Easy Focaccia Bread (No Knead)

Homemade Focaccia is super easy. This no knead focaccia comes together quickly and and requires no special equipment. Homemade Focaccia Bread has a crisp outside and a soft inside. This easy Focaccia recipe super versatile, you can finish it however you like, or change up the schedule to suit - either a same day focaccia recipe, or an easy overnight focaccia.

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Hi! Just popping in to share this recipe with you today for this easy focaccia bread recipe! I spent the last few weeks testing this focaccia bread recipe and all the different variations for you and I am so excited to share!

The focaccia dough comes together super quickly. It can be kept in the fridge for a long period of time to work with your schedule. I topped it with a simple garlic and rosemary topping, but you can finish this any way that you like. This is a great base no knead focaccia dough recipe and I can't wait to play around with it more to come up with more flavour and topping combinations. This easy focaccia is great for any occasion, but also makes a great sandwich bread or as an accompaniment to soups.

Ingredients in Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread is super easy to make and has a very simple ingredient list - flour, yeast, salt, oil, and water. That's it. The fridge rise really helps to develop flavour, although you can very easily make this on the same day that you want to eat it too. This means that it also happens to be vegan, making it a great choice to make for almost any occasion!

• Flour - I used a mixture of bread flour and All-purpose flour (high grade or strong and plain if you're not in the US). Bread flour is slightly higher in protein than All-purpose, so gives the focaccia just a little more chew. I love the mix of both, but just AP flour works just fine too! See FAQ for using only AP flour in the recipe if that is what you have.
• Yeast - I used instant yeast in this recipe. Instant yeast does not require the activation step and can just get mixed in with the dry ingredients.
• Salt - Essential for flavour in bread. I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. This is important to note as not all salt is the same level of saltiness. If you are using Morton's salt use about half the amount of salt called for in the recipe (it is twice as salty as Diamond). This also applies if you are using a table salt.
• Sugar - There is a teaspoon of sugar in this recipe, just to give the yeast something to eat. You can use a tablespoon of honey instead if you like.
• Water - Lukewarm water (about 100°f - 110°f / 36°c - 40°c) if you need to take the temperature. I just go for warm water from the tap. Don't go too hot or you will kill the yeast.
• Olive Oil - Use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil here for inside the dough and for finishing the top of the dough (and for the pan etc if you can). The oil absorbs into the bread and provides amazing flavour. I used the 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Filippo Berio.
• Toppings - I topped this focaccia with some garlic olive oil and rosemary, just before the dimpling process.

How to Make the best Focaccia Bread

The steps for making easy no knead focaccia bread are super simple, and you can make them fit into your schedule.

1. Make the focaccia dough - Combine the dry ingredients, then add the wet. Mix to form a shaggy dough and leave to stand for 5 minutes to let the flour hydrate.
2. Stretch and fold - This step is optional but helps to develop a little gluten structure in the focaccia dough. You are going to perform three rounds of stretch and folds, each 2 minutes apart. To do this you wet your hands, then take a section of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over on itself. You then rotate the bowl 90° and do it again, then repeat twice more. Then, go around the bowl stretching and folding once more, for eight stretch and folds per round, and leave the dough to sit for 2 minutes. You repeat this stretch and fold and resting process twice more. This gives you a total of three rounds of stretch and folds.
3. Proof the dough - Drizzle the dough with oil and turn it over to coat. Cover the bowl and leave to rise until puffy and doubled in size. I like to do this in the fridge but you can do at room temperature too (see below for options)
4. Transfer to the pan - The dough is transferred to an oiled pan and spread out slightly, and placed in a warm place.
5. Rise focaccia in the pan - The dough rises a second time, uncovered, until doubled in size, puffy, and jiggly. This rising time depends on whether you started with room temperature or cold dough.
6. Add Toppings - I used garlic and rosemary to top this focaccia. Minced garlic is combined with olive oil and then spooned over the top of the the dough. Fresh rosemary and flaky sea salt is added just before the oven. You can add other fresh herbs if you like.
7. Dimple the dough - this is my favourite part. The dough is dimpled with your fingertips just before going into the oven. The dimples give the dough texture and stop it rising too much in the oven. They also capturing the flavourful olive oil and encase it in the dough.
8. Bake - Bake the focaccia until it is golden brown and pulling away from the edges of the pan. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to stop the bottom from going soggy.
9. Enjoy!

