How to Make Focaccia Bread
This Focaccia Bread is the authentic recipe which originates from Genoa. It has the perfect amount of crunch around the edges and the middle is soft and seriously divine. It is a delicious accompaniment for your main meal or can be enjoyed with an antipasto platter and even for breakfast and will transport your tastebuds to Italy with every mouthful. The authentic focaccia genovese doesn’t have cherry tomatoes as toppings but I wanted to add some flavors to this marvellous focaccia.
Watch Focaccia video recipe:
How to Make Italian Focaccia Recipe | Focaccia Bread from Genoa
Vincenzo’s Top Tips To Make Focaccia Bread
RESTING TIME is a MUST
There is nothing more important than the resting time for this Italian focaccia recipe to turn out perfectly!
You may keep it in here for a while
If you don’t want to cook the focaccia right away, you can leave it in the fridge, but make sure you take it out of the oven up to 2hr before you plan to cook it.
For it to work BEST
For this focaccia bread recipe to work best, you then need to cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest for few minutes.
Focaccia Bread
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Pastry brush
- Non-stick baking tray (38cm x 27cm x 3cm) (15inch x 10.5inch x 1.3inch)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Extra virgin Olive Oil EVOO
- 200 ml Water 1 cup. Room temperature
- 350 grams Plain flour 2.5 cups. plus extra for dusting
- 1 satchel Dry yeast 7grams - 2 teaspoons
- 1 tsp Honey
- Rock salt
- Table Salt 10grams - 2 teaspoons
Instructions
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of EVOO to your mixing bowl for the first step in this recipe. Using the pastry brush, wet the sides of the bowl so they become slightly moist.
- Add 200ml water and 2 x heaped tablespoons of flour.
- Pour in a satchel (7g) dry yeast and mix together well with a spoon.
- Then, add a teaspoon of honey to your focaccia mix – alternatively, you can also add 2 teaspoons of sugar
- For this recipe, add in half of the flour to your mix and using the hook attachment, start mixing.
- Keep the mixer on a slow speed initially, then speed it up once all the ingredients start to come together. Mix for at least 5 minutes.
- Then, add 7-10g of salt to the focaccia bread mixture along with the rest of the flour and mix it at a high speed for 15-20 minutes.
- Prepare a large wooden bench with a sprinkle of plain flour and cover your hands with it too. Then, get the focaccia dough from the bowl and place it on top of the flour on your board.
- Fold it over a couple of times mixing in the flour on the board and on your hands until it forms a large ball.
- For this focaccia bread recipe to work best, you then need to cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- While you’re waiting, lather your baking tray with a generous amount of EVOO, again using your pastry brush.
- After 15 minutes, remove the tea towel from the dough and making sure it isn’t stuck to the board, lift the dough.
- Then, fold the dough over, slightly stretching it, and press down on it, using the tips of your finger – poking it, all over!
- Fold it over again, so it becomes longer, and press down a few more times.
- Transfer the log of dough onto your tray, placing it in the centre, then lather it with the EVOO and cover it once again with the tea towel.
- Leave this to rest, for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, remove the tea towel and your dough should have expanded quite a lot!
- Now, you need to spread the dough out on to the tray using the tips of your fingers so it covers the base entirely.
- Sprinkle rock salt or table salt over the top of your dough (The authentic Italian focaccia recipe uses rock salt) then let it rest once again covering it, for at least one hour, but even up to two!
- While your dough is resting you might want to cut some cherry tomatoes in half, to add them to the top.
- Once the dough has rested again, remove the tea towel and pour some water over the top of it. This will stop the focaccia from burning and make it crisp on top.
- Then, add a drizzle of EVOO on top and spread both of them over the top using your pastry brush so it is evenly covered.
- Now, for the magic touch! This Italian focaccia recipe requires you to press down using the tips of your fingers, all over the dough.
- If you choose to, add the cherry tomoatoes, faced up and then let the focaccia rest again for another hour.
- Pre-heat your oven at 220degrees celcius (428 F) and once ready, put it in for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Once ready, remove it from the oven and place it on a stand or tall grill to let it breathe.
- E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!
Video
How to serve Focaccia Bread
This Italian focaccia recipe doesn’t need much when it comes to serving – just enjoy it nice and hot as an accompaniment to any meal or with some lean cold meats like mortadella or prosciutto!
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