Interested In Breadmaking? This Easy Focaccia Recipe Is Where You Should Start

Delish

Focaccia is a classic for a reason—it’s packed with crisped pockets of olive oil, making it a combination of a crouton and the fluffiest bread in one bite.

Transcript

00:00 Hey, I'm Alejandro, I'm at Delish.

00:02 I'm gonna be showing you how to make focaccia.

00:03 It's no prep, it's no need,

00:06 and it's great for a charcuterie board.

00:08 If you wanna get into bread baking,

00:09 this is the perfect recipe to start with.

00:11 This recipe is only four ingredients,

00:13 so it's very approachable and very cheap to make.

00:16 In a large bowl, we're gonna add our flour,

00:19 salt, and yeast.

00:22 Whisk all that.

00:23 Before adding our water, make a well,

00:25 because it'll be much easier

00:27 to incorporate everything evenly.

00:29 We're looking for a very shaggy, wet dough.

00:32 It does not have to be perfect or smooth or anything.

00:35 Next, we're gonna grab a very large bowl,

00:37 oil it with our olive oil,

00:40 and coat it all nice and evenly

00:42 so that the dough doesn't stick.

00:44 Then we're gonna transfer the dough,

00:46 and we're gonna cover it with plastic wrap.

00:48 Okay, it might seem like a little bit too much oil,

00:51 but I promise you, this dough is very sticky,

00:53 so we need all this oil

00:55 to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

00:58 We're gonna have this proof until doubled in size.

01:00 That can be either on the counter for three to four hours

01:03 or in the fridge overnight.

01:04 All right, we have this fermented dough

01:11 that's been resting all night,

01:13 and it is going, I'm telling you.

01:15 Look at the bubbles.

01:16 I mean, it smells like beer.

01:19 It smells like alcohol, and that's what fermentation is,

01:22 so we're good.

01:23 This looks beautiful and all,

01:24 but sadly, we're gonna have to punch it.

01:27 Why?

01:28 Well, because there's too much air in the dough right now,

01:30 so we have to deflate it

01:32 so that we can give some room for more air

01:35 for the second proof.

01:36 I'm oiling my hand a little bit

01:38 so that the dough doesn't stick to me.

01:40 We're gonna pour the rest of our olive oil

01:44 into our 9x13.

01:46 This oil adds a lot of flavor,

01:48 and don't forget to coat all the sides.

01:52 Transfer the dough,

01:52 and we're gonna stretch it out as much as we can.

01:55 It might show a little bit of resistance, but it's fine.

01:57 Once you let it rest, it's gonna relax on its own,

02:00 and it's gonna fill the whole entire pan.

02:02 So we're gonna cover this right now,

02:04 and because it's gonna rise,

02:06 we don't want the dough that's very sticky

02:08 to stick to the Saran Wrap,

02:09 so we're just gonna wrap some of this oil over here.

02:12 Kind of spread it around, coat it,

02:16 and we're gonna cover it.

02:19 Now we're gonna go for our second proofing,

02:24 and we're gonna leave it on the counter

02:25 for one to three hours, or until doubled in size.

02:28 The reason why we're doing this

02:29 is because we just deflated it,

02:31 so we need a little bit more air.

02:32 We need to add structure, we need to develop gluten,

02:35 so that we put it in the oven,

02:36 and it'll create this beautiful,

02:39 puffy, golden brown focaccia.

02:41 The second proofing has just finished,

02:43 and as you can see, look at all of these bubbles.

02:47 It's doubled in size, and it looks gorgeous.

02:50 Now the only thing left to do is to dimple it.

02:53 I'm gonna show you how to do that right now.

02:55 And we're gonna put some flaky sea salt on top,

02:57 some rosemary, and into the oven.

03:00 Before taking off the plastic wrap,

03:02 be very careful because the dough is very sensitive.

03:05 So if you just, you know, rip it out,

03:08 it's gonna deflate, and you don't want that.

03:10 Okay, it's dimple time.

03:13 The reason why we do this

03:15 is because we have so much air in right now

03:17 that if we put it into the oven,

03:19 it's gonna puff up too much.

03:21 This is how we're gonna do the dimpling.

03:23 First of all, the dough is very sticky,

03:26 so we're gonna put our fingers

03:27 into some extra virgin olive oil.

03:30 Get that nice and coated.

03:33 Just a little bit more.

03:36 And with your 10 fingers,

03:38 you're gonna, from front to back,

03:41 you're gonna start dimpling very confidently

03:46 all the way to the back.

03:49 About half an inch in between.

03:53 Focaccia is such a blank canvas.

03:55 I've seen it with sun-dried tomatoes,

03:57 shallots, Parmesan, garlic, basil, you name it.

04:01 But I'm going with rosemary and flaky sea salt.

04:04 It's the most traditional, and I think it's also the best.

04:08 This is ready to go into the oven at 450 for 20 minutes

04:12 and rotate it in between.

04:13 This is exactly what we're looking for in a focaccia.

04:18 I mean, it's crispy, it's dredged in olive oil.

04:22 We have Maldon sea salt on top.

04:24 It's herbaceous with the rosemary,

04:27 and look at the crumb.

04:29 I mean, I'm so proud of it.

04:32 Perfect.

04:37 Oh my God, get out of here.

04:38 I can't even chew anymore.

04:40 I wanna have this bread with some brie.

04:42 I wanna have it with pasta.

04:44 I wanna have it for breakfast.

04:45 I always wanna have this focaccia in my freezer

04:48 for whenever I'm ready for a decadent and indulgent treat.

04:53 This recipe was so easy to do.

04:55 The prep was very simple, very few ingredients,

04:58 so you literally have no excuses not to bake this recipe.

05:01 And if you want more bread recipes like this,

05:04 stick with us on delish.com.

05:06 (upbeat music)

05:09 (upbeat music)

Category

Transcript

Recommended