The Best Focaccia
Over the last year, I have made this focaccia recipe no less than 30 times. I now make it weekly, as my children have decided this is the one and only bread they will eat a school lunch sandwich on. and I find the whole process so simple, and freezing pre-cut sandwich sized portions so easy, it has become a set part of my routine.
This recipe originates from a wonderful cookbook by Claire Saffitz called Dessert Person. I highly recommend buying or checking the book out from your local library as it’s full of wonderful desserts, as well as a few savory recipes. Once I tried this recipe I have been ruined for all other focaccias and I know it’s the best focaccia recipe. I have made it for so many friends and family members who are always asking for a recipe and video, that I decided to post about. So get ready for one of my favorite homemade bread recipes ever.
Why make this recipe:
- It comes together in just a couple hours- no overnight rise needed
- Perfect for sandwiches- the size and thickness of this bread makes a truly amazing focaccia sandwich, and you can save time by making one huge sandwich at once and cutting into portions.
- Adaptable: You can top this focaccia with flakey sea salt and rosemary like I did here, or you can add olives, cherry tomatoes, sliced garlic, or any other toppings you’d like. The base recipe is what matters most!
- It has a rich olive oil flavor that gives the crust perfectly crisp edges making this a wonderful bread to dip in soup too!
Ingredients needed for Claire Saffitz Focaccia:
- Bread Flour ( I always use King Arthur brand)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Active dry yeast
- Kosher salt
- Water
- Flakey sea salt and rosemary for topping (optional)
Supplies needed:
- Stand mixer if you have one ( you can also do this by hand though I haven’t tried.)
- Separate large bowl
- Flexible spatula or dough scraper
- Standard half-sheet pan for baking
- Wire rack for cooling
- Clean, damp kitchen towel for covering mixing bowl
- Plastic wrap
- Food scale (not 100% mandatory- but it’s helpful to measure exact weights of the ingredients for best results.)
The Process: (Full recipe in recipe card below!)
- Start by adding the yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add in 1/2 cup water and let it sit for a few minutes.
- Add in the rest of the water as well as your flour and salt.
- Mix on lowest speed for a few minutes until a scraggly dough forms, scraping down bowl if needed.
- Once dough has mostly come together- cover with your damp towel for 10 minutes. This allows the dough to rest and become more elastic.
- Continue to mix dough on medium-high speed until a smooth sticky dough has formed. (This dough is very sticky! It won’t fully pull away from the bowl.)
- Cover dough again and let it proof in a warm place for about an hour.
- When the dough is ready prepare your oiled baking sheet and sent aside. Pull the dough up from the bottom and let it pull down. This helps give a better crumb structure to the bread. Rotate bowl and repeat 3x.
- Turn dough onto the cookie sheet and drizzle oil on the top.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let it proof for about 45 minutes or until the dough reaches the edge of the pan. Add more olive oil, dimple dough with hands and add sea salt and rosemary if using.
- Put oven racks in the highest and lowest positions of your oven. Preheat to 475F
- Bake on the bottom rack for 20 minutes and then move to the top rack.
- Let bread cool until you can touch it, and then remove the bread from the pan.
- Cut into slices as desired or squares for sandwiches. IF you are making one large sandwich, cut the entire large piece of bread in half horizontally and add toppings to the entire sandwich before cutting.
How to Freeze Focaccia:
Since I primarily make this for lunch sandwiches, I like to slice each piece in half and have it all ready for sandwich toppings. Fill a freezer bag with sandwich-sized portions and seal air-tight. The bread can last in the freezer for up to a month.
Claire Saffitz Focaccia
Yield:
16 sandwich-sized pieces
Ingredients
- 1 (7 g / ¼ oz) envelope active dry yeast
- 780 g (6 cups) bread flour
- 17 g (2 tablespoons) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 110 g (½ cup) extra-virgin olive oil (5 oz / 110g), plus 55 g (¼ cup) for topping plain focaccia and more for oiling hands
- Fresh rosemary leaves, for sprinkling the top
- Flaky salt, for sprinkling the top
Instructions
- Pour 1/2 cup of lukewarm water into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk in the yeast to dissolve. Set aside until the mixture is cloudy and slightly puffed, about 5 minutes.
- Place the bowl on the mixer and attach the dough hook. Add 567 g (2½ cups) room-temperature water to the yeast mixture, then add the flour and kosher salt. Mix on the lowest speed until a very loose dough comes together, about 1 minute, then increase the speed to medium-high and mix until the dough is smooth and wrapping around the hook, about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the mixer, cover the bowl with a damp towel, and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Turn the mixer back on to medium-high and continue to mix until the dough is very smooth, extremely elastic, and pulling away from the sides of the bowl, another 10 to 15 minutes. It will still be very sticky, but don't add more flour.
- Pour 55 g (¼ cup) of the oil into a separate large bowl and swirl to coat. Use a flexible spatula or dough scraper to scrape the dough into the oiled bowl. Use your fingertips to dab some of the pooling oil across the surface of the dough. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and let it sit at room temperature until the dough is doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours.
- Drizzle 55 g (¼ cup) oil across a standard half-sheet pan, rubbing with your fingers to coat the entire bottom and sides. With oiled hands, loosen the risen dough from the sides of the bowl. Slide your hands down around either side of the dough and lift it up out of the bowl, letting the weight of the dough pull itself downward. This stretching motion gives more structure to the dough so it rises higher.
- Return the dough to the bowl, letting it fold onto itself, then rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat the same stretching and folding process. Rotate and stretch the dough two more times, finally placing it on the oiled baking Sheet instead of back in the bowl after the final stretch. Stretch the dough in all directions to fill out the pan until it starts to spring back, then cover the pan with an oiled sheet of plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes
- Uncover the dough and use your fingers to stretch it all the way to the sides and into the corners so it fills the sheet completely. Cover the dough again with the same sheet of plastic wrap. At this point, the dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours. It should rise slowly in the refrigerator until nearly doubled in height, but if it hasn't by the time you're ready to bake, let it sit at room temperature until it does. If you're going to bake the focaccia straightaway, let it sit at room temperature until the dough is nearly doubled in height (it should reach near the top of the sheet pan), another 40 to 55 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, arrange two oven racks in the highest and lowest positions and preheat the oven to 230 ºC (450 °F).
- Uncover the risen dough. With oiled hands and fingers spread wide, press your fingertips down into the dough through to the bottom of the pan, making lots of dimples across the entire surface.
- Drizzle the surface with the remaining 55 g (¼ cup) olive oil and sprinkle generously with flaky salt and rosemary.
- Bake the focaccia on the lower rack until the corners of the dough are pulling away from the pan, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the focaccia to the top rack and continue to bake until the top is very well browned (some of the bubbles might even start to char), about 5 minutes longer.
- Let the focaccia cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then use a thin spatula to loosen it from the bottom and sides of the sheet pan. Let the focaccia cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
Recipe from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz