• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Sip Bite Go logo

  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Smoker Recipes
    • Air Fryer Recipes
    • Homemade Pizza
    • Sous Vide Recipes
    • Trader Joe’s Recipes
    • Steak Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Keto Friendly
  • Smoker Recipes
  • Air Fryer
  • Sous Vide
    • All Sous Vide Recipes
    • The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook
    • Buttery Sous Vide Lobster Tail Recipe
    • Sous Vide Frozen Steak
    • Sous Vide T Bone Steak
    • Sous Vide Chicken Wings
    • Sous Vide Egg Bites
  • Cookbooks
  • More
    • Entertaining
    • Kitchen Remodel
    • Travel
    • Blogging Chat
  • About
    • About Jenna
    • Start here
    • Work With Me
    • Contact
    • Get Updates
  • Podcast
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Find A Recipe
  • Smoker Recipes
  • Main Dish Recipes
  • Pizza Recipes
  • Holiday Dishes
  • Air Fryer Recipes
  • Sous Vide
  • Salad Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Bread Recipes » How To Make Homemade Focaccia Bread For Beginners

    How To Make Homemade Focaccia Bread For Beginners

    Published: Aug 3, 2020 · Modified: Jun 24, 2021 by Jenna Passaro · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Pin200
    Tweet
    Share1
    Share
    201 Shares
    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe
    pin for how to make focaccia bread for beginners

    Want to make cafe-style focaccia bread at home? Today you’ll learn how to make homemade focaccia bread for beginners. Yup – you can make perfect focaccia on the very first try. Get all the steps for making focaccia dough right here.

    Focaccia Bread Topped With Red Onion
    Why is baking focaccia bread good for beginners? It’s really forgiving and uses just a few ingredients.

    In this guide you’ll learn everything you need to get started…

    1. Stretching focaccia dough
    2. Dimpling focaccia (to make the crunchy bubbles on top)
    3. How to top focaccia with different ingredients

    Let’s bake focaccia from scratch!

    Why is focaccia bread so good?

    This beginner’s focaccia bread recipe will help you get a crispy brown crust on focaccia – – your very first try making it. The inside turns out fluffy with pockets of air.

    With this step by step guide, you’ll learn the techniques for making focaccia rise before baking it, so the dough turns out nice and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

    Are you hungry yet?

    Ingredients for focaccia
    This is a very simple focaccia bread with just a few ingredients.

    Ingredients for making focaccia bread at home

    Ingredients are simple. In this focaccia recipe, you’ll use flour, dry yeast, water, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

    How to make homemade focaccia bread for beginners

    Step 1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together bread flour and dry yeast with a fork, until yeast is incorporated into the flour. Make a small well in the center of flour and set aside.

    adding water to focaccia dough

     Step 2. Pour salt water mixture and 2 tablespoons olive oil into the flour bowl.

    adding olive oil to focaccia dough

    Stir with your hands or spatula until a ball forms.

    forming focaccia dough ball by hand

    Step 3. Grease a clean large mixing bowl with ½ tablespoon olive oil. Add dough to the bowl. Knead dough by folding each corner into itself for about 1 minute.

    The dough will pick up olive oil as you knead is, which is perfect.

    Cover dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.

    kneading focaccia dough

    Step 4. Knead dough again for one minute. Let the focaccia dough rest again, covered with a damp cloth.

    Repeat this step one or two more times, for a total of about 45-60 minutes of kneading and resting.

    helping focaccia dough rise on the counter

    Step 5. Cover focaccia dough with plastic and let the dough rise on the counter for 2 hours, or in the fridge overnight.

    covering focaccia dough with plastic wrap to rise

    We have left focaccia to rise in the refrigerator fridge for a few days – 6 days to be exact – and it’s stayed fresh and improved over time.

    The dough should be almost double in size.

    ball of focaccia in a greased pan

    Step 6. Liberally spread ½ tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom and sides of a 9×13” baking pan. All areas the focaccia will touch should be covered. Add focaccia dough to the oiled baking pan.

    Stretch dough, pushing it to fit the shape of the baking pan.

    stretching focaccia dough by hand

    Tips for stretching focaccia dough

    It might be hard to stretch the dough to the pans corners. If you’re having trouble stretching the dough, cover the dough with a damp cloth and let sit for 10 minutes.

