Learning to make focaccia bread is a great way to get started in your bread-making adventure. It has less fuss and muss compared to making for example a baguette. And you still get the satisfaction of enjoying warm, fresh-baked bread right out of the oven. What’s better than that?

The ingredients are simple and mostly from your pantry.

You can watch the full step-by-step video here

Or you can follow the instructions below.

Makes 1 Focaccia

Difficulty Level: medium

Ingredients

• 1 packet or 1 tablespoon Active Dry yeast
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water about 110-115 degrees
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/4 cup olive oil (plus another 1/4 cup more for coating the dough while rising and for drizzling on top)
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
• 1 Tablespoons coarse sea salt for topping

Instructions

Proof the yeast by stirring together the yeast, sugar, and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer. If you don’t have a mixer, no worries. Just mix the ingredients in a glass or stainless steel bowl.

Let sit for about 10 minutes or until fluffy. This step insures that your yeast is active.

Quick tip: Store your yeast in the freezer. It will last longer than its expiration date, but you should still proof it to make sure it’s active.

Add in the thyme, minced garlic, 1/4 cup of olive oil, sea salt, and flour.

Quick tip: The ratio for fresh herbs versus dried herbs is 3:1. So if I was using fresh thyme I would need 6 teaspoons, (equal to 3 tablespoons) instead of 2 teaspoons.

Using the dough hook on your mixer, mix the ingredients on low until the dough starts to come together, about 2-3 minutes.

Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl, about another 5-6 minutes or until the dough is elastic and will not tear easily when pulled. If kneading by hand, it will take about 10-12 minutes of kneading time.

Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top of dough and turn to cover all sides . Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place until the dough doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the dough to redistribute the yeast. “Punch down” is just a term used; don’t take it literally. Instead, gently fold over the dough and press down a few times.

Grease a half baking sheet pan (17 by 12-inch) and transfer the dough onto the baking sheet. I like to make a rustic shape in the middle, leaving a few inches off each side. This will give me enough thickness after it’s baked to cut in half and make a sandwich. You can also stretch the dough to fit the pan for a thinner finished bread.

Lightly cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 1 hour. Start preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit half way through this resting period.

Now is the fun part! With your fingertips, press down on the dough to make little indents. I love this part!

Drizzle or brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle generously with the coarse sea salt.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown . Enjoy!

Variations:

• I used dried thyme because it was what I had on hand, but you can substitute with fresh herbs such as rosemary, a very classic herb for focaccia. You can use pretty much any herb you like. See the “quick note” above regarding the ratio of fresh versus dried herbs.
• Add raisins or other dried fruit to the dough.
• Top with caramelized onions
• Mix in about 1/4 cup roughly chopped Kalamata olives in the dough, and about 1/4 cup sprinkled on top
• Drizzle truffle oil on top

Do Ahead:

There isn’t much you can do ahead of time for this one. But, you can slow down the rising process of the dough by putting it in the refrigerator. This will slow it down by 2-3 hours.