Easy Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread - Inspired Taste

Our focaccia recipe guarantees soft, bubbly, golden brown bread with perfectly crisp edges. This is one of my family’s most treasured recipes.

This focaccia is perfect for beginners (I promise)! It’s mostly hands-off and tastes amazing thanks to our easy garlic and herb olive oil.

You’ll use the oil for the focaccia dough, and for baking, adding it to the bottom and top of the bread before sliding it into the oven. It turns out so incredibly delicious! For another easy bread recipe, try our homemade pita bread.

Key Ingredients

• Olive oil: Makes focaccia taste delicious, adding to its texture and flavor. The secret to the best focaccia is using a great olive oil. You don’t need to spend lots of money (use the olive oil you enjoy).
• Garlic, thyme, and rosemary: For extra flavor, I infuse the olive oil for this focaccia recipe with garlic and herbs. I love rosemary focaccia, so I use fresh rosemary, but you can try a different blend of herbs if you’d like to (or leave them out and just make garlic focaccia).
• Flour: All-purpose flour or bread flour is perfect for this recipe. I use all-purpose most of the time since that’s what I stock in my kitchen.
• Instant yeast: The method for making focaccia below works with active dry or instant yeast, but I find that instant yeast typically has a bit more pep, so that’s what I keep in my kitchen. I also use instant yeast when making pizza dough.
• Sugar: A bit of sugar (1/4 teaspoon) helps wake up our yeast. Use sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Amazing Focaccia

Tip 1: Garlic herb infused oil. The secret to truly delicious homemade focaccia lies in our garlic and herb infused olive oil. We’re not just drizzling it on at the end. We add it to the dough and use it to bake the bread (drizzling it onto the pan and over the top of the dough).

Tip 2: The dough is supposed to be sticky. Don’t be alarmed by our focaccia dough’s initial shaggy and sticky texture (this is perfectly normal). A gentle knead, just 5 to 10 times, is all it takes to bring it together before its first rise in a warm spot. If your oven has a proof setting, use it.

Tip 3: Sit back and let it rise. This dough needs to rise for about 1 hour before being added to a baking pan. (For my tips on proofing focaccia dough in the refrigerator overnight, see our recipe tips below.)

Tip 4: When it’s time to bake, embrace the dimples! Pressing your fingertips all over the dough once in the baking pan creates those signature nooks and crannies that give focaccia its incredible texture. Also, don’t be shy about using the remaining garlic and herb olive oil. Pour all of it over the top for flavor and that gorgeous golden-brown crust.

Tip 5: Second rise for the perfect bubbly texture. You’ll let the dough rise again, but for 20 minutes this time, and then bake in a hot oven until golden brown (about 20 minutes). It’s so delicious!

Our Favorite Ways to Serve Focaccia

We love dunking our freshly baked bread into one of our soup recipes, like this creamy vegetable soup or this homemade tomato soup. Or, make a sandwich. I love it with tuna salad or this egg salad.

It’s also excellent for dips. I especially love this easy olive oil dip and our easy spinach artichoke dip. It also goes really well with anything Italian, like these big Italian meatballs or lasagna.

Easy Focaccia Bread

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• PREP 1 hr 40 mins
• COOK 20 mins
• TOTAL 2 hr

This is my tried and true focaccia recipe. You don’t need special equipment, and it’s basically no-knead. The secret to the best focaccia is using a great olive oil. We use a 1/2 cup of olive oil in this recipe, so use an olive oil you love. I often use Partanna olive oil since it’s mid-range in price and tastes great in this bread recipe.

Makes 16 small slices, 8 large

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil (120ml)

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 cup lukewarm water, 110°F to 115°F (235ml)

2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast, one ¼-ounce packet

¼ teaspoon sugar, honey, or maple syrup

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (325g)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions

• Make the Dough

1Combine olive oil, minced garlic, thyme, rosemary, and black pepper in a cold medium skillet. Place the pan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes or until aromatic. You are not looking to add color to the garlic. Keep the temperature low and remove the skillet from the heat before the garlic browns. Set aside and allow to cool.

2In a large bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Stir a few times, then let it sit for 5 minutes.

3Add 1 cup of the flour and ¼ cup of the infused garlic-olive oil mixture to the bowl with yeast. Stir 3 to 4 times until the flour has moistened. Let sit for another 5 minutes.

4Stir in the remaining 1 ½ cups of flour and the salt. When the dough comes together, transfer it to a floured board and knead 10 to 15 times until smooth (see video for reference).

5Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp towel, and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, for 1 to 2 hours. (See tips below if you’d prefer to proof the dough overnight in the fridge.)

• Bake

1When the dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C).

2Use two tablespoons of the remaining garlic-olive oil mixture to oil a 9×13-inch rimmed baking sheet. See the tips below for other pan sizes.

3Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, then gently press it into the pan. Use your fingers to dimple the dough, then drizzle the top with the remaining garlic-olive oil mixture. Let the dough rise for 20 to 30 minutes until it puffs slightly.

4Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, and then let the bread cool completely on a wire rack.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

• Storing: Baked focaccia lasts at room temperature for 2 days. Keep it in an airtight container so that it does not dry out. For long-term storage (longer than 2 days), freeze your bread. Freeze your baked and cooled focaccia in an airtight bag or container for up to 1 month.
• Overnight focaccia: For the first rise, proof the dough in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature. Oil the dough, place it in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a sealed lid, and leave it for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days. When ready to bake, leave on the counter for 2 hours to warm up. Then dump the dough onto your oiled baking pan and follow the 2nd proof and baking directions in the recipe above.
• Pan sizes: We call for a 9 x 13-inch rimmed baking sheet. If you do not have this, use a 9 x 13-inch rimmed baking dish with taller sides. For thicker bread, use a 9-inch round pie dish/cake pan or 9-inch square baking pan (baking time will be a few minutes longer).
• Make focaccia pizza: Bake the bread as directed, and top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Slide back into the oven and bake until bubbly.
• The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.

Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1 small slice (16 total) / Calories 134 / Total Fat 7.2g / Saturated Fat 1g / Cholesterol 0mg / Sodium 146.1mg / Carbohydrate 15.4g / Dietary Fiber 0.7g / Total Sugars 0.1g / Protein 2.3g AUTHOR: Adam Gallagher