The Italian bread even beginners can make
If you are new to bread baking, you won’t believe how easy it is to make great focaccia at home. Perfect for feeding a crowd, focaccia is a famously chewy, soft Italian flatbread that is a carb lover’s dream. It’s a cinch to bake in a sheet pan and is even naturally vegan. While it takes some time to prepare since this yeasted dough typically needs to rise twice, the work is mostly hands-free.
The fun comes when you use your fingers to poke holes into the dough and drizzle it with plenty of olive oil. As the bread bakes, the oil sinks into the pools you created, which flavors and softens the crumb. Typically, it is flavored with crunchy sea salt and fresh herbs, but we’ve got great ideas for variations. Get inspired to bake this easy Italian bread at home with our best focaccia recipes.
How to Enjoy Focaccia
Thick slabs of soft focaccia are ideal for serving as a side with dinner, slicing in half for sandwiches, offering as a party appetizer, dipping into a hot bowl of soup, or soothing a hangover. While it’s best eaten the same day it’s baked, you can use leftover slices for bruschetta or a panzanella salad. It also freezes beautifully up to a few months, sliced into squares and stored in an airtight container.
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No Knead Focaccia Recipe
Our no-knead focaccia is a great starter recipe if you are new to bread. With no special equipment and just a handful of basic ingredients, it’s easy to bake a beautiful focaccia with a crisp, chewy crust. It’s your choice whether to spread the mainly hands-free preparation over two days, with an overnight rise in the fridge, or let it rise on the counter at room temperature over the course of a lazy day.
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Tuscan Focaccia Bread
This classic, light, and airy Tuscan focaccia topped with flaky sea salt is easy to make and feeds a crowd. It comes together quickly and you can prep your dinner while the bread is proofing. It goes great with any Italian dinner or saucy meals you might typically serve with garlic bread. Leftovers make wonderful sandwich bread, too.
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Fugazza (Argentinian Focaccia)
Hailing from South America, fugazza is a variety of white pizza that will give you all the focaccia vibes. This uniquely Argentinian dish has a thick, aerated crumb ideal for soaking up olive oil, and is nicely savory, with a signature topping of white cheese and sweet onions. It makes a delicious, rustic appetizer, or a nice light lunch with a green salad alongside.
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No-Yeast Focaccia
In ancient Roman times, when historians say this flatbread was invented, the original focaccia was unleavened. While many recipes today use yeast to help the bread rise, our quick no-yeast focaccia is a fabulous option when you want to add homemade bread to the menu, but don’t have any yeast (or much spare time) on hand. Topped with rosemary and sea salt, and baked until golden-brown, it come out savory, chewy, and ready to eat in just about 30 minutes.
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Focaccia Pizza
For your next family pizza night or game day event, skip the delivery and make our focaccia pizza instead. It’s the perfect combination of Italian focaccia bread and toppings, and takes just minutes to throw together. The easy homemade dough comes out crunchy on the outside and soft inside. With your favorite pizza toppings, it is hearty enough for dinner.
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Focaccia Bread With Honey and Rosemary
Even kids can make this easy focaccia bread that is mixed, proved, and folded all in the same bowl. The only trick is remembering to turn the dough over every 20 minutes while it proofs (this helps to develop gluten, giving the bread a fabulously chewy and fluffy texture). A little honey added to the yeast mixture gives the bread a slight hint of sweetness and improves browning in the oven.
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Black Pepper Focaccia
If you like the black pepper focaccia you can order at Panera Bread, this copycat recipe is for you. We’ve made it so easy to recreate the lightly peppery, crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside flatbread at home in just a couple of hours (and most of the work is hands-free). This is a great bread recipe if you’re just dipping a toe into the world of yeasted dough.
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Rosemary Focaccia
Seasoned with little more than rosemary, olive oil, and crunchy kosher salt, this focaccia comes together easily, and the bread is rich and savory, with a nicely chewy texture. Offer it as an appetizer before dinner, along with a dish of balsamic vinegar for dipping. Or serve it as a side dish for lasagne or spaghetti.
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Fladenbrot (Turkish Flatbread)
If you have travelled to Germany, you may have encountered fladenbrot, the Turkish-style flatbread served at Germanic kebab and shawarma shops. It is similar to a typical yeasted focaccia, but is topped with nigella seeds, before baking on a pizza stone. Plan ahead to allow for an overnight rise, before kneading the dough, allowing it to rise again, and baking until crisp.
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Quick Focaccia
You won’t need 8 to 24 hours to make this soft, crusty focaccia—it’s ready to eat in less than 2 hours! This version is entirely hassle-free, requiring a stand mixer and a bit of scraping to develop the gluten. After a quick mix, the sticky dough goes into the well-oiled baking pan. Stretch the dough to fit the pan, and then let it rise for an hour.
