No-knead Herb Focaccia Bread is loaded with fresh herbs and has an amazing olive oil soaked crisp crust. Just like the No-knead crusty bread, the recipe can be made in 5 minutes or less.
Why does this no-knead dough rise so quickly?
A simple answer is: The addition of an extra teaspoon of yeast and warm water will wake up the yeast. Yeast feeds on sugars and starches found in bread dough. As a result, it turns this food into energy and releases carbon dioxide gas as a result. This process is known as fermentation. Warm water warms the yeast up to a temperature which is favorable to fermentation. For more detailed information check out this article by Fine Cooking “The Science of Baking with Yeast”
Five Minute No-Knead Herb Focaccia Bread
1
3
2
4
5
7
6
8- Add 3 /14 cup flour into a large mixing bowl
- Stir in 1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of rapid rise yeast.
- Add 1 cup chopped fresh herbs.
- Stir together
- Add 1 1/2 cups water all at once.
- Using a wooden spoon, spatula, or a dough whisk, stir just until all ingredients pull together. Remember this is “no-knead” dough just a quick stir is all. Make sure the flour has been completely mixed in.
- Cover with a clean cloth or plastic wrap and let rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place.
- After a few hours, the dough should be wet and a bit bubbly. Nows the time to bake it. 😍
Olive Oil Soaked Crust
1
3
2
4- In a 9-inch round baking pan pour in 1/4 cup olive oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan. Yes, that delicious olive oil will soak into the crust! It’s amazing!
- Using a dough scraper, gently lift the dough, trying not to deflate the air out, and place on top of the olive oil. Drizzle a bit more olive oil on top of the dough and using your fingers press little dimples into the top.
- Arrange fresh herbs on top of the focaccia. This is optional but will make you look like a focaccia rockstar and allow your creativity to flow. 😁 Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and let rise in a warm spot for 2-3 hours.
- When ready to bake, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the dough. Crimp the edges to create a good seal. This will create a bit of steam inside to create that crisp crust we all love. After 20 minutes of baking, remove the foil and continue to bake another 15-20 minutes or until the focaccia is golden on top.
Notes for No-knead Herb Focaccia Bread
- Active dry yeast may be used in place of rapid or instant yeast. Use 1/4 cup of the water used in the recipe to dissolve the yeast, then add with the remaining water instead of adding dry yeast into the flour.
- Bread flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
- Dried herbs can be used in place of fresh herbs but must be reduced to 1/4 cup. Fresh herbs give the bread a better flavor…just saying 😉
For overnight dough use the following recipe:
Overnight Herb Focaccia
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast (rapid rise)
- 1 cup fresh herbs, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cool water
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 12-24 hours. Bake as directed in recipe above.
No-knead Herb Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
Herb Focaccia
- 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast instant or rapid rise preferred
- 1 cup fresh herb mix chopped thyme, rosemary, parsley, chives
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- fresh herbs for garnish
Instructions
Focaccia dough
In a large mixing bowl stir flour, salt, sugar, yeast to combine. Stir in fresh herb mixture.
Add warm water into the flour mixture all at once. Quickly stir the mixture until there is no dry flour and the mixture is completely moistened. Remember this is a "no-knead" dough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a cloth and allow to rise for 2 1/2-3 hours. The dough will look very wet and appear to bubble a bit.
Baking the Focaccia
Pour olive oil into a 9-inch round cake pan or skillet. Swirl the oil around to coat the entire bottom of the pan. Using a dough scraper, scrape out the risen focaccia dough into the oiled cake pan. With oiled fingers, create dimples on the top of the focaccia. If desired, arrange a few stems of herbs on top of the dough for decoration. Cover with a piece of aluminum foil. Tenting slightly in the middle of the foil to allow for focaccia to rise and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 425℉.
After 30 minutes place covered focaccia into preheated oven and bake 20 minutes covered. After 20 minutes remove the foil and continue baking an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and transfer focaccia to a cutting board or cooling rack.
NOTE: If you have made no-knead dough before, you may have noticed that the bottom of the bread can be quite hard. I like to put the focaccia on a cutting board to softened the bottom up a bit. After 10 minutes the crust will still remain crunchy yet easier to cut.
Recipe Notes
- Active dry yeast may be used in place of rapid or instant yeast. Use 1/4 cup of the water used in the recipe to dissolve the yeast, then add with the remaining water instead of stirring into the flour.
- I like to use all-purpose flour, but bread flour can be used as well
- Dried herbs can be used in place of fresh herbs but must be reduced to 1/4 cup. Fresh herbs give the bread a better flavor...just saying 😉
- If you have made the no-knead dough before, you may have noticed that the bottom of the bread can be quite hard. I like to put the focaccia on a cutting board to soften the bottom up a bit. After 10 minutes the crust will still remain crunchy yet easier to cut.
For overnight dough use the following recipe:
Overnight Herb Focaccia
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast (rapid rise)
- 1 cup fresh herbs, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cool water
Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 12-24 hours. Bake as directed in recipe above.
Leave a Reply