Focaccia Bread

Even bread beginners can pull off this homemade focaccia recipe! Topped with olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt, it's SO delicious and easy to make.

Rosemary focaccia bread

This focaccia recipe is our favorite bread to bake at home. We love it because it’s soft and pillowy in the middle, crisp and golden around the edges, and filled with rich flavor from olive oil and sea salt. And that’s just the start! The #1 reason we love this focaccia recipe is that it’s so easy to make

When Jack first started baking bread (15+ years ago now!), he made lots of rustic ciabatta loaves. The ingredients were simple, and the bread came out delicious, but it required hours of rising and precise kneading. So when we discovered how simple it is to make really good focaccia bread, we didn’t look back.

Now, this focaccia recipe is our go-to. We first published a version of it in my cookbook Love & Lemons Every Day and have since revised the recipe to yield an even lighter, crisper focaccia that we can never get enough of. It’s a wonderful recipe for bread beginners and seasoned bakers alike—simple, forgiving, and always delicious.

What is focaccia bread?

Focaccia (pronounced foh-KAH-chyuh) is an Italian style of bread. According to Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, it’s most closely associated with the northwestern Italian region of Liguria and its capital city Genoa.

You can recognize focaccia by its flat shape and characteristic dimpled surface. Made with an olive oil-enriched, salted dough, it might be baked plain or topped with vegetables, herbs, and/or cheese. Find some of my favorite toppings in the post below!

Focaccia recipe ingredients

Focaccia Bread Ingredients

Ready to bake? Here’s what you’ll need to make this focaccia bread recipe:

  • All-purpose flour – Flour is the main ingredient in this recipe, so measuring it as accurately as you can will serve you well. If you have a kitchen scale, now’s the time to use it! Weighing the flour will give you the most precise measurement. If you don’t have a scale, your next best bet is spooning and leveling the flour to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
  • Warm water It hydrates the dough. Heads up: The biggest change we’ve made to this recipe over the years is increasing the ratio of water to flour. The dough is very wet, but this high level of hydration gives the bread a wonderful airy texture inside!
  • Active dry yeast or instant yeast – Proof it in the water with a little cane sugar before mixing up the dough.
  • Extra-virgin olive oil – It adds rich flavor to the focaccia and makes its edges crisp and golden.
  • Fresh rosemary For topping. Find other topping suggestions below!
  • Sea salt – Seasoned bread=flavorful bread. Mix fine sea salt into the focaccia dough. Before baking the loaf, sprinkle flaky salt on top!

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

How to make focaccia - bread dough in stand mixer

How to Make Focaccia Bread

The first step in this focaccia recipe is making the dough. Start by proofing the yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the water and sugar. Stir in the yeast and set aside for 5 minutes, or until foamy. If the yeast doesn’t foam, discard the mixture and start again with new yeast.

When the yeast is foamy, add the flour and salt. Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms. Then, increase the speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes. The dough will become very sticky and elastic. It will begin grabbing the sides of the bowl.

Covering bowl of dough with kitchen towel

It’s time for the first rise! Brush a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Use a spatula to transfer the dough from the bowl of the stand mixer to the oiled bowl. It will be too sticky to transfer by hand!

Use your fingers to brush any oil that’s pooling around the edges of the dough over its surface. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside to rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Hands folding bread dough into itself after rising in bowl

Next, shape the focaccia. Brush a 9×13-inch pan with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Tip

My favorite pan to use for this recipe is a nonstick aluminum 9×13-inch baking pan.

If your pan is not nonstick, I recommend greasing it with butter before adding the oil. It might seem excessive, but it’s essential for preventing the bread from sticking!

Uncover the dough and rub your hands with olive oil. Slide your hand under one edge of the dough and fold it into the center of the bowl. Continue working your way around the edge of the bowl, folding the dough into itself, until you have a rough ball that you can lift from the bowl (see above photo).

Pressing focaccia dough to edges of pan

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and turn to coat it in the oil.

Press the dough to the pan’s edges. Let it relax, and then press it to the edges again.

Let the dough rise for a second (shorter) time. Cover the pan and set it aside for 45 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size. 30 minutes into this rise, preheat the oven to 425°F.

Dimpling focaccia bread dough with fingers

Dimple the dough. Uncover the focaccia and drizzle 2 more tablespoons of oil on top of the dough. Rub your hands with olive oil and use your fingers to make indentations across the surface of the dough. You don’t have to be gentle here! Press all the way through the dough to the pan. Some air bubbles should pop up in the process. That’s good! They brown beautifully in the oven.