    That will give the dough time to relax, making it easier to stretch.

    Step 7. The first rise in the pan.

    Once the dough is stretched to fit the corners of the baking pan, cover the baking pan with a damp towel and set aside in a warm area for 45 – 60 minutes to rise.

    A sunny window or oven with just the light on (which will make it ~85 degrees) is perfect.

    dimpled focaccia dough
    Do you know what it’s called when you poke little holes in the top of focaccia bread? It’s called “dimpling” the bread. Isn’t that cute?

    Step 8. Dimple the dough.

    Once the dough rises in the pan, set out a small bowl of water next to the raw focaccia dough. Dip your fingertips in water, then dip them in focaccia dough to create small holes.

    Press your fingers down so they tap the bottom of the pan.

    The dough will be sticky, so continue to dip them in water, then the dough, until the top of the focaccia dough is covered with little holes.

    proofing focaccia in the oven to rise

    Either warm focaccia dough to rise by setting it in a sunny window, or turn on the oven light to create a warm atmosphere to rise the dough.

    Step 9. Time for the final rise. Once the dough is dimpled, cover with a damp towel and set aside in a warm area (sunny window or oven with the light on) for 45 – 60 minutes to final proof.

    drizzling olive oil on focaccia

    Step 10. After the final proof is complete, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Top the dough with ½ tablespoon of olive oil.

    adding toppings to focaccia dough

    Add any toppings at this time.

    baking focaccia dough

    Step 11. Bake focaccia for 20-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees on a thermometer.

    adding oil to focaccia bread

    Transfer focaccia bread to a wired baking rack. Add a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

    Doesn’t the seeded focaccia bread above look fantastic? Learn how to make focaccia bread with Everything Bagel Seasoning.

    Focaccia topped with red onion

    Tasty toppings to add to focaccia bread

    There are so many ways to infuse focaccia bread with flavor inside and out.

    • Roasted garlic
    • Red wine caramelized red onions
    • Roasted cherry tomatoes
    • Fresh herbs like rosemary to make it an Italian inspired recipe
    • Olives
    • Pesto
    • Seeds

    Are you thinking of starting an aerogarden to grow your herbs right at home? Get a break down on just how does aerogarden work. Read this guide to learn more!

    focaccia topped with red onion

    Love pizza? See how to make pizza with store bought dough.

    storing focaccia for days in ziploc bags

    How long does homemade focaccia last?

    Focaccia lasts up to 5 days on the counter. Store homemade focaccia in an airtight container or a plastic bag.

    focaccia dough fermentation experiment

    Experiment with how long to let focaccia rise

    The focaccia on the left was left to rise for just a couple hours in the fridge. The one on the right was left to rise in the fridge for 6 days.

    Maybe we set out to do this experiment, or perhaps we got busy and forgot we left focaccia in the refrigerator for a week – or 6 days to be exact.

    But whatever the reason, this experiment shows that leaving the dough to rise longer can create a lighter, fluffier focaccia bread with lots of holes.

    Love dough? Check out this guide to Trader Joe’s dough.

    text meme joke about focaccia baking husband
    Looking for a foodie hobby? Focaccia is a fun choice. Obviously I had no idea how to spell focaccia when I wrote this.

    Baking focaccia as a hobby

    I was more than happy to support my husband’s newfound love of bread baking.

    We’ve made plenty of homemade pastas together, and there was that one holiday season he became obsessed with baking homemade apple pie with from-scratch crust, but his new obsession with focaccia bread has further solidified that we’ll pretty much be together forever.

    Once you get the basic process to making focaccia down, there are so many toppings to try.

    Want to learn more about bread as a hobby? Get inspired to start a sourdough bread baking hobby with tips from cookbook author and food blogger Meredith Laurence from Blue Jean Chef.

    slicing homemade focaccia bread for sandwiches

    Know what tastes great on focaccia?

    Sous vide soft boiled eggs over sous vide brisket for a gourmet brunch.

    Sous vide chicken breast and mozzarella for lunch. I love Italian inspired recipes.

