Dear readers,
My brother-in-law is really great at making bread…like really great. He’s a little more adventurous in his cooking adventures than I am. Over Thanksgiving, he created one of the most amazing lowering contraptions out of a ladder and some rope to deep fry TWO turkeys and prevent any trips to the burn ward, but I think that also speaks to his profession as an engineer. In that vein, I think that’s why bread making makes sense to him and gives me anxiety. But this year, I really want to try making bread, especially since I was lucky and came across the jar version of instant yeast! So, I decided, FINE, I’m going to try something…easy. Focaccia. Of all the breads I could try my hand at, my brother-in-law said this would be the easiest and is really hard to mess up (spoiler alert, I did mess up a little…but I’m special like that). All in all, the recipe I chose was super easy, BUT I have made adjustments below to mend my mistakes (undermixing and improper oiling, but I was out of non-stick spray and I used a glass baking dish because I realized I didn’t have the right 9×13 baking pan so a little bit of the bottom stuck to the pan when I worked to get it out…sigh). That all being said, it all came out pretty bomb even with the slight mistakes, and was ABSOLUTELY delicious! I highly recommend giving it a go yourself if you’ve ever felt the itch to get your hands dirty (and it delighted Frankie to no end when I said he could poke all the holes, which I would also poke more of next time).
P.S. Don’t forget that you can order cookies from me directly from my Cookie Order Page on this very same blog! (Yes, shameless plug, but I need to keep pushing it!)
Hoping you are safe and well!
— Cooking Maggie
On No-Knead Focaccia
Ingredients
- 4 & 3/4 cups (630 grams) All-Purpose Flour
- 4 & 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp (13 grams) instant yeast
- 2 & 1/4 cups warm water
- 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil to drizzle pre-baking
- Dried thyme, rosemary, and coarse salt for topping
Instruction
- Coat a 9×13-inch pan with non-stick oil spray – OR use a sheet of parchment paper to help line the pan, sprayed with a little non-stick oil for added help.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, olive oil, salt, yeast, and water together and beat with an electric mixer for only 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
- Transfer the the dough into the oiled pan, cover the pan lightly with clear wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
- After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 375°F.
- At the end of the 60-minute rise, remove the wrap. Using a little oil on your fingers to grease them up, gently press dimples in the surface of the dough. (Frankie asked if he could do it just so he could saw “ew, squishy” lol)
- Drizzle olive oil over the top to settle into the dimples. Sprinkle with the dried thyme, rosemary, and salt. And yes, you will need that much oil, I promise.
- Bake the bread for 28-30 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.
The Real Cooking Maggie 