Finally, top and bake. Add your desired toppings (flaky sea salt and rosemary are my go-tos!) and bake until the focaccia is golden brown, 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

Let cool slightly, and then slice and enjoy! You can’t beat warm focaccia bread.

Focaccia Recipe Tips

  • Oil your hands. This recipe asks you to oil your hands often. It might seems unnecessary or repetitive, but it makes a HUGE difference. Focaccia dough is wet and sticky, and it will stick to your hands if they’re not oiled, making it really difficult to work with. So, please! Oil your hands liberally. Just think of it as a little extra moisturizer!
  • Temperature affects rising time. I’ve given estimated times for each rise in this recipe, but the primary indicator of when to move on to the next step should be the size of the dough. It might take more or less time to double depending on the temperature of the place it’s rising. Generally, the warmer dough is, the faster it rises. If it’s cold, it rises more slowly.
  • Freeze the extras. Homemade focaccia is best on the day it’s made, but it will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you’d like to have it on hand for longer, I recommend freezing it. It thaws and reheats nicely!

Focaccia bread in baking dish

Recipe Variations

Most often, I make this recipe as written, topped with flaky sea salt and fresh rosemary. But if you’d like to experiment with other toppings, by all means, do! Any of these would be delicious:

Let me know what variations you try!

How to Make Focaccia Sandwiches

This homemade focaccia bread is delicious as a snack and as a side for salads and soups…but it makes great sandwiches too!

Just slice the loaf in half horizontally and fill it with your favorite sandwich fixings.

I love to use it to make these easy Caprese Sandwiches!

Focaccia recipe

More Favorite Bread Recipes

If you love this rosemary focaccia bread, try one of these easy recipes next:

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Focaccia Bread Recipe

rate this recipe:
4.91 from 94 votes
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Rising Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours
Serves 8 to 12
Learn how to make focaccia bread! This easy recipe is great for beginners and seasoned bakers alike. The focaccia is soft and airy inside with crisp, golden edges. I love to top it with sea salt and rosemary, but other toppings are delicious here too. Find suggestions in the blog post above.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the water and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and stir again. Set aside for 5 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy. If the yeast doesn’t foam, discard the mixture and start again with new yeast.
  • Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes. A very elastic, sticky dough should form and begin grabbing the sides of the bowl.
  • Brush a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, using a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl of the stand mixer. It will be too sticky to transfer by hand. Use your fingers to lightly brush any oil that’s pooling at the edges of the dough over its surface. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours.
  • Brush a 9x13-inch baking dish* with another 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Uncover the dough and rub your hands with olive oil. As best you can, slide your hand under one edge of the dough and fold it into itself. Continue working your way around the edge of the bowl, folding the dough into itself, until you have a rough ball that you can lift from the bowl.
  • Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and turn to coat in the oil. Press the dough to the pan’s edges. Let it relax and pull away from the edges, then press it to the edges again. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 30 minutes into this rise, preheat the oven to 425°F.
  • Remove the plastic wrap and drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over the dough. Rub your hands with olive oil, then use your fingers to make indentations across the surface of the dough, pressing through the dough to the pan. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and rosemary, if desired. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Notes

*If your pan is not nonstick, grease it with butter before adding the olive oil. This will prevent the bread from sticking to the pan!

 

177 comments

4.91 from 94 votes (42 ratings without comment)

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  1. Noelle
    09.30.2024

    5 stars
    I adapted this recipe for high altitude (6,500 ft) by adding 2 extra tablespoons of both water and flour, 25% less yeast, doing the first rise in the fridge, and baking at 445 F instead of 425 F for just over 20 minutes. It turned out wonderful! So happy that it worked out even with the needed altitude adjustments 🙂

  2. Kathy
    09.30.2024

    How would I make this without a stand mixer?

  3. Julia
    09.29.2024

    5 stars
    Absolutely delicious, this turned out amazing. I weighed my flour and hand mixed, and topped it with flaky sea salt and Italian herbs. This is the easiest and tastiest bread recipe I’ve found.

  4. Gurugram
    09.21.2024

    5 stars
    The best recipe! Easy to follow with perfect results. A winner in this house tonight. Thank you!

  5. Michelle
    09.17.2024

    5 stars
    Worked perfectly. Question…can this be proofed overnight?

  6. Mark
    09.14.2024

    1 star
    This didn’t work. 4 cups of flour seemed like WAY too much. It id not turn out sticky and wet in the mixer. I got this very firm mound of dough.

  7. kenlei
    09.11.2024

    can i use bread flour in place of all purpose?

