Focaccia Bread from Italy

If you are unaware, Focaccia is a traditional Italian flatbread, the base is very similar to a thick style pizza dough and can… like any bread be used or topped with sweet or savory ingredients. The most classic way to serve Focaccia bread is with a large covering of olive oil, hers and sometimes cheeses (normally hard cheeses like Parmesan cheese or Grana Padano cheese). This style of bread originates from the Liguria region of Italy. It’s also a very common bakery style bread so you can get it pretty much anywhere in Italy.

Being Italian of course there are a lot of different recipes and a lot of variations, but i really enjoyed this one, the result is a nice and thick creamy and smooth bread, with nice crispy edges, more pizza than bread with a white crust, as always here on BakeAfter i only share the best! ;D Lets check the recipe!

Servings: 10-12
Time: 50mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Delicious traditional Focaccia Bread recipe, perfect for a snack, appetizer or even as a side dish, you can also make really nice sandwiches with focaccia ;D

Ingredients

Bread Flour – 512gr
Baker’s Yeast – 10gr (Or Fresh Yeast)
Salt – 2 teaspoons
Water – 455 ml (Lukewarm)
Olive Oil – 4 tablespoons
Coarse Salt – To Sprinkle
Rosemary – To Sprinkle
Thyme – To Sprinkle
Garlic – 4 Cloves (garlic already confit in olive oil or Dry Garlic)

Directions

Start by combining the flour, yeast, salt in a bowl, followed by the warm water, mix until you have a dough that is rustic and sticky.
Now grease a bowl with olive oil and add the ball into it, pour a little olive oil on top and cover the bowl, refrigerate for 12 to 16 hours, a slower dough proof like this will make the focaccia have a more develop flavor and texture.
When it is time to bake, remove the dough and knead it a little.
Then prepare a large rectangular baking pan measuring 22 cm by 33 cm, grease it with olive oil and place the dough in the middle, cover and let it rise for 2 to 4 hours depending on whether the day is hot or not.
The dough should double in size, preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Now pour a few drops of olive oil on the dough and with your fingers press the dough to make the dimples typical of focaccia bread, this will also help to stretch the dough, season with a pinch of coarse salt, rosemary and chopped thyme, I also added chopped pickled garlic but this is optional (also check bellow on the notes for more variations and ideas to choose from).

Take to the oven to bake for around 25 minutes until golden brown, remove from the oven and it’s ready to serve hot, you can eat it plain, with toppings or you can make sandwiches with the bread, its just as versatile as any bread, enjoy!

Notes: If you don’t have confit garlic, just use dry garlic (powdered or sliced), since this will not burn while you bake the focaccia bread.

My flavorings for this focaccia where, olive oil, rosemary, thyme and confit garlic cloves, but you can add all kinds of things to a focaccia, from tomatoes (all kinds, cherry, sun dried, etc) to thin slices of onions, olives (green or black), all kinds of cheeses, normally they are hard cheeses like Parmesan or Grana Padano, but you can use any kind of cheeses, meats like sausages, chorizo, ham another traditional topping in Sicily is anchovies and cheese, so you have plenty of choices.

Also some variations or toppings for focaccia are after the focaccia is cooked, like adding arugula, rocket, basil and some cream cheese or any spreadable cheese, you can add slices of fresh tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella and make a focaccia caprese or just use it like any other bread for closed or open sandwiches.

Finally you can have sweet variations with a bit of ricotta cheese and honey with some dried fruits or adding just sugar or some jam.

This recipe for Focaccia Bread from Italy was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Pão Focaccia Italiano foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.