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This easy Focaccia Bread recipe is no knead and so simple to make. It’s perfect for beginners and tastes so good! The best part of this focaccia is making it with herbs and olive oil or anything you like – even turn it into pizza dough!
Focaccia is an Italian bread that’s baked flat. It’s a yeast bread that’s no knead, easy to make and perfect as a side dish or to make as pizza. This easy focaccia recipe is so simple – one bowl and one pan – and you can flavor it however you want. It’s a soft and chewy focaccia that’s the perfect side dish. It’s my favorite bread to eat with dinner or even as sandwich bread.
All you have to do when you’re making focaccia bread is to stir together the wet and dry ingredients. That’s it! With just 10 minutes of hands-on time you’ll have easy homemade bread on the table in no time at all.
How to make focaccia bread
- Be sure to use the correct yeast: this recipe is written for INSTANT yeast. All brands have different names for it, but the package will say instant (ex Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise yeast). You cannot use active dry yeast in this recipe.
- Always add a bit of sugar to help activate the yeast. We’ll also use all-purpose flour and salt.
- Make sure your water is between 120°-130°F (an instant read thermometer is good to have!) so that you activate the yeast properly.
- Because of the high ratio of water in the dough, the soft dough is a very sticky dough. You should be able to stir it in a large bowl with just a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
- The focaccia dough only needs one rise because of the type of yeast. Let the dough rest in the prepared pan for about 30 minutes, covered with a tea towel.
- Once it’s ready to bake you can top it however you like – I love to use olive oil, kosher or flaky sea salt, and herbs like fresh rosemary or dried Italian seasoning. Just sprinkle these all over the surface of the dough and press with your fingers to make deep dimples.
- Dimpling removes air bubbles creating a more cohesive and uniform texture.
- You know focaccia bread is done baking when it’s light golden brown.
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Variations
There are lots of things you can drizzle or add to the top of the dough:
- Spread garlic butter all over it to make garlic bread or just sprinkle with chopped garlic cloves
- Turn it into pizza with sauce
- Place vegetables like cherry tomatoes on top
- Lightly knead in fruit or chocolate chips
Expert Tips
- The kind of yeast you use for this recipe is important. You need to make sure and use a fast or quick acting yeast and NOT active dry yeast. Active Dry Yeast is a different kind of yeast and requires proofing and longer rising time.
- There are so many options when seasoning this bread: Italian seasoning, A bit of olive oil, or turn it into garlic bread or pizza!
- Because there is yeast in focaccia bread, it does need time to rise. Therefore plan accordingly.
Easy Focaccia Bread Recipe
Make this easy Focaccia Bread as a simple side dish! It’s the perfect no knead bread with herbs and olive oil and it’s become one of our favorite recipes!
Recipe Video
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rising Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups (372g) all-purpose flour
- 1 envelope (2 ¼ teaspoons or 7g) rapid rise or fast acting yeast NOT active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅔ cups (395ml) very warm water (heated to between 120°-130°F)
- 4 tablespoons (60ml) olive oil divided
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray or oil.
- Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the water, then add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until well mixed. Press into prepapred pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke multiple holes into the dough. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cover again and let rise additional 15 minutes. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until lightly browned.
- Cool slightly and slice into pieces.
Recipe Notes
- Do not use active dry yeast.
- This takes time to rise, so plan accordingly.
- You can add garlic powder or fresh garlic to make garlic bread, or even turn this into pizza!
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 194kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 234mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 9IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the water, then add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until well mixed.
- Press into a greased 9×13-inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke multiple holes into the dough. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cover again and let rise additional 15 minutes. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until lightly browned.
- Cool slightly and slice into pieces.
rises way too much and not even crispy. if you had to make this recipe, then half the measurements and increase temp to 450
easy,easy delicious focaccia bread. I did add about a half cup more flour . made my own mix of fresh herbs and garlic sliced with evoo,topped after baking with crunchy sea salt.Am making for second time in a week!
I was disappointed in the finished product. I can’t quite pin down the issue. The biggest issue was the texture. I think the answer is for me to find a recipe that calls for the dough to be kneaded.
The flavor is ok. I made this to serve to guests for dinner. They might feel differently.
Flavor was there but the texture was way off! For me it came out tasting more like a savory piece of cake rather than the classic chewy bread I had in mind. Using all the water left me with a very loose, almost batter like dough that allowed for too much rise, and the absence of kneading left the gluten strands underdeveloped. I think with a little less water and about 5 minutes or so of kneading it would have been perfect though. Definitely going to try again because it did have a good flavor and came together easy, I just wish it had been denser.
I made this for Christmas dinner and it turned out absolutely perfect! Great recipe. I added dried herbs to the flour mixture before adding the liquid. I also used garlic infused olive oil, and topped the bread with shredded Parmesan right before baking.
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