Focaccia Bread
A light and airy crumb with a golden crust makes this bread a great carrier for whatever savory toppings you choose.
Servings 1 Loaf
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 18x13 sheet pan Can be standard size or smaller depending on how thick you want your focaccia to be. Two 13x9 pans works if you want to divide the dough between the two pans
Ingredients
- 7 grams Dry Yeast 1 standard packet
- 780 grams Bread Flour
- 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- 110 grams Olive oil Plus more for oiling hands
- 680 grams water, room temp
- Flaky Salt For topping the bread
Focaccia Topping
- 12 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced into slivers
- 55 grams Olive oil
- 2 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves
- 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
Instructions
Dough Instructions
- Take 113 grams of the water and heat it up to around 105 degrees F. This can be done on the stove or in the microwave, or simply use hot water from the tap. Add the yeast to the water and whisk to dissolve. Wait roughly 5 minutes for the yeast to activate and get a bit bubbly.
- Put the yeast mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and add the rest of the water along with the bread flour, and salt.
- Mix using the dough hook on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute, and then increase to medium speed until the dough comes together and starts wrapping around the dough hook, roughly another 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and break up any pockets of flour that may be forming in the dough.
- Cover the dough with cling film or a damp towel for 10 minutes and then mix the dough at medium to high speed for another 10-15 minutes. The dough should be very smooth and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. The dough is going to be super sticky, don't add more flour though.
- Pour 55 grams of the olive oil into a large bowl and make sure the olive oil coats the sides of the bowl. Using a spatula, transfer the dough from the mixing bowl to the oiled bowl.
- Put some oil on your hands and pick the dough up in the oiled bowl to make sure its not sticking to any parts of the bowl and move some of the oil onto the top of the dough.
- Cover with cling film or a damp towel and leave to proof at room temperature until doubled in size, roughly 90 minutes.
- Take the other half of the olive oil and pour into your sheet pan, making sure to get the entire pan coated in oil.
- Put some oil on your hands and pick the dough up from bowl and lift in straight into the air. Let the dough drop back down into the bowl. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and do this again. Repeat two more times for a total of 4 times that you pick the dough up and let it drop back down into the oiled bowl. This is to help give the dough structure and help it rise higher so don't skip this step.
- Transfer the dough to the oiled sheet pan and stretch the dough out until it starts to pull back. Cover the tray with a piece of oiled cling film and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, uncover the dough and stretch the dough again to try and get it to fill out the pan completely. Cover again with the same piece of oiled cling film and leave to proof until dough is doubled in size. This second proof can be done in the fridge overnight or at room temperature depending on your schedule. If you're adding toppings to your focaccia, this is a good time to prepare them.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and arrange the oven racks to be in the highest and lowest positions.
- Once the dough has doubled in size and is coming up to the edges of the sheet pan, dip your fingertips in oil and press your fingers into the dough, pressing all the way down to the sheet pan. This creates the signature dimples you see on focaccia bread.
- Add your toppings to the focaccia and sprinkle with flaky salt. If you're not adding toppings, just drizzle another 55 grams of olive oil over the focaccia and then add the salt.
- Bake on the lowest rack until the corners of the focaccia are pulling away from the pan, around 20 minutes.
- Transfer the focaccia to the top rack and bake until the focaccia has a golden crust and is bordering on brown.
- Let the focaccia cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting and serving.
Focaccia Topping
- Peel the garlic cloves and slice thinly into slivers
- Strip the thyme leaves from the stems until you have roughly 2 tbsp worth
- Combine garlic, thyme, salt and oil in a bowl and mix to combine. Add to the focaccia before baking.