  8. Mark
    09.06.2024

    5 stars
    Thank you! My grandma is 90 and is a foodie like myself. I’m a chef but knew little of baking.. this was helpful. Came out better than a restaurant and she’s happy with fresh bread. Easy enough to remember after one try. I appreciate it! And man.. is the dough hook essential. Couldn’t find mine and used a center mix attachment and that was rough.

  9. Christine
    09.06.2024

    5 stars
    My first time with this recipe. I used fresh basil instead of rosemary, it smelled so good !
    I missed the step of butter and EVOO in the aluminium pan… It stuck ! But it tasted really good. Next time I’m using parchment paper or buy a non-stick pan. I do have a glass Anchor Hocking dish…(?)

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      09.06.2024

      Hi Christine, I’m so glad you enjoyed the focaccia! You could bake this in the glass dish, but I’d still use parchment or grease with butter to prevent sticking.

    • Melanie Binney
      09.25.2024

      5 stars
      I used a glass 9×13 and buttered it first, as suggested, and then added the olive oil. It came out of the dish just fine using a spatula.

  10. Kitty
    09.02.2024

    5 stars
    I’ve scewed the steps of this recipe up so many times and still the focaccia came out wonderful. PHEW!

    It never lasts long, it’s so deliscious.

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      09.06.2024

      Hi Kitty, I’m so glad you love the recipe!

  11. Kira
    08.31.2024

    5 stars
    This recipe is fantastic! Made it just like the recipe called for, and the added pizza toppings and it was like a Detroit style pizza!! Perfect!!

  12. Taylor
    08.24.2024

    Every time I make this my dough is super shaggy and dry. Certainly not too sticky to transfer by hand. It tastes pretty good still. What am I doing wrong?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.28.2024

      Hi Taylor, it sounds like there’s too much flour – are you weighing your flour?

    • Kasi
      08.31.2024

      The 500 G should be closer to 2 cups. I made the same mistake. Weighing helps a lot.

      • Laurie
        09.03.2024

        I always weigh! I also notice that even when weighing, if I pile the flour up in the middle of the bowl on the scale, it reads a few more grams more than if I push it out to the sides of the bowl to make a level, not heaped surface. It too makes a difference. Baking is science, cooking is art. Bon apatite.

        • Vickie
          09.26.2024

          Are you supposed to sift the flour or take it straight from the container???
          Vickie

      • LindyLoo
        09.24.2024

        Kasi, one cup of all-purpose flour, weighs 120 grams, so 4 cups = 480 grams, which has been rounded up to 500 grams in this recipe. Also, if you aren’t going to (or can’t) weigh the flour, it should be gently spooned into the cup to not compress the flour. If the flour is scooped straight from the bag or canister into a measuring cup, it will add more flour than is needed and may produce a dry dough.

  13. Delanie
    08.24.2024

    This turned out so well!!! Playing with oven time not my favorite lol But I will have to make this again!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.28.2024

      I’m so glad it worked out well!

  14. Chelsea
    08.11.2024

    5 stars
    So simple to follow and absolutely delish!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.15.2024

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  15. Natalie
    08.11.2024

    Trying this today! Going to first rise now. But I want to bake later today so what should I do after the first rise? I don’t want to bake for another 4 hrs or so.

    • Lisa Goodinson
      08.26.2024

      I refrigerate dough after 1st rise. Take out 2 hours before baking for 2nd rise. It works with my pizza dough and this recipe is about the same as mine

  16. Julia
    08.08.2024

    5 stars
    Deeee-licious!! I split the dough into 2 “pieces” after the first rising into two 9×9 pans. One is for now and one for the freezer (as you say, reheats nicely in the oven). YUM!!

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      08.09.2024

      Hi Julia, so glad you loved it!

  17. Kristina
    08.01.2024

    5 stars
    I just made this with rosemary and cherry tomatoes and omg <3 thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I was nervous I may not have done my dough right, but it’s fantastic. The crust on it, the fluffy inside, I did good <3

  18. Megan
    07.28.2024

    Do you take it out of Pam for cooling or leave it in Pan?

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      08.01.2024

      Hi Megan, I typically leave it in the pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer it to a wire rack.

  19. Rocky from bigmooncustoms.shop
    07.15.2024

    5 stars
    I’ve used a couple other recipes that had quicker times, but were inconsistent. This recipe is fast, easy, and always yum results.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.18.2024

      I’m so glad you’ve loved it!

  20. Kristen
    07.14.2024

    5 stars
    Holy Mother Mary, this recipe is AMAZING. I followed it exactly besides adding cheese to the top. I’ll make it again soon because I want to make sure I can replicate it when I need to impress my retired chef family members, lol. Thank you for the ego and joy boost. Freakin gold, man.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.