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Rosemary Focaccia Bread Recipe

Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Emily Segura
A simple, overnight rosemary focaccia recipe.
Prep Time 15 hours
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 15 hours 37 minutes
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • 1 Medium-sized bowl
  • 1 Big bowl
  • 1 Whisk
  • 1 Cling-on
  • 1 Baking sheet with a rim 18-by-13 inches
  • 1 Pizza stone or another baking sheet
  • 1 Metal spatula
  • 1 Parchment paper
  • 1 Sealable bag or container

Ingredients
  

Dough

  • 2 1/2 cups lukewarm rosemary tea
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baker's yeast
  • 3 teaspoons honey
  • 5 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons Large-flake sea salt
  • 1/2 cup olive oil plus more for pan and finishing
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 teaspoons rosemary

Brine

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Sea salt
  • 1/3 cup Room-temp water

Instructions
 

  • Combine room-temperature rosemary tea with the active dry yeast, or bakers yeast, and honey.
    Whisk until the honey is dissolved. Let the mixture proof while you combine 5 1/3 cups of the all purpose flour and salt in a big bowl.
    Once the yeast mixture looks frothy, add it to the flour mixture and add the olive oil. Stir until shaggy and combined.
    Cover the bowl of dough with cling-on (not a damp towel) and let the dough rest in a warm place overnight to rise and ferment.
  • When the dough has doubled in size, prepare a rimmed, baking sheet by slathering it in good drizzle of olive oil.
    Fold the dough on itself once, then pour or pull the dough with your hands out of the bowl and onto the prepared pan.
    Rub olive oil over the face of the dough.
    Stretch out the dough to the size and shape of the baking sheet by sliding your hands beneath the dough and gently spreading your hands apart to stretch.
    Let the dough rise for half an hour and check a couple of times throughout the rise to re-stretch the dough as it shrinks away from the baking sheet's edges.
  • After half an hour of rising, make dimples in the bread dough with your fingers. Prepare salt brine by combining salt and room-temp water. Stir to dissolve the salt. Pour the brine over the face of the dimpled dough, letting it pool up in the dimples. Proof the dough for 45 minutes.
  • After half an hour of proofing, preheat the oven to 450°F and put a pizza stone or upside-down baking sheet on the rack in the center of the oven.
  • After the 45-minute proof, sprinkle flaky sea salt over the focaccia dough, and add any other toppings like fresh herbs, garlic, or sliced tomatoes or olives. Put the focaccia in the oven on top of the pizza stone or inverted pan, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check with a metal spatula that the bottom is golden-brown and crusty. If it's not, add 5 minutes. Once the bottom is crusty, add another 5 minutes to brown the top crust.
  • Take the focaccia out of the oven and glug a little olive oil over the top, letting it pool in the dimples and soak in. Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan with a metal spatula to cool the rest of the way on a baking rack, or serve.
  • Serve the bread while it's still warm, after cooling in the pan for 5 minutes, or after it has cooled completely.
  • Focaccia can be stored well for 5 days wrapped in parchment paper and in a sealed container or bag. Toast leftover focaccia to reheat. Focaccia can also be wrapped in parchment paper and frozen, in an air-tight container or bag, and thawed in the oven on broil to reheat.
Keyword bread, focaccia, rosemary