Easy 2-hour Focaccia: Recipe and Photo-Tutorial

5th November 2008

Easy 2-hour Focaccia: Recipe and Photo-Tutorial

posted in Recipes, Tutorials, Food, How-To |

This recipe makes me SO happy! It’s super-simple and definitely quick (in a land where making any kind of non-bread-machine-bread seems like a day-long project). Plus, you can vary the toppings to mix it up a bit. One time, I topped it with a pizza seasoning mix I improvised, which made delicious dippable breadsticks. Another time, I put olives and garlic right into the dough, which gave me a delicious delicacy to enjoy by itself. Yum!

So here’s how to do it.

Start with 1 1/2 cups of warm (110 degrees Fahrenheit) water
Add and dissolve 4 teaspoons of active dry yeast.

Then, in the mixer, combine 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour,

1 1/4 teaspoons of salt,

3 Tablespoons of olive oil,

and the yeast-water.

Beat it on high for about a minute to a minute and a half.

It will be very sticky!

Drizzle your pan with some olive oil and brush it all around.

I used my new stoneware bar pan from Pampered Chef, but I’m sure a cookie sheet with sides or a half-sheet cake pan would work too.

Then, scoop the sticky dough into the pan and lightly pat it around until it’s situated. Don’t worry about it going all the way to the edges.

Cover it and let it rise for an hour… Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don’t do what I did the first time though. I forgot to Pam the plastic wrap, and…

…when I removed the wrap after an hour, it kind of deflated my dough a bit. Sad. So learn from my mistake and use Pam on the plastic wrap. It works like a charm!

This is the pizza seasoning I improvised. I think it was parmesan cheese (from the green can), onion powder, garlic salt, and oregano…probably some basil too.

Doesn’t it look yummy?

Now that your dough is puffy, use your fingers to make little holes all over it… poke poke poke. Then drizzle with olive oil and top with your toppings (in this case, the pizza seasoning).

Stick it in the oven…

And 35-40 minutes later you’ll have a golden slab of deliciousness.

I mean really, look at the puffiness.

I cut mine into breadsticks, which we then dipped into marinara sauce. I’m sure if you used a pan with less square footage, you’d get thicker bread and you could cut the thickness in half for yummy pesto turkey sandwiches.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Recipes, Tutorials, Food, How-To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On November 5th, 2008, Ashley said:

Mmm…that sounds delicious. Definitely going to have to try that. Do you think I’d be able to make the dough in my bread maker? I don’t have a mixer with a kneading paddle.

posted on November 5th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

2 On November 5th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

I doubt it… I think bread makers (at least mine) are a bit slow for this… though if you have a food processor with a plastic dough thingy I’m pretty sure that’d work.

posted on November 5th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

3 On November 6th, 2008, GS said:

Thanks! This looks delicious and it gives me a reason to try my new mixer!

posted on November 6th, 2008 at 8:24 am

4 On November 6th, 2008, carlasue said:

Hi! I just found your blog and love it.I would like to sign up for the newsletter but there is no space provided for entering my email address. Only a submit button. Am I missing something? (I`m not computer literate so you`re probably rofl right now).

posted on November 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am

5 On November 6th, 2008, Ashley said:

Darn. Guess I won’t be trying this recipe out until I have enough money to buy me a mixer.

posted on November 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

6 On November 6th, 2008, Caroline said:

Can you use a regular electric mixer or do you need one of those fancy flat things?

posted on November 6th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

7 On November 9th, 2008, Jen said:

Nice tutorial with very clear directions and photos! I’ve never made focaccia but might have to give it a try now (even though I have fear of yeast)

posted on November 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pm

8 On November 11th, 2008, Baby's Abode said:

This looks so good and so simple that even I can do it. My boys LOVE garlic bread. This gives me a way to make homemade bread that I know they will eat.. and their father too.
Thank you!

posted on November 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

9 On November 15th, 2008, Renee said: