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I Am... One Day No-Knead Focaccia

August 26, 2024 • Leave a comment • Posted in: focaccia, no-knead

If you love bread, this recipe is for you: no knead, one day, full proof, homemade bread. Specifically, an impressive bubbly, crispy, gloriously golden tray of no knead focaccia is the stuff bread dreams are made of. I love bread so much. I have a sourdough starter (named Justin Bread-ber) that I love so much that I have both dehydrated and frozen back ups of him. Bread is absolutely magical. That being said, I know that bread can be intimidating even though it is the easiest thing to make. I mean, people baked bread back in the day when there was no electricity or ovens. But no-knead focaccia is the best thing to start with. If they can do it, you can do it. I believe in you.

What is focaccia?

Focaccia is a delightful oven-baked Italian flatbread that is made with yeast. It comes in rounds, rectangles, and squares. It’s bubbly and squishy and has a signature golden brown top that’s dimpled and adorned with olive oil, flaky salt, and herbs. There are so many regional types of focaccia that you could do a focaccia tour of Italy twice around and still find different kinds to eat. It’s a beauty of a bread because there are so many varieties topped with different ingredients.

How to make no knead focaccia

1. Measure - start off by measuring out the flour, water, yeast, and salt. It’s best to use a kitchen scale, but if you don’t have one, I’ve included cup measurements. Thankfully bread is super forgiving and you don’t need to be extra accurate.
2. Stir - Stir the flour, water, salt, and yeast together in a bowl until everything comes into a shaggy ball.
3. Proof - Cover the dough and let it proof for 30 minutes in a warm spot in your kitchen. After 30 minutes, lightly wet your hands and grab some of the dough and fold it over and in on itself. After each fold, turn the bowl 90 degrees. In the end you’ll complete 4 folds. Cover and let the dough proof for another 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, lightly wet your hands and grab the dough with both hands, scooping it up and holding it over the bowl. Some of the dough will naturally fall down towards the bowl. Tuck the ends that fall down towards the bowl under the dough. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. The dough will look like a blobby rectangle.
4. Dimple - Drizzle olive oil in a cake pan and place the blobby rectangle directly into the olive oil. Use your fingers to gently spread out the dough and dimple slightly. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes to an hour, or until doubled and poofy. Right before baking, drizzle generously with olive oil and dimple the dough: use your fingers to press down into the dough, almost all the way to the bottom of the pan.
5. Bake - Bake the focaccia in a preheated 450°F oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden and baked through. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes before enjoying warm or at room temp.

No knead focaccia ingredients

• flour - regular all purpose flour is what we’re using. If you have bread flour on hand, it will give your focaccia more structure and therefore more fluffiness, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
• salt - bread is only 4 ingredients and salt is essentially for flavor. If you want to get fancy you can use flavored salts on top, but in the dough, simple fine table salt is best because it dissolves easily into water.
• yeast - we’re going for instant yeast, the kind that comes in little packets or jars. Just look for yeast that says “quick-rise” or “fast-rising.”
• water - this is a 90% hydration dough meaning there’s quite a bit of water in it. The large amount of water is what makes it super easy to stir up the dough so we don’t need to knead it. We want a warm-ish water so the yeast has a happy environment to grow. In this case, warm means warm but not hot to the touch.
• olive oil - you can’t have focaccia without olive oil. Giving your baking pan a nice drizzle of oil means your focaccia gets a crisp and almost deep fried bottom crust. A generous drizzle of olive oil on top and in the dimples of focaccia is signature. Make sure you’re using an olive oil you like the flavor of.
• toppings - you can keep it simple and just go for olive oil and salt. You can also go a with a bit more and add your favorite fresh herbs. Really, you can top this with anything: tomatoes olives, cheese, garlic, go wild!

Why no knead focaccia?

The beauty of no-knead bread is that the ingredients do all the work for you. You don’t need a mixer, a bread machine, or to even really use your arm muscles. Everyone can make no-knead bread, with little to no equipment. No-knead bread is the gateway bread, the bread will show you how it’s possible to make homemade bread yourself!

How does no knead bread work?

Typically, when you make bread, please excuse this pun, you need to knead it. Kneading bread is what develops the gluten in the dough, making bread chewy. It also incorporates air which is what makes the dough puff up and inflate when proofing and baking. No gluten and no air means flat, dense bread. So, then, how and why does no-knead bread work? It’s science! No-knead bread uses a relatively long rising (fermentation) time instead of kneading to develop gluten. No-knead breads have a very high hydration, meaning they have a lot of water in the dough, making it easy to mix with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Instead of kneading a small amount of water into a large amount of flour, an almost equal mix of water and flour and simply stirred together. Time and yeast do the rest of the hard work by producing a bubbly, strong, elastic network that holds air well.

