From scratch · Yeast breads
Focaccia
A wet, olive-oil dough baked in a sheet pan: crisp underneath, airy inside, dimpled on top.
✋ 26 min hands-on
⏱ 4 hr 9 min start to finish
🍽 One 9 × 13-inch pan, 12 to 15 pieces.
ContainsWheat.
Ingredients
- 500 g bread flour, or all-purpose
- 7 g active dry yeast
- 12 g table salt
- 1⅔ cup water, about 100°F
- 2.6315789473684212 cup olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- ½ tsp kosher salt, for the top
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Mix the dough | 10 min | 30 min |
| Stretch and fold 3 times | 6 min | 1 hr 30 min |
| Pan it and let it rise | 5 min | 1 hr 5 min |
| Dimple and top | 5 min | – |
| Bake at 450°F | – | 23 min |
| Cool | – | 15 min |
| In all | 26 min | 3 hr 43 min |
How long it keeps
- Counter: best the day it’s baked; wrapped, about 2 days, recrisped in the oven.
- Freezer: cool completely, wrap in plastic and then foil or a freezer bag, up to 3 months (University of Missouri). Slice first so you can take out what you need; a whole loaf thaws in its wrapping on the counter in about 3 hours (Cornell).
Nutrition
Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.
Steps
You’ll need: large bowl, 9 × 13-inch metal pan.
- Stir the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, add the water, and mix until no dry flour is left. The dough will be very wet; that’s right.
- Cover and rest 30 minutes. With a wet hand, lift one side of the dough and fold it over the middle; turn the bowl and repeat 4 times. Do this 3 times, 30 minutes apart.
- Pour ¼ cup of the oil into the pan, tip the dough in, and turn it once to coat. Let it rest 20 minutes, then gently stretch it toward the corners.
- Cover and let it rise until puffy and bubbly, 45 to 60 minutes. Heat the oven to 450°F.
- Drizzle with the rest of the oil, press deep dimples all over with oiled fingers, and sprinkle with rosemary and coarse salt.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until deep golden on top and underneath. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then move it to a rack.
⚖️ ScalingDouble it in a half-sheet pan (13 × 18 inch); the baking time stays about the same.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).
Good to knowThe wet dough is what makes the big holes; resist adding flour.
Sources
- Food Storage Guide (FN579), NDSU Extension, reviewed January 2023. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Tips for Storing Bread, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Herkimer County, 2020. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.