    In case you didn’t notice the theme here, it’s one of my favorite foodie hobbies: cooking sous vide recipes. Find the most extensive resource of my sous vide recipes is in  The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook.

    Final tips for making focaccia for the first time

    • Let dough rise for as little as two hours and as long as 6 days in the fridge.
    • Use a high-quality olive oil to top the bread.
    • Experiment with different toppings as your focaccia bread baking skills grow.

    And my last tip… use this bread for everything – – starting in the AM. Bacon and egg focaccia breakfast sandwiches are a gourmet treat for weekend brunch. Turning leftover focaccia bread into next-morning breakfast sandwiches is one of my favorite ways to use up a batch of fresh baked bread.

    Love baking bread but want a better way to store it? Check out this post that answers the question: can you freeze bread?

    Are you a foodie, too?

    Are you up for another fun, and fast dough recipe? Make homemade pizza dough for your own DIY pizzas. An easy family dinner idea everyone can help with! If you’re not a baker, no worries—I walk you through every step of the process in my new video tutorial.

    Find me on Instagram @sipbitego.

    Love to make restaurant-style food at home? Subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel on YouTube.

    Focaccia Bread Topped With Red Onion

    How To Make Homemade Focaccia Bread For Beginners Recipe | Sip Bite Go

    Want to make cafe-style focaccia bread at home?Today you’ll learn how to make homemade focaccia bread for beginners. Yup - youcan make perfect focaccia on the very first try. Get all the steps for makingfocaccia dough right here.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Side Dish
    Cuisine: American, Italian
    Prep Time: 5 hours
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Finish Time: 5 minutes
    Total Time: 5 hours 25 minutes
    Servings: 8
    Calories: 311kcal
    Author: Jenna Passaro

    Ingredients

    • 4 ½ cups flour (breador all purpose)
    • ¼ tsp dry yeast
    • 2 cups water warm, 100 degrees Fahrenheit
    • ¾ tsp sea salt coarse
    • 3.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil divided
    • Toppings as desired
    • Additional olive oil, as desired

    Instructions

    • In a large mixing bowl, stir together bread flour and dry yeast with a fork, until yeast is incorporated into the flour. Make a small well in the center of flour and set aside. In a separate, medium sized bowl, add water and sea salt. Whisk together until salt dissolves.
    • Pour salt water mixture and 2 tablespoons olive oil into the flour bowl. Stir with your hands or spatula until a ball forms.
    • Grease a clean large mixing bowl with ½ tablespoon olive oil. Add dough to the bowl. Knead dough by folding each corner into itself for about 1 minute. The dough will pick up olive oil as you knead is, which is perfect. Cover dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.
    • Knead dough again for one minute. Let the focaccia dough rest again, covered with a damp cloth. Repeat this step one or two more times, for a total of about 45-60 minutes of kneading and resting.
    • Cover focaccia dough with plastic and let the dough rise on the counter for 2 hours, or in the fridge overnight. We have left focaccia to rise in the refrigerator fridge for a few days - 6 days to be exact - and it’s stayed fresh and improved over time. The dough should be almost double in size.
    • Liberally spread ½ tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom and sides of a 9x13” baking pan. All areas the focaccia will touch should be covered. Add focaccia dough to the oiled baking pan. Stretch dough, pushing it to fit the shape of the baking pan. It might be hard to stretch the dough to the pans corners. If you're having trouble stretching the dough, cover the dough with a damp cloth and let sit for 10 minutes. That will give the dough time to relax, making it easier to stretch.
    • The first rise in the pan. Once the dough is stretched to fit the corners of the baking pan, cover the baking pan with a damp towel and set aside in a warm area for 45 - 60 minutes to rise. A sunny window or oven with just the light on (which will make it ~85 degrees) is perfect.
    • Dimple the dough. Once the dough rises in the pan, set out a small bowl of water next to the raw focaccia dough. Dip your fingertips in water, then dip them in focaccia dough to create small holes. Press your fingers down so they tap the bottom of the pan. The dough will be sticky, so continue to dip them in water, then the dough, until the top of the focaccia dough is covered with little holes.
    • Time for the final rise. Once the dough is dimpled, cover with a damp towel and set aside in a warm area (sunny window or oven with the light on) for 45 - 60 minutes to final proof.
    • After the final proof is complete, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Top the dough with ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Add any toppings at this time.
    • Bake focaccia for 20-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees on a thermometer. Transfer focaccia bread to a wired baking rack. Add a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

