How to Make Focaccia | Easy Yeast Bread Recipe for Beginners (2024)

FAQs

What is the best flour for focaccia bread? ›

Flour - I used a mixture of bread flour and All-purpose flour (high grade or strong and plain if you're not in the US). Bread flour is slightly higher in protein than All-purpose, so gives the focaccia just a little more chew. I love the mix of both, but just AP flour works just fine too!

Today, many recipes for focaccia will call for yeast to help the bread rise. However, if you look back into history, the original focaccia was unleavened. In the right climate, the basic recipe rises naturally.

Why is my focaccia not fluffy or chewy? It could be the type of flour you used. The best flour to use to make focaccia bread is bread flour which gives you fluffy baked bread. Or, it could also be because you did not knead the dough enough for the gluten to form a structure which can result in flat or dense bread.

The primary difference is how much yeast is added to the dough and therefore how much the dough is able to rise. Focaccias use more yeast, which gives it a lighter, fluffier texture than a traditional pizza dough and is more closely resembles leavened bread.

Venetian focaccia is sweet, baked for Easter and resembles the traditional Christmas cake panettone. Sugar and butter are used instead of olive oil and salt. Focaccia barese, which is common in Puglia in southern Italy, is made with durum wheat flour and topped with salt, rosemary, tomatoes or olives.

A high-hydration dough gives focaccia its signature dimples

The moisture in the dough also contributes to a soft and airy crumb, giving focaccia its characteristic light and chewy texture.

Like croissants and brioche buns, focaccia is high in calories and fat. Most people aren't aware of it, but it contains a lot of olive oil, which in excess has the same effect. To lose weight, people should choose whole-grain or rye bread, which has more fibre and is lower in fat and calories.

My bread tastes sour and yeasty

If your bread has a sour, yeasty flavour and smells of alcohol then you have either used too much yeast.or you may have use stale yeast or creamed fresh yeast with sugar.

Focaccia is a leavened flat bread. The oven-baked Italian dish can be served as a side or used as sandwich bread. It's traditionally made with flour, yeast, oil, water, and salt. Some recipes, such as this one, are flavored with seasonings and topped with cheese.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

What is the best baking dish for focaccia? ›

I like to use a straight-sided 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan for this recipe, but a Pyrex 9 x 13-inch baking pan will do in a pinch. Before you start on the recipe, be sure to read all of the tips at Baking Together #28: Making and Baking No-Knead Focaccia.

The thickness of a focaccia can vary, too, but an authentic focaccia genovese should be rather thin, even if it needn't be quite as thin as my version presented here. So many non-Italian renditions of “focaccia” are more like bread in their thickness.

A well-proofed dough will have lots of air bubbles and. rises quickly. Massaging adds dimples that keep your. focaccia flat, as it should be.

Serving: Focaccia is incredibly versatile and can be served as an antipasto, appetizer, table bread or snack. In contrast, ciabatta serves as a delicious sandwich bread.

By tossing the dough into the fridge, we're slooooowing down the fermentation process. Instead, the yeast can chill and develop this nutty, chewy flavor that's noticeably complex. Otherwise you'd have focaccia that tastes like flavorless white flour.

Herb Oil – Made with olive oil, fresh or dry herbs, kosher salt, black pepper, and minced garlic. Bread Flour – Using bread flour gives the focaccia a chewy texture; you can substitute all-purpose flour without ruining the recipe, but your bread will be significantly lighter and missing that characteristic texture.

Grano duro is slightly yellow, more granular, and more commonly used for pasta and some breads in the south of Italy. It's also knows as durum wheat flour. Grano tenero is generally what we think of as white flour, and is more broadly used in bread, pizza, and pastry, and northern pasta doughs.

Farina 1 or 2

Even coarser than the previous types, these soft wheat flours are best used for bread and pizza.

Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, ranging from 12% to 14%. That makes this type of flour ideal for all kinds of bread recipes, including hearty sourdoughs, tender brioche, and lacy English muffins.