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
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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
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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
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In a large mixing bowl stir flour, salt, sugar, yeast to combine. Stir in fresh herb mixture.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Meanwhile preheat oven to 425℉.
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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.
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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.
Going to try this. Sounds easy and delicious.
I hope you do, It’s supper simple and delish.