sea salt. Continue mixing for an additional 10
minutes after adding. Due to how long it mixes, you can likely see why I recommend against
hand mixing your dough.
After you have added the salt and mixed it for 10 minutes, add your initial amount of 16
grams of olive oil. Olive oil is central to the flavor of focaccia, so be sure to use a high-quality
one. You can get away with using other oils such as grapeseed, but olive oil reigns supreme.
After the oil has been added, mix for 5 minutes.
Now that you have a dough, it is time to knead it. Turn it out onto a non-floured surface.
Yes, it will stick to your counter. Yes, it will stick to your hands. Yes, it will stick to everything.
Focaccia is a very high hydration dough, but trust me, it is supposed to stick to everything it
touches. To knead it, you are going to “slap and fold” the dough for about 2 minutes. Pick up the
dough from the top and the bottom, slap it down onto the countertop, then fold it over itself.
Grab it again, and repeat. This likely sounds confusing, and there isn’t a great way to describe it
without a visual. I provided an image to get the idea, and if you still don’t quite understand how
to do it you can easily find it on Youtube.
Once you’ve finished kneading your dough, it is time to let it rise. Take a container wide
enough to fit the dough in and generously grease it with olive oil. Place the dough inside, and
cover with a greased lid. Place into your fridge. As it sits, the yeast will produce bubbles of
carbon dioxide that will make the focaccia nice and airy. While I recommend 48-72 hours of
fridge time for the best results, you can still get good focaccia with a little over 12 hours of fridge
time.
After the amount of time you wish to wait has passed, you can prepare to remove it from
the fridge. Generously grease a baking sheet with, you guessed it, olive oil. Place your dough
into the sheet, being very careful to not degas the dough. You want to keep as many bubbles in
the dough as possible, as those bubbles are what make focaccia great. Once it is on the sheet,
carefully stretch the dough to fill the entire area of the baking sheet. Your dough may not want to
fill the entire area. That is fine, don’t stretch it any further than it wants to go. Once stretched,
cover it with a second generously olive oiled baking sheet and let it sit for 3 hours at room
temperature. Your dough will likely expand a bit, and that is good. Expanding focaccia means
more focaccia.
Next, preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. If your oven doesn’t go that high,
get it as high as it can go. Once those 3 hours are up, you can season your focaccia. Drizzle
some more olive oil over the top of your focaccia. Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt
over the surface of the dough. You can add several other toppings, such as sliced tomatoes,
olives, cheese, et cetera. For mine, I added thyme, rosemary, oregano, and parsley. Once
you’ve added your flavorings, take your fingertips and lightly dimple the dough. This helps push
more olive oil into the dough. Don’t push so hard you degas the dough, just enough to form
dimples on its surface.
Finally, you can bake your focaccia. Put it into your 500-degree oven for around 15-25
minutes. Check on it frequently to see when it is at that beautiful brown color. Once done,
remove and let cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.
Congratulations, you made focaccia. Feel free to cut it into breadsticks and dip it into
marinara sauce or olive oil, or cut it into squares that can be cut in half to make sandwiches.
Focaccia is a simple and easy bread that is fairly versatile and delicious.
