Focaccia with Rosemary and Olive Oil Recipe
Focaccia is a fluffy, flat bread with olive oil and herbs, especially popular in Liguria. Italians eat it for breakfast, as a daytime snack, or instead of regular bread with soup or salad. It’s a bit like a cross between bread and pizza – soft inside, slightly crisp on top, scented with rosemary.
Rosemary focaccia is a bread that smells like a little bakery in a Ligurian town – a soft, springy interior with a slightly crisp, deeply olive-oil-soaked crust. The characteristic dimples in the dough hold onto the olive oil and salt, creating tiny pockets full of flavor, while fresh rosemary adds an intense herbal aroma. It’s something between bread and a snack that you can eat at any time of day.
Chef's tips
Give the dough plenty of time to rise – even if it doubles in size earlier, an extra 30–40 minutes will make the focaccia fluffier and full of air bubbles. Don’t be shy with the olive oil before baking: the tray should be well greased and the top generously drizzled, otherwise the crust will turn out dry. Make the dimples with your whole fingertips, pressing almost to the bottom of the tray – not just for looks, but so the olive oil has somewhere to collect.
How to serve
Serve the focaccia still slightly warm, cut into rectangles, as a side to soups (especially tomato soups) or simple salads with rocket and tomatoes. It also works great as a sandwich base – slice it horizontally and fill with mozzarella, Parma ham, and rocket for a quick workday lunch. For a casual get-together with wine, serve it on a large board with olives, cheeses, and a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip.
Ingredients
- flour - 500 g
- lukewarm water - 320 ml
- instant dry yeast - 7 g
- olive oil - 60 ml
- salt - 10 g
- fresh rosemary chopped, plus sprigs for decoration - 2 tablespoons
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top - 1 teaspoon
Preparation
- Put the flour, dry yeast, and salt into a large bowl. Mix with a spoon.
- Add the lukewarm water (it should feel like a pleasant warm bath, not hot) and 40 ml olive oil. Mix with a spoon or your hand until the ingredients come together into a sticky dough.
- Knead the dough by hand in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for about 8–10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. If it sticks a lot, rub a little olive oil on your hands instead of adding lots of extra flour.
- Shape the dough into a ball, place it back in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and leave in a warm place for about 60 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Generously grease a 30×40 cm baking tray with olive oil (about 1–2 tablespoons). Transfer the risen dough onto the tray.
- Gently stretch the dough with your fingers until it fills the whole tray. If it springs back, wait 5 minutes and try again.
- Cover the tray with a kitchen towel and leave for another 20–30 minutes, until the dough rises slightly again.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (top and bottom heat). Using your fingers, make lots of small dimples in the dough, pressing your fingertips almost to the bottom but without piercing the dough.
- In a small bowl, mix 20 ml olive oil with 2 tablespoons water. Pour this mixture over the surface of the dough so that some of the liquid fills the dimples.
- Sprinkle the top with chopped rosemary and coarse sea salt.
- Bake the focaccia for 20–25 minutes, until the top is golden and the bottom lightly browned.
- After removing from the oven, you can drizzle the focaccia with a little more olive oil. Leave for a few minutes, then cut into rectangles or squares.
Storage
Store cooled focaccia pieces in an airtight container or wrapped in foil at room temperature for up to 1–2 days. For longer storage, freeze and reheat briefly in the oven before serving so the crust becomes crisp again.
I most often bake focaccia on Friday evening when I know Saturday will be a long day out of the house – I pack a few pieces in a box as an emergency snack. I also sometimes top half of the tray with thinly sliced red onion so I get two flavors at once.
