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Easy, homemade and the best Focaccia with garlic, rosemary and oregano toppings. This focaccia bread recipe is soft, fluffy and great as an appetizer for Italian dishes.
Table of Contents
Focaccia Bread
What is Focaccia?
Focaccia is a soft and fluffy flat bread made with olive oil and various toppings.
It originated in Genoa, Italy, and has since become one of the most popular breads and Italian recipes in the world.
You can eat Focaccia bread any time of the day, with coffee for breakfast, with a glass of wine during meal time, or as a snack or appetizer throughout the day.
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Garlic Bread
Milk Bread
Pull Apart Garlic Bread
Focaccia Recipe
This authentic Italian Focaccia recipe is one of the easiest bread recipes ever.
It’s 100% homemade, easy, no fuss and takes less than 2 hours.
The recipe calls for five (5) basic ingredients:
Olive oil
All-purpose flour
Instant yeast
Warm water
Salt
Focaccia Toppings:
You can add a variety of toppings. Here are some of the popular ingredients to top off the bread:
Garlic
Herbs such as rosemary, oregano, sage or Italian basil.
Olives can be added to the dough.
Sliced onion can be used as a Focaccia topping.
Vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, artichoke and mushrooms can also be added as the toppings.
How to Make Focaccia?
To make focaccia pizza, first you mix all the ingredients above to form a sticky dough. You can do it without mixer and by hand.
Transfer the dough into a baking pan and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes.
Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger and add the toppings.
For the toppings, I used sea salt flakes, garlic, fresh rosemary and oregano, yielding the best homemade Focaccia bread.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Vegan?
This is a healthy vegan recipe as it calls for olive oil instead of butter.
Also, no diary products are present in the recipe.
What Are the Most Popular Toppings for Focaccia?
Rosemary and garlic are two of the most popular toppings.
You can use either rosemary, garlic or combine the both.
This bread is best served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It’s a fabulous side dish or appetizer for dinner.
For an authentic Italian meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Italian Shrimp Pasta
Spaghetti alle Vongole
Italian Braised Chicken
Creamy Garlic Parmesan Gnocchi
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Focaccia
Easy, homemade and the best Focaccia with garlic, rosemary and oregano toppings. This Focaccia bread recipe is soft, fluffy and great as an appetizer.
4.55 from 479 votes
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By Bee Yinn Low
Yield 6People
Prep 10 minutesmins
Additional Time 1 hourhr
Cook 30 minutesmins
Total 1 hourhr40 minutesmins
Ingredients
2tablespoonsolive oil(to drizzle onto the pan)
Dough:
1 1/2cupswarm water
3tablespoonsolive oil
1 1/4teaspoonssalt
3 1/2cupsall-purpose flour
1tablespooninstant yeast or active dry yeast
Toppings:
1teaspoonsea salt flakes or kosher salt
2clovesgarlic(minced)
1tablespoonschopped rosemary
1tablespoonchopped oregano
Instructions
Drizzle about 2 tablespoons olive oil into a 9" x 13" (22cm x 33cm) pan.
Combine all of the Dough ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.
Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes.
While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.
Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with the salt, minced garlic, rosemary and oregano.
Bake the bread until it's golden brown, 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack and cut into pieces. Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you are using active-dry yeast, simply sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and let it stand for 15 minutes or until it gets foamy; then proceed with the recipe. Flour: You can use all-purpose or bread flour here with great results. If you live in a humid environment, I would suggest using bread flour.
For a crispier bottom, bake your focaccia directly on top of a preheated baking steel. Equipment: If you're using a pan that is less non-stick, make sure to put a bit more oil on the bottom and/or lay some parchment paper down.
Venetian focaccia is sweet, baked for Easter and resembles the traditional Christmas cake panettone. Sugar and butter are used instead of olive oil and salt. Focaccia barese, which is common in Puglia in southern Italy, is made with durum wheat flour and topped with salt, rosemary, tomatoes or olives.
Use a high quality extra virgin olive oil and don't be shy with it – this is a recipe that relies heavily on extra virgin olive oil not just for the taste but also for the texture and that golden and crunchy crust. It's important we are not skimping on the quality which is why I recommend using Rich Glen olive oil.
Add more yeast, blend in the starter, or knead in more flour to help initiate rising. Dough that has expired yeast, too much salt, all-purpose or cake flour, or antifungal spices like cinnamon might have trouble rising.
Focaccia is a lean-dough bread—there is almost no sugar in it and there is no fat in the dough to enrich it. That means that it is done cooking between 190 and 210°F (88 and 99°C).
Give the dough 4 sets of stretches and folds (fold a side of the dough up and over to the other side, and then rotate the container to perform 4 folds per set), starting 30 minutes after mixing, and a set every 30 minutes after that.
Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.
A. Like croissants and brioche buns, focaccia is high in calories and fat. Most people aren't aware of it, but it contains a lot of olive oil, which in excess has the same effect. To lose weight, people should choose whole-grain or rye bread, which has more fibre and is lower in fat and calories.
The longer you allow the dough to rise, the more air and spongy the bread will be. Overnight Dough: Proofing the dough for 9-14 hours overnight in the fridge is my preferred method, because of the slower fermentation. This process yields a better focaccia texture and taste.
This dough will be very, very wet – almost like cake mix. If you can, wet your hands (to stop them sticking) and fold the dough over a little, just to see what a dough of this wetness (or 'hydration') feels like.
So why does it tend to be more expensive to purchase? Friends who have worked in the restaurant industry had some thoughts: Focaccia requires a lot of olive oil, which is pricey (though some other breads call for butter and eggs, which pencil out to more in my own Kirkland-brand-olive-oil kitchen).
Focaccia typically contains flour, water, yeast, salt, and oil. Ciabatta is made with a similar dough but without oil, often as wet as focaccia or with even wetter doughs. This preferment is called a poolish and has equal parts of water and flour.
Bread flour produces baked goods with more structure and chew than all-purpose flour, as all-purpose only has a protein content of 10 to 12 percent, versus the 12 to 14 percent of bread. All-purpose flour produces tender baked goods (as opposed to chewy ones) and is ideal for cakes, muffins, biscuits, piecrust, etc.
I am testing some different flours for my focaccia in search of a more open crumb and more oven spring and have found that I achieve a lighter more open airy crust with a 75% Central Milling ABC+ (11.5% Protein Content) 25% Semola Rimacinata combination.
How Is Focaccia Different From Other Bread? Focaccia is ½" to 1" thick with a light crust on the top and bottom. It's often described as "flatbread" or "Italian flat bread," but unlike the flat bread we're used to, it isn't flat at all, but thick and fluffy.
Not enough water: This can leave you with dense, dry focaccia. For accuracy, measure out your ingredients using weight instead of cups to ensure you have the right ratio of ingredients. 2. Not proved enough: Depending on the temperature, focaccia dough can take anywhere between 1-3 hours to proof.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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