Amazingly Easy Zesty Focaccia Bread

This Zesty Focaccia Bread is a thick, airy, flat Italian bread that can be topped with some savory ingredients and will be your new garlic bread or roll substitute. Seriously delish!

What’s better than homemade bread? How about this Amazingly Easy Zesty Focaccia Bread! Perfect for snacking, as a appetizer, served with soups, salads and when split down the middle, is a great way to shake up your sandwich making skills.

Special thanks to Rachel for letting me contribute here on The Stay at Home Chef today. My name is Kevin and you can find me over at Kevin Is Cooking.

Whether in the kitchen or on the grill, you’ll find me making quick mid-week meals, comfort food goodness and tasty desserts. Inspired by an international pantry, I’m passionate about making delicious meals that are sometimes health conscious and sometimes indulgent—because life’s too short to be bland!

Which brings me to this bread. It’s crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. A different one to feed a crowd and a great substitute instead of the go-to garlic bread or dinner roll.

With only six ingredients to make the dough and 5 minutes of kneading time in a mixer, this is some pretty easy bread to make.

This is a fun recipe to make with the kids, too! Once the dough has risen you get to punch it down and spread it out in a baking sheet with edges or a jelly roll pan. Using your hands begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan, spreading your fingers out and making finger holes all the way through the dough. Let it rise once more and top with either just some coarse sea salt, or like I did here, and then bake.

I decided to use some marinara I had on hand and spread that all over the dough. A handful of sliced olives, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese and pine nuts made this a fantastic snack for friends at a recent gathering.

Think of this as a lazy way to have some bread on the table without having to make individual rolls. Like sheet pan, bar cookies, no individual scooping here.

Just spread that oily dough out in the pan and stretch it. Poke holes in it. It’s what makes those lovely nooks and crannies.

This is also perfect for making sandwiches, too.

I like to cut the bread horizontally in the middle and load it up with all the fixings.

This would even be great served alongside Rachel’s Super Easy Olive Oil Pasta, Lasagna Stuffed Chicken or Italian Stuffed Chicken. I hope you give this a try and enjoy!

To see how to make my Amazingly Easy Zesty Focaccia Bread, watch the video below!

 

Amazingly Easy Zesty Focaccia Bread

What’s better than homemade bread? How about this Amazingly Easy Zesty Focaccia Bread! A thick, airy, flat Italian bread that can be topped with some savory ingredients to make this your new garlic bread or roll substitute. Prep time includes time for bread to rise.

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Author: Kevin | Kevin Is Cooking

Servings: 24 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast See Note 1
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5 cups flour
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup olive oil divided

Optional Toppings

• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 oz sliced olives
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Combine warm water, yeast (See Note 1) and the sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, draft-free place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, for 15 minutes. (See Note 2) At this point I usually set the oven to 200°F for a few minutes to warm up and then turn it off before I start making the dough. This is where I’ll let the dough rise (See Note 3).
• In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft.
• Transfer the dough to a clean, floured surface and knead by hand 1 or 2 times. Sprinkle with flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
• Lightly coat olive oil on the inside of the mixer bowl and add the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour. (See Note 3)
• Coat a baking sheet with edges or a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan with your hands, spreading your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough.
• Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425°F.
• At this point either sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top or add toppings of choice (See Note 4). Bake the dough about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.

Notes

1. One quarter ounce (7g) packet of active dry yeast contains approximately 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 teaspoons. The measurement will not be exact as yeast is packaged according to weight rather than volume. One quarter ounce (7g) packet of yeast is sufficient to raise 4 cups, approximately 1-pound, of flour.
2. I place the bowl in my microwave and DO NOT turn it on.
3. Turn your EMPTY dryer on for 2-3 minutes to heat it up. When stopped and heated up, carefully place the covered bowl of dough in and close the door. DO NOT turn the dryer on again! Tip from Nagi over @RecipeTin Eats.
4. As shown in the video I brushed marinara sauce on top lightly, added olives, and cheese.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 486mg | Potassium: 71mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1.9% | Vitamin C: 0.9% | Calcium: 5.8% | Iron: 7.9%

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Italian

 

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