Focaccia Recipe

Focaccia is the most forgiving way into high-hydration bread, and one of the most rewarding: a wet, olive-oil-rich dough poured into a sheet pan, dimpled all over with your fingertips, and showered with flaky salt before it bakes into a golden slab with a crisp, oil-fried bottom and a soft, open, almost airy interior. No shaping skill required — the pan does the shaping — which is why it lands at beginner despite the slack dough.

At 78% hydration the dough is wet and sticky, and that is the point: all that water becomes the steam and the big open holes that make focaccia light rather than bready. The 5% oil in the dough tenderizes the crumb, but the olive oil that really defines focaccia is the topping oil — a generous coat in the pan and over the top, well beyond what the dough carries. That finishing oil (typically a couple of tablespoons per pan, not counted in the baker's percentage) is what fries the bottom crisp and pools in the {dimpling} marks to confit the surface.

There is almost no kneading. You mix, then build strength with a few stretch-and-folds in the bowl during the bulk ferment, then let the dough relax into the oiled pan before the final proof. The dimpling step, done with oiled fingertips right before baking, both shapes the signature craters and degasses the dough just enough for an even rise.

Two paths are documented here: a same-day no-knead version for focaccia this afternoon, and a cold-fermented version that rests in the fridge overnight for deeper, tangier flavor and an even more open crumb. Either way, finish with flaky salt and whatever you like — rosemary, halved tomatoes, thin onion — pressed into the dimples before it goes in.