Herbed Focaccia Bread Recipe

I first learned how to make this recipe by taking a cooking class with my husband a few years ago. Since then, I have begun learning how to make more of our own bread at home! Let me share with you how you can easily make Herbed Focaccia Bread at home, with your kids!

We are learning about Italy in our homeschool, making all sorts of yummy recipes and art projects with the Build Your Masterpiece Class, and I soon remembered this recipe, and I wanted to give it a try! This recipe is not in the Masterpiece Class, (however, I may be adding it in!) but you can definitely add this one in yourself if you would like!

Herbed Focaccia Bread Recipe

Ingredients Needed:

600g (3-4 cups) of Bread Flour
1/2 tsp salt
300-400 ml warm water
3 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp of Dried Active Yeast
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a handful of fresh herbs, we used basil leaves, but you can also use Rosemary, thyme, oregano, whichever you enjoy the most
coarse sea salt, for the crust
optional additions for the dough: chopped olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, or artichokes or red onions.

The Method for Making Your Own Herbed Focaccia Bread:

Measure 300ml of warm water, around 100F/38c. Add your sugar to the water, and then your yeast, and stir. Allow a few minutes for your yeast to prove. If your yeast does not begin to foam up, you may need to start again, with a more fresh batch of yeast. I like to add the Olive Oil into the yeast mixture. Check out this video here, which tells you all you need to know about proving yeast. Sieve or whisk your flour and salt together. Make a well in the center of your flour, and slowly add in your yeast and water. I like to use a fork to mix the yeast and flour together slowly from the sides of the well, to gradually make a thicker dough. You can start with 3 cups of flour, instead of 4, because you may not need all 4 cups of flour. Knead your dough in the bowl for a bit, before you turn it out onto the table.Once your dough has come together in the bowl, it will look a bit like this. Continue to knead your dough on the table. For this batch, I started with the full 600g/4 cups of flour, and the 300mls of water was not enough, so I had to keep adding more water, so it took a bit longer to knead it together.When you have kneaded your dough for about 6-10 minutes, form it into a nice round, and oil a clean bowl to place it in.I like to cover my dough with plastic wrap and a towel. I have found a towel alone is not the best choice all the time, and the plastic wrap keeps the dough fresh. Give it a try, see what works for your dough. this recipe does call for the plastic wrap. Also, try to keep your kitchen warm, and do not open the window (in the fall/winter) because it will take longer to prove and rise! Let prove for about 50-60 minutes. When your proving time is up, and it has risen really nicely, you can get your table area set up, and ready to make your Herbed Focaccia Bread! Take your pan, dish or sheet and prepare it by oiling it up. You can divide the dough in half if you would like smaller loaves, however, we made one large one today. Knockdown your dough, and start to knead your dough on your work surface, about 1 minute. Tip* if you are using a wooden board, take a damp tea towel and place it under your board, and it will not move around while you are kneading your dough. I had awesome help from my daughter to photograph the next couple shots of the kneading process. Knead your dough with a little flour and roll out as well. Next, you can place your dough onto your sheet, and begin to poke holes into the dough.Poke as many holes in the dough as you like, and then add in your desired herbs into the holes. We had fresh basil today, so we went with that. We also love to use fresh rosemary leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt to create a nice salty crust, but I like to go easy on the salt, and today I have also used fine salt as well as I actually prefer it fine. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to prove for the second time, for about 10-15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400F.Once your Herbed Focaccia Bread has proved for the second time, it will be larger and risen more. It is now ready for the baking!

Baking Your Focaccia Bread:

Bake for 5minutes @ 400F

Turn down to 375F and bake for additional 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

We baked ours for the additional 15 minutes, and I liked the color it had on the top. It smelled so good!

You can see the sporadic course salt bits, and that is how I like it best because it is not overly salty. I was really impressed with how well this batch turned out because, at the kneading stage, it was not as smooth as I liked, but I kept going anyhow. It did not make any change once baked! We like to serve this warm, freshly baked focaccia bread with some olive oil, crushed garlic, and Balsamic Vinegar. Perfect little snack, or appetizer to any dinner! I wanted to show you just how good this loaf turned out, and the inside was so perfect. We could not wait to dip it into the oil and vinegar!It is a very rewarding feeling when you make your own bread at home, and this really is a simple recipe, I know you will all love it if you give this a try!This bread also keeps really well, and we used it with our dinner the day after, which was really nice! That dinner recipe is coming soon!Thank you for checking out this recipe everyone, if you love Focaccia Bread, please comment below and share!Till next time,Breathe deeply and enjoy building your masterpiece with scissors and glue, and focaccia bread too,~Alexandra