What is lukewarm water for bread?

We want water that’s warm to the touch, but not hot, if you want to get specific, we’re looking for between 80°F and 100°F.

How to do stretch and folds

Stretch and folds are super simple. It helps if you think of your bowl as cardinal or compass directions. The top of the bowl is North, the bottom is South, right is East and left is West. Lightly wet your hands and scoop underneath the dough at North. Pull the dough up and fold it over down South. Then, scoop under the dough South and fold it up towards North. Do the same with East and West. You will have completed 4 folds.

How to do coil folds

Coil folds are stretch and folds but in the opposite direction. Instead of folding the dough up and over on top of itself, you’re folding it underneath. Lightly wet your hands and use both hands to reach underneath the dough and pull up so the dough is hanging from your hands. Some of the dough will naturally fall down or stick to the bowl so it’ll look like you’re holding a very floppy cat. Tuck the two floppy ends underneath the bulk of the dough, first the top floppy part, then the bottom floppy part, kind of like you’re folding a letter in thirds. Turn your bowl 90° and do another stretch and fold. Your bread should look kind of like a loose blobby rectangle.

No knead focaccia tips and tricks

Here are some tips and tricks to make your focaccia the best it can be!

Cold fermentation

Some people are very particular about the flavor of yeast. I’m one of them. I definitely prefer slow, cold fermented doughs which means if I have enough foresight, I will almost always make my dough the day before and let it cold ferment in the fridge. What this means is stopping (also card retarding) the proofing. When you put dough in the fridge, the coldness slows down the yeast growth and stops the yeast from digesting the flour. Slower yeast growth leads to better flavor development because there is less off gassing. If you do a cold ferment, you’ll want to put your dough in the fridge after the second set of coil folds, once you have put your dough into the baking pan. Keep it wrapped up and just pop it in the fridge. The next day, about 2-3 hours before you want to eat your bread, take the pan of focaccia out of the fridge and let it sit at room temp or in a happy proofing temperature for 2 hours or until doubled and very poofy.

What temperature for proofing no knead focaccia

If you’re really particular and want to have the ideal temperature for your focaccia to thrive, you’ll want your ambient air temperature to be 85°F. Nice and toasty for all the yeasties to grow and bubble. Some ovens have a proofing setting and if yours does, go ahead and use it. Otherwise, you can always pop your proofing focaccia into your toaster oven or microwave; just be sure to leave a sign on the door so no one accidentally kills all your hard work.

What kind of pan for no knead focaccia

You can really use any kind of pan you want as long as it can contain your dough. If you use a rimmed sheet pan your focaccia will be thinner and if you want a fluffier, thicker focaccia, you should use a cake pan. This recipe will fit nicely into an 8 inch cake pan or a rimmed quarter sheet pan. In this post, I used an 8.6 x 6.6 inch rectangular pan.

When to dimple?

Most people dimple their focaccia at the end, right before they pop it in the oven. The truth is, you should dimple twice: right when you put your dough in the baking pan and then again right before you bake. Dimpling the first time helps expel any extra air which will give your focaccia a good crumb. Dimpling right before you bake means you’ll get more airy bubbles and a good crumb. Because the dimples are little pockets where the olive oil can pool, you’ll want to have just the right amount. Dimpling right before you bake helps you know that you’ve proofed just enough. The dimples will stay indented and the dough around dimples will be bubbly and airy.

Bread heads

For all the bread heads out there, this is a 90% hydration dough which makes it super fluffy and bubbly. Here are the baker percentages if you want to adapt the recipe:

Ingredients	Grams	Baker’s %
flour	240	100%
salt	5	2%
instant yeast	2.5	1%
water	225	90%

More breads

Once you’ve dipped your toes into bread making, try these recipes out:

• Parmesan garlic knots - seriously the BEST garlic bread knots you’ll ever have
• Soft and fluffy Parker House rolls - these are so soft and pillowy, you’ll want to make a bed and sleep on them
• Sourdough of course - Try your hand at sourdough. Step-by-step instructions on how to cultivate your very own starter and make your first loaf with wild yeast
• Pretzels - Homemade pretzels are a serious flex, they take a bit more time than these regular bread but they are so worth it
• And even Pretzel Dogs - it’s almost Oktoberfest so why not make some pretzel dogs

Happy bread making!  

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