Perfect Focaccia Bread

September 13, 2022

This focaccia recipe makes the perfect bread! It’s tall and fluffy, crispy on the outside with pillowy air pockets on the inside.

Did you know it’s easy to make bakery-style focaccia bread at home? Introducing the perfect focaccia recipe! No need to shop around. Make this simple bread once, and we guarantee you’ll find it’s the best focaccia bread you’ve made at home. It’s thick and airy, crispy on the outside with beautiful pillowy air pockets on the interior. The flavor is developed and perfectly seasoned, with the classic notes of salt, rosemary and olive oil notes. Even better: it’s one of the easiest homemade bread recipes. Our family goes crazy over this one, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Why this focaccia recipe is the best

Focaccia bread is an Italian flatbread baked in a sheet pan and flavored with olive oil. A good focaccia should be thick and airy, with signature air pockets in the crumb (interior texture). Focaccia dough is similar to pizza dough, but it’s made using a strong flour and more yeast, which makes it taller and fluffier.

There is a lot of variation in focaccia recipes on the internet. If not formulated correctly, focaccia bread can come out very dense, with little or no holes in the crumb. Or it can come out very thin or dry, or fluffy and soft like a roll. None of these are what you want with this special bread! What’s great about this focaccia bread recipe? You’ll find it:

Is very thick, perfect for eating plain or slicing in half as sandwiches
Has a beautiful airy crumb, which comes from an overnight rise in the refrigerator
Has a developed, well-seasoned flavor that tastes like it’s from an Italian bakery!

How to make focaccia bread: an overview

Here’s the basic outline of the of the focaccia process. The process takes 5 minutes the night before, and then about 2 hours the day of. It is one of the easiest bread recipes we have, but you do need to think ahead! We like to make the dough at around 9:00 pm the night before, then bake it around 1:00 pm the next day. Here’s an outline on the steps required:

Mix, Rest overnight	5 minutes active, 12 to 16 hours hands off
Shape & Proof	5 minutes active, 45 minutes hands off
Add brine	5 minutes
Bake	35 minutes, hands off
Cool	45 minutes, hands off

Required equipment

One of the great things about homemade focaccia? You need minimal special bread-making tools. Many of our bread recipes require a Dutch oven, bread basket, special knife for scoring, and other equipment. That’s not so here! There are a few optional tools that are helpful, but not required. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

Large bowl
Plastic wrap or large zip-top bag
9 x 13″ baking dish
Kitchen scale (optional): while it’s optional, we highly recommend weighing the ingredients for best results when you’re baking
Pizza stone (optional): it helps to heat the bread quicker and make an airier dough. Here’s the pizza stone we use. (You can also use it for these pizza recipes and other breads, so it’s a great investment.)

Ingredients for this focaccia recipe

There are only a few ingredients required for this focaccia recipe: but each is important! Here’s what to know:

Bread flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, which makes for a lighter, airier texture. It’s worth finding for this recipe!
Active dry yeast
Kosher salt
Olive oil
Fresh rosemary: Fresh rosemary is traditional in Italian baking of focaccia and it adds just the right herbaceous scent to the fresh bread. Trust us: it’s required!

Tips for baking

Once you’ve got your ingredients and tools, baking focaccia bread is simple! Here are a few tips to remember when you’re making the recipe:

Remember to start the night before! That’s right: you’ll need an overnight rise. Think about mixing up the dough around 9 pm, and you can bake the bread around 1:00 pm the next day. 16 hours is best if you can swing it.
Be gentle when shaping and handling the dough. A great part about homemade focaccia bread is that it doesn’t require any rolling or technical shaping. All you do is gently press it out into the pan. Just use care so you don’t deflate any air bubbles.
Use a pizza stone if you can. Again, a pizza stone lets the bread get hotter, thereby making it rise faster and get taller and fluffier. If you don’t have one, here’s the pizza stone we use.

Serving focaccia bread

That beautiful loaf of focaccia bread will make your kitchen smell like a bakery. If you can resist, wait until it’s fully cool to take a taste. However, this type of bread won’t suffer if you try to sneak a piece when it’s warm (which is a no-no with sourdough bread). Focaccia works served on its own as a side for lunch, dinner, or soups, or sliced for sandwiches. Here are a few ways to serve focaccia bread:

As a side for Italian meals
As a side for soup
Sliced on a cheeseboard
As an Italian appetizer
Sliced for a sandwich like Caprese Sandwich, Italian Eggplant Sandwich or Salmon Sandwich
For holiday appetizers or sides like Thanksgiving or Christmas

How do you plan to serve it? Let us know in the comments below!

Storage info

How to store homemade focaccia bread? You can store homemade focaccia for up to 3 days in a sealed plastic bag with excess air squeezed out, or in a sealed container. It’s great room temperature or you can reheat it in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven until warm.

More homemade bread recipes

Making homemade bread is a fun hobby that makes delicious sides and sandwich bread for your weekly meals! Here are a few favorite bread recipes to try:

This Easy No Knead Bread is a fan favorite!
Try delicious and hearty Artisan Bread
Go for sandwich loaves with Easy Homemade Bread or Easy Whole Wheat Bread
Try our Best Sourdough Bread Recipe

Easy No Knead Bread

Artisan Bread

Easy Homemade Bread

Best Sourdough Bread Recipe

This focaccia recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.