This no-knead focaccia, flavoured with rosemary and garlic, is easy to make and great for tearing and sharing with family and friends.
Focaccia is a bread with it's delicious light airy texture and flavour arising from the olive oil and other additions, is a bread which is great for tearing and sharing with family and friends.
Easy No-knead Focaccia
No-knead bread has allowed me to rekindle my love of homemade bread, allowing those wonderful aromas to waft through our home once again. It continues to amaze me that wonderful, well aerated bread can be made without any kneading.
My delicious, light fresh and easy to make no-knead bread with white and wholemeal flour is a regular in our the bread bin. Even Sourdough bread is easy when made with the no-knead method.
Just add time
Just a quick 30 second mix and the dough is ready for the prove. You can even use a wooden spoon or dough whisk for that mixing if you're keen to keep your hands and nails sparkly clean, ready to answer the door when those unexpected visitors arrive.
But despite all of the positives to no-knead bread I must confess that,depending upon your outlook, there may be a negative. Time!
The prove can take numerous hours, sometimes more than 24 hours depending upon the ambient temperature of the room. But, as they say good things come to those who wait. That patience rewards you with a really tasty well well-aerated bread.
Packed with Flavour
This no-knead focaccia, is classically flavoured with garlic and rosemary, and has been a big success. The fresh rosemary is amazing in the bread bringing a wonderful balanced flavour alongside the mild garlic and wonderful olive oil.
Three garlic cloves had been allowed to infuse in a quantity of olive oil for about 24 hours before I started making the dough, though if you prefer, shop bought flavoured oils can easily be found in most supermarkets.
So, seriously, if you've yet to try no-knead bread I really must encourage you to give it a whirl. It really is easy, fuss free and produces great results too.
Top Tips
- Apart from the easy of making, more flavour is created in the bread by proving it slowly resulting in a tastier loaf than those made with a quick rise.
- Crushing the garlic slightly adds more flavour to the oil.
- For a mild garlic flavour do not crush the garlic clove.
- The longer the oil is infused the stronger the garlic flavour.
- The dough can take anything up to 24 hours to rise but the time will be less in warmer days. If the dough has tripled in size before you are ready for the next stage, place the bowl in the fridge to slow the process down, though do consider that the dough will need to return to room temperature before it can be proved for the second time.
How to Serve
It is undoubtedly tastiest when eaten warm but any cold leftovers can be reinvigorated by splitting it before grilling and serving as a bruschetta with a medley of chopped tomatoes, for instance.
Serve with soup or as a dip with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
So let's get to it and bake!
📖 Recipe
No-Knead Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia.
Equipment
- Baking Dish I used a stoneware Le Creuset dish measuring 18cm x 25.5cm (7x 10)
- baking parchment
- cling film or shower cap (used purely for baking)
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
FOR THE GARLIC INFUSED OLIVE OIL
- 4 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 3 cloves of garlic
FOR THE ROSEMARY & GARLIC FOCACCIA
- 250 g (9oz)strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon easy bake yeast
- 180 ml (6floz) cool water
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
Instructions
To make the infused garlic oil
- Place 4 tablespoons of olive oil into a jug and 3 lightly crushed peeled garlic cloves. Stir and cover with clingfilm. Set aside for a minium of 4 hours and up to 24. to allow the garlic flavour to infuse into the olive oil.
Make the Focaccia dough
- Place 250g flour, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon yeast in a good size bowl stir to mix.
- Make a well in the flour. Add 1½ tablespoons of the garlic infused oil and pour in most of the water. With your hand or wooden spoon mix the flour into the liquid aiming to combine all of the flour into a soft dough. Add the remaining water to pick up any surplus flour. The dough will be quite soft and sticky at this stage.
Prove
- Cover with clingfilm or a shower cap (used purely for baking). Place the covered bowl somewhere cool (though not in a draft), to allow the dough to prove slowly. It will triple in size. See notes.
Shape
- Lay a strip of greaseproof paper in the base of the baking dish and grease the sides with a little butter or olive oil.
- Without knocking back the dough, use a spatula to carefully scrape around the side of the bowl and tip the aerated dough into the prepared baking vessel. Use your fingers or the tip of the spatula to encourage the dough to take the shape of the baking dish, though you don't need to be too precise about it. Dip your fingers in the remaining garlic infused olive oil and prod the dough a few times to create indentations.