Sample Schedules for making no knead Focaccia Bread

I tested a bunch of different ways of making this focaccia dough, with cold and room temperature rises. The options you have after making the dough are:

• Refrigerator first rise and room temperature second rise - This is my preferred method for making focaccia and the one that I have written in the recipe. Make the dough and then place it in the fridge for at least 12 hours, and up to two days. Then, transfer to the pan and do the second rise at room temperature. This will take anywhere from about 2 hours to up to 3 ½ to 4 hours. You need to watch the dough carefully. 3 hours seemed to be the sweet spot for me when testing.
• Room temperature first rise and refrigerator second rise - This is a great option if you need the focaccia earlier the next day and don't have time to wait for it to take 3 hours to rise. Do the first rise at room temperature (about an hour and a half). Then, transfer the dough to the pan, cover with plastic wrap, and place into the fridge overnight. The next day, pull the dough out from the fridge and leave to stand on the counter while the oven preheats, just to warm the dough slightly before dimpling, topping, and baking.
• Room temperature first rise and room temperature second rise - The first rise will take about an hour to an hour and a half. Then transfer the dough to the pan and do a second rise, which should take anywhere between 40 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven soon after putting the dough into the pan to ensure that it is ready when you are ready to bake.

Baker's Percentage and Calculating Hydration in Recipes

This is a fairly high hydration dough - it is 89% hydration. Bread baking will sometimes use Baker's Percentages to determine things like hydration. Baker's Percentages are the weight of each ingredient, relative to the weight of flour. To calculate the percentage, you divide the weight of the ingredient by the weight of the flour.

Therefore, the hydration (amount of water) in a recipe is calculated by dividing the weight of the water (535g) by the weight of the flour (600g). So, the hydration of this bread is 89%.

To incorporate sourdough starter into focaccia bread, see my recipe for Everything Bagel No Knead Focaccia.

Flavour variations for homemade focaccia

To make tomato focaccia: Roast 800g cherry or grape tomatoes, 10-12 garlic cloves, a sprig of rosemary in olive oil on a sheet pan at 325°f / 160°c for an hour, shaking the pan occasionally. The tomatoes will cook down and the garlic cloves will soften. Allow to cool, then place onto the top of the dough before dimpling, along with some of the oil. Bake as per the recipe.

To make Onion and Potato Focaccia: Caramelise about 700g thinly sliced onion on medium to low heat, stirring often, until brown and jammy. Alternatively use a caramelised onion jam or relish. Spread the risen and dimpled dough with the caramelised onion, then top with about 120g thinly sliced potato which has been tossed with a little olive oil, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper. Bake as directed - the potato will get slightly crispy on top.

To make olive focaccia: Top the dough with chopped olives of your choice (add as many as you want, measure with your heart), then dimple as directed. You can add chunks of feta in here too.

To make everything bagel focaccia: Make the dough as directed, but after the autolyse phase (where you leave it to stand for 5 minutes), mix in 160g finely chopped white or brown onion, and 3 Tbsp everything but the bagel seasoning. Mix in well then continue with the stretch and folds. You can also use scallions (spring onions) in the place of onion. Before baking, either before or after dimpling, sprinkle 1 Tbsp everything seasoning over the bread.

To make Parsley oil (or other herb oil) focaccia: Make a parsley oil - rough recipe (please excuse the cups!) is the leaves of a large ish bunch of parsley (if you grab the stems of the bunch it should be about a fist full), blended well with about 1 cup of olive oil 1-2 cloves of garlic, the zest of 1 lemon, and about 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice. Blend in a high speed blender or using an immersion blender, then adjust to taste with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice or oil. Use the parsley oil to coat the bottom of the pan when you add the dough in, then add more on top before dimpling. Store the parsley oil in an airtight container in the fridge - we have it on top of soup or bread or part of a salad dressing and it is so good!

To make Cheeseburger Focaccia: I make a cheeseburger pizza all the time and we had leftover ingredients from making burgers the other night so I cheeseburgered my focaccia. Brown off about 250g ground beef / beef mince, browning well. Sprinkle with salt and set aside on a paper towel to cool. For a vegetarian option, you can brown off finely chopped mushrooms - you may need more as they shrink down. To make cheeseburger focaccia, top the risen dough with either caramelised onions (notes in the caramelised onion topping above), or an onion relish or jam, which is what I use if I haven't made onions. Follow with about 150g shredded low moisture mozzarella cheese, then the browned meat, then another 50g mozzarella cheese (I just grated 200g cheese and divided it up, no need to measure the portions). Dimple and bake as directed. When baked, finish with pickles and burger sauce of your choice.

Can I use sourdough starter in my focaccia?

Yes - if you wanted to use some sourdough discard in your focaccia bread (rather than using the sourdough to leaven the focaccia, it just provides flavour and is a great way to use up discard). To do this you replace some of the flour and water in the dough recipe with some sourdough starter.

For example, we want to add in 150g sourdough discard - we would leave out 75g of water and 75g flour, provided that your starter is at 100% hydration (equal parts flour and water).

The new quantites are for making sourdough discard focaccia:

• 300g bread flour
• 225g All-purpose flour
• 460g water
• 150g sourdough discard at 100% hydration.

All the other quantites are the same. Add the sourdough discard along with the water and olive oil.

What Pan should I bake Focaccia in?

I tested this a bunch of different ways in all sorts of pans. Ultimately I found that a non-stick metal pan is the best way to go. It needs to have sides tall enough to accommodate the dough when it rises. This recipe is formulated for a 9"x13" (23x33cm) pan. However, it also works perfectly divided in two and baked into two 9" round pans. You could also bake it in two 8" square pans if you wanted square focaccia! I use this non stick pan to bake focaccia in - I love them so much I have two!

