Ep. 52 of “the Italian Series”: Focaccia

• total time: 2 hours 16 minutes

Ingredients

500g bread flour

400ml warm water (really important!)

2 tsp dry yeast

20ml extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp salt

Toppings:

Rosemary, chopped

Flaky salt

Directions

In a large bowl, add water, yeast and oil. Mix.

Add flour and salt. Mix with a spoon until well combined. The dough will look rough — but don’t worry, that’s perfectly fine.

Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest 30 mins in the oven. The oven is OFF but the light is ON — this creates the perfect warm environment for your dough to rise!

After 30 mins, it’s time to make the dough “dance”:

Scoop the dough with your hands, lift so it stretches and fold into the centre — repeat for each “side” of the dough, 5 times.

Then scoop, lift, and drop — again, repeat for each “side”, 5 times.

You’ll notice the dough is much smoother and has some tension on the surface 👌🏼

Rest again in the oven (OFF, light ON) for 30 mins.

Remove from the oven and repeat:

Scoop, lift, fold — 5 times

Scoop, lift, drop — 5 times

Now transfer the dough to a baking tray 35x24 (13.8 x 9.4 inches).

Spread it gently with your hands — a bit of oil helps.

Cover and rest for the final 30 mins (oven OFF, light ON).

Almost there!

Drizzle olive oil, massage the top, then add rosemary and flaky salt.

Poke the surface to create classic focaccia dimples.

Optional: Flick a little water on top to help regulate moisture while baking.

Bake in a pre-heated STATIC oven at 230°C for 15–18 mins until golden and puffed.

Let cool completely on a wire rack.

3 tips no one tells you about:

Don’t mix yeast and salt at the same time – Salt can slow down or weaken yeast activity if it comes into direct contact. Add salt as the last ingredient, just like I show you in the video.

Oven off, light on – this is a lifetime trick that no one tells you about it and has changed the games for me! To create the perfect warm environment for your dough to rise, turn the oven light on and place the dough inside with the door closed. The gentle warmth helps it grow beautifully. This trick is great, especially if you live in a cold country like UK, so you can make your dough rise nicely even during Winter months!

Tray size is key –

If your tray is too small, the dough gets squished and can end up dense and doughy.

If it’s too big, the dough spreads too thin and your focaccia can come out flat and dry — without those soft, airy bubbles we love.

The size tray I mentioned above is the perfect size for the ingredients in this recipe.