When I talk to most people about baking they tend to fall into three categories: the person that can’t bake to save their life, the person that loves cookies, cakes, and quickbreads, and people that love baking breads. For most of my baking career I stayed in that second category. I had multiple cookie recipes memorized that I could bake at the drop of a hat (and I typically would).
Cookies and cakes were safe, they were consistent, and baking them was a cathartic routine. Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla, add flour and toppings. That’s about all you need to do to have freshly baked cookies in your house. It was easy. Breads though seemed like the Goliath of the baking world.
There were so many steps in each recipe, you had to pay attention to times, how big or small it was, and there’s a lot of jargon around baking bread. To a beginner baker it can be an overwhelming process. Thankfully, I had a class in culinary school that helped to break down those boundaries and fears about bread, but even still bread has been categorized as a weekend baking project.
Thankfully, there are recipes out there that are weeknight friendly (and even better they’re beginner friendly too)! This focaccia is one of those recipes. You don’t need a stand mixer, hours upon hours of time, or any real experience with making bread. You can have it done from start to finish in less than two hours, which makes it perfect for a weeknight baking project!
To top it all off, this recipe is infinitely adaptable. I like to keep it simple, but you can melt garlic, olive oil, and butter to spread on top for some chewy garlic bread, or add toppings like you would to pizza dough.
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 tablespoons dry-active yeast
1/2 cup (112 g) warm water
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 cups (570 g) All-Purpose Flour
1 cup (225 g) room temperature water
Combine the yeast and water in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Add the yeast, honey, rosemary, salt, flour, and remaining water into a bowl.
Stir with a wooden spoon until a lumpy dough begins to form.
Knead the dough with your hands until the dough becomes smooth, about 3-5 minutes of light kneading. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the dough has doubled in size,grease a sheet tray with olive oil.
Turn out onto a greased sheet tray and spread around evenly. Cover the dough with a wet towel to rise one more time.
Once the dough in the sheet tray has doubled, use your fingers to create dimples in the dough (it’s a similar motion to pretending to type).
Pour olive oil into some of the dimples in the dough.
Place the sheet tray into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until the focaccia is golden brown. Rotate the sheet tray half way though.
Remove the sheet tray from the oven and place onto a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Once the focaccia has cooled, slide or flip the bread onto the cooling rack, and allow the bread to cool completely.
Use for sandwiches, make croutons, turn into lazy garlic bread, or just eat it with some butter and salt (my method of choice).
Combine the yeast and water in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Add the yeast, honey, rosemary, salt, flour, and remaining water into a bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until a lumpy dough begins to form. Knead the dough with your hands until the dough becomes smooth, about 3-5 minutes of light kneading. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a greased sheet tray and spread around evenly. Cover the dough with a wet towel to rise one more time. Once the dough in the sheet tray has doubled, use your fingers to create dimples in the dough (it’s a similar motion to pretending to type) and pour olive oil into the dimples. Place the sheet tray into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until the focaccia is golden brown. Rotate the sheet tray half way though.
Remove the sheet tray from the oven and place onto a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Once the focaccia has cooled, slide or flip the bread onto the cooling rack, and allow the bread to cool completely.
Use for sandwiches, make croutons, turn into lazy garlic bread, or just eat it with some butter and salt (my method of choice).