Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia Bread
An airy, thick focaccia bread topped with a mixture of EVOO, rosemary, red pepper flakes and salt.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- 1 9x13 baking dish
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3 ¼ cups King Arthur bread flour spooned and leveled
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active yeast or one packet
- 1 ½ cups warm water 105-115 degrees
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ tbs extra virgin olive oil plus ¼ cup more for pan
For the brine
- ⅓ cup lukewarm water
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the topping
- 2 tbs water
- 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes or more to taste
Instructions
- Combine the 1.5 cups warm water with the yeast and honey. Stir and let bloom until foamy (about 7 minutes).
- Whisk the salt and flour together, then add the yeast mixture and stir to combine until all dry bits are wet.
- Add olive oil and mix with hands to fully combine. Cover and let proof 30 minutes.
- Develop the gluten by doing 4 sets x 4 stretches of the dough. Stretch and fold one section of dough (like you're gift wrapping! Just stretch the dough right over itself). Turn the bowl and do 3 more stretches. After you've done the 4, cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Then repeat until you've done 4x4. (This will take 1.5 hours, including the rest).
- Add the ¼ cup olive oil to a 9x13 baking dish and put the dough into it, adding a little bit of olive oil to the top and stretching the dough to fit the dish. don't worry if the dough shrinks back a bit. Just let it rest for ~15 minutes and try again. This should take ~30 minutes to get the dough relaxed enough to fit. Meanwhile, make the brine.
- Once it stretches enough, dimple the dough by using the pads of 2 or 3 fingers, making sure you touch the bottom of the pain (but not enough to break the dough!). Once dimpled, pour the bring all over the focaccia. Proof the focaccia for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until light and bubbly.
- In the last 30 minutes of proofing, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and make the topping by combining all of the topping ingredients. Once ready, pour the topping all over the focaccia. Bake in the preheated oven for ~24 minutes, or until the top is golden and the bottom is too. Remove to a wire rack.