I also tested halving the recipe and just baking it in a single 9" round pan which also worked great. You can kind of do what works best for you here. I prefer thicker focaccia so I used the 9"x13" pan.

However, if you wanted a very thin one you could do a full batch in a half size sheet pan (18"x13"). You will need to work a bit more to spread it out though. Place it in the pan and leave to rest, then spread it out a little by dimpling it a bit with your fingers, then leave to rest for 5 minutes. Then, spread again, rest another 5, and repeat this until it is close enough to the edges. Then, leave to rise. It may need a little less time in the oven too so just watch carefully.

To make a slightly thinner and crispier focaccia, you can do about ⅔ of the recipe, and bake it in a quarter sheet pan.

What is the best Olive Oil to use for No Knead Focaccia Bread?

Because of the limited ingredient list in no knead focaccia bread, it is important to use high quality ingredients if you have access to them. This is the time to use a good olive oil. It really makes a big difference to the final product of your bread. The oil gets absorbed into the bread and gives it the most amazing flavour.

I've been using Filippo Berio for years now in my kitchen. Their Original oil is by my stove at all times for cooking, but I also LOVE their specialty line for things like making focaccia where the flavour is really important. I used their 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil throughout this recipe. It is fruity and light with a little spicy finish. It's my favourite for making this focaccia but also the one I use if I am serving olive oil alongside any other sort of bread, or making a salad dressing etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make Focaccia with All-purpose flour?
Yes! Using only All-purpose flour will work fine. I haven't tried it using only bread flour but I imagine that will work fine too - you may need to increase the water quantity by 10g or so to account for that.

Can the focaccia recipe be halved?
Yes! I tested it and it worked great for a small batch focaccia recipe. Follow the same process but bake the dough in a 9" round cake pan or an 8" square pan.

How long does bread dough keep in the fridge?
I made the focaccia dough and threw it in the fridge for two days, then rose it and baked as directed and it was absolutely fine, and super flavourful from the time fermenting in the fridge. So I have tested 2 days, but you could likely push that a tiny bit longer if needed and still get away with it.

Can you freeze Focaccia?
Yes. I froze it baked - I left the toppings off the top just so that the salt didn't make the bread go soggy, as salt draws out moisture. I just finished it with olive oil. I froze the baked focaccia in a ziploc bag. You can bring to room temperature and then refresh in a 350°f / 180°c oven to warm it through before serving.

What are the best toppings for Focaccia?
You can add anything you like! Just make sure you give it a good drizzle of olive oil. Olives work great, you can add some cherry tomatoes, caramelized onion, some everything bagel seasoning, Za'atar, - you do you here. You can even do one end with one topping and the other with a different, or bake it in two pans and do a different flavoured topping for each.

How do I prevent Focaccia from sticking?
I always make this focaccia in a non-stick pan - usually this one from USA pan (the one from Williams Sonoma works great too) or I was testing it in these round pans from Williams Sonoma too. I highly recommend using a non-stick baking pan if you can, but if you are worried, you can lightly coat the pan with butter before drizzling in the olive oil just as an extra layer of insurance.

How long does focaccia bake for?
Shoot for 25-30 minutes when baking it in a 9"x13" pan and a little less in a round pan. This one I took a teeny bit too far and so some of the topping on a bubble that formed in the dough got a bit frazzled but was still perfect!

Can I use active dry yeast to make focaccia?
Yes, use the same amount, but instead of mixing it in with the dry ingredients you will need to activate it first. Combine the water and sugar and then add the yeast and leave to stand for 10 minutes or so or until a bit foamy. Then proceed with the recipe, adding in all the other ingredients.

Why is my focaccia dough so sticky?
Yes. It is a high hydration dough, so it is sticky. The Olive Oil is to help stop it sticking to the bowl and your fingers when you shape it, but remember the pan holds the shape for you so it is ok that the dough doesn't have much structure. It will feel like a bit of a gloppy mess. That's ok! It means it's super fun to dimple and you will get a great crumb structure.

How do you know when focaccia is ready to bake?
The focaccia will have doubled in size, and be pretty jiggly. You can also give it a poke test and gently poke it with your finger - it should leave an indentation that slowly springs back.

Help - my dough is nearly risen but I am not ready to bake it!
If you need to slow down the process at any point, just throw the dough in the fridge to slow down the rising process. You can bring it back out and continue the rising until you are ready to bake.

How do you store focaccia bread?
I store mine lightly wrapped at room temperature. Leave the flaky salt off of some if you are intending on having leftovers as it can make the bread go a little soggy. I prefer eating focaccia plain or with oil on the day that it is made, then using it for sandwiches on the second day but you do you!

Can I make focaccia in a glass pan?
You can but I wouldn't recommend. It is more likely to stick, and glass is a very poor conductor of heat. I suggest using a metal pan if you can!

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