    Video

    Notes

    - Let dough rise for as little as two hours and as long as 6 days in the fridge.
    - Use a high-quality olive oil to top the bread.
    - Experiment with different toppings as your focaccia bread baking skills grow.
    RECIPE: https://sipbitego.com/homemade-focaccia-bread
    RECIPE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/IUm4p-ihS2A

    Nutrition

    Calories: 311kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 223mg | Potassium: 75mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 3mg
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @SipBiteGo or tag #sipbitego!
    « How To Vacuum Seal Meat For Sous Vide Meal Prepping [ULTIMATE GUIDE]
    Simple Dinner With Chicken Breast And Avocado Salad »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    jenna passaro food blogger from Portland Oregon

    Hey, I’m Jenna Passaro.

    I develop easy recipes that can transform your kitchen into a restaurant – and you into a true home chef.

      

    Where to start?

    Learn the secrets to smoking tasty Traeger recipes and making pizza at home. And cook amazing tri tip steak dinners.

    Or, fall in love with something new to cook with your air fryer, pellet smoker, BBQ grill, sous vide cooker, and more…

    You’ll notice, I kind of geek out over new cooking trends and tools!

    Instagram me @sipbitego & chef hubs @handmodelpatrick

    My story. Growing up, I didn’t learn to cook.

    (I was actually banned from cooking for years)

    And then in my 20’s I didn’t have to cook because my job as an event planner involved a lot of travel and it was easier to eat out. At the time, I was 100% positive that restaurant food would always taste better than cooking at home, and there was nothing I could do about it.

    Until I fell in love with a chef. He would come over and cook me delicious meals right in my own kitchen. My mind was blown.

    Since then, I’ve been on a mission to figure out easy ways to make restaurant style food at home and share it here on Sip Bite Go.

    Love to eat out and travel? I can totally relate. See my guide on where to eat in Portland, OR.

    jenna passaro the home chef's sous vide cookbook

    Never in a million years did I imagine I’d ditch the 9-5 lifestyle in my late 20’s, move across the country on a whim, start a new life, start a food blog, and write a book.

    But here I am!

    See my book on Amazon: The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook.

     

       

    Game Day Food

    Teriyaki Steak Marinade

    Easy Teriyaki Steak Marinade

    Grilled Sirloin Steak Recipe

    Easy Grilled Sirloin Steak on Weber Gas Grills

    Chicken Wing Recipe with dip

    9 EASY Chicken Wings Appetizers

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Recipe

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Perfectly

    Grill + Smoker

    Best Burger Recipes List for Grill Smoker Sous Vide

    Best Burger Recipes For Game Day

    Smoked Porchetta Box from Traeger Provisions

    Traeger Provisions Review of Smoked Porchetta Box With Video

    Community Favs

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Recipe

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Perfectly

    easy potato side dishes for steak dinners

    15+ Easy Potato Side Dish Recipes For Steak

    Air Fryer

    Air Fryer Turkey Legs Disney Copycat Recipe

    How To Air Fry Turkey Legs

    Air Fryer Brats Recipe

    Air Fryer Beer Brats (aka Bratwurst)

    Pizza Cravings

    Cheeseburger Recipe With Mustard And Pickles

    Cheeseburger Pizza Recipe With Mustard And Pickles

    Fig And Prosciutto Gourmet Pizza Recipe

    Dried Fig And Prosciutto Flatbread Pizza

    Holiday Dishes

    Turkey Legs In Oven Sip Bite Go

    Easy Baked Turkey Legs In Oven Recipe

    Spoon of gravy with a Turkey Gravy Packet lemon garlic and herb

    How To Make Turkey Gravy From Packet Taste Better

    Footer

    • Sip Bite Go
    • Recipe Index
    • Sous-Vide Recipes
       
    Sip Bite Go As Seen On
    • Work with Sip Bite Go
    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Get Updates
    • Accesibility Info

    COPYRIGHT © 2021 SIP BITE GO