Rise
- Cover the baking dish with either a shower cap or clingfilm. Set aside for a 1 hour.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to maximum.
- When the bread is ready to bake, dip your fingers into the garlic infused oil and make some more dimples in the dough.
- Remove the leaves from the rosemary sprig and place the leaves and mini sprigs into the indentations (ensuring that there are no tough woody stems attached). Drizzle any remaining olive oil over the dough.
- Bake. Place the bread in the centre of the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 220℃ (200℃ fan)/425°F/gas mark 7 Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Apart from the easy of making, more flavour is created in the bread by proving it slowly resulting in a tastier loaf than those made with a quick rise..
- The dough can take anything up to 24 hours to rise but will be less in warmer days. If the dough has tripled in size before you are ready for the next stage, place the bowl in the fridge to slow the process down, though do consider that the dough will need to return to room temperature before it can be proved for the second time.
- Best eaten on the day made but will keep up to 3 days, if stored in an airtight tin in a cool place.
- Can be frozen before baking. Defrost and return to room temperature before cook as above.
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Jenny - Monkey and Mouse says
Loving that dish! The focaccia looks amazing too, I love it but have never tried to make it. Possibly as I find bread a bit daunting, but no knead sounds perfect! Thanks for linking to #HowtoSunday x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
It's an amazing dish isn't it Jenny, such a lovely colour 🙂 It sounds like no-knead bread would be the perfect compromise for you Jenny resulting in a homemade bread which smells great without the hassle of having to knead it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have if you give it a go.
Thanks dot your lovely comment,
Angela x
Corina says
I have made focaccia bread once before and do love it but I really am intrigued to try this no knead method! The flavours are lovely and perfect for summer too. Thank you so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
I'm still amazed by how well it works Corina; it does take some time for it to prove but it certainly is worth the wait. The rosemary & garlic flavour was just amazing.
Thanks for popping by and of course for hosting,
Angela x
Mandy says
Have you got Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard? It's an amazing book and he uses a method of three 10 kneads with a 10 minute rest time between each one. It hasn't failed me yet! Your focaccia looks gorgeous. Thanks for linking up with #CookBlogShare
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Ooh that sounds interesting Mandy, I shall have to have a look into that.
Thanks for your lovely comment,
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Ooh yes please, this looks fabulous!! And I am having serious cookware envy - that le Creuset dish looks so beautiful!! Eb x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Ooh isn't it just gorgeous Eb 🙂 I've coveted Le Creuset for years and years (infact I was 11 at a friends house when I first became aware of the brand. I had been invited for tea and my friend's mum was using the bright orange pans! They really caught my eye!) It's, obviously, so lovely to bake with.
I'm making another batch of the focaccia today in fact, I'll package you some up and send it down south in return for a portion of that lovely Mexican salad 🙂
Thanks for popping by Eb,
Angela x
Sara HandyHerbs says
That looks absolutely delicious and I love that it is no knead! Have pinned and will be giving it a go 🙂 #HowToSunday
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Thank you Sara 🙂 It's amazing how well no-knead actually works, it's so easy but it does mean that you need to be patient during the prove time. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have, I'd love to see a picture of your focaccia,
Thanks for popping by and commenting,
Angela x
Back With A Bump says
I'm trying to be good and not eat bread much at the moment but god, this looks good!!!! #howtosunday
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Hahaha, I'm sorry 😉
Angela x
Sarah Trivuncic says
That looks wonderful! I think garlic is what I've been missing out of my focaccia but I'm definitely putting it in next time. Thanks for joining in with #BAKEoftheWEEK !
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
The garlic flavour was only subtle in the bread because it had been infused in the oil rather than incorporating the cloves into the bread itself. That said we could still pick out the flavour which worked so well with the rosemary. We enjoyed it so much that we're making another today!
Than you for your lovely comment and of course for hosting,
Angela x
Alison says
Your focaccia looks gorgeous, great flavours and I love the colour of that dish.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Thank you Alison 🙂 I completely agree, the colour of the dish is gorgeous.
Thanks for popping by and commenting,
Angela x