THE ULTIMATE NO-KNEAD FOCACCIA

Is it really a headline grabbing recipe?

Yes, it is.

What flour do I need?

All purpose flour is totally fine to use here. Keep your eye out for strong, high-protein bread flour or specific pizza/focaccia flour blends. Tipo ‘00 flour is also an Italian staple ingredient which is more finely milled than all purpose. I use a 50/50 mix of bread flour and tipo ‘00 flour for my focaccia, so I’d recommend that!

Why no need to knead?

Because this dough is high-hydration (meaning there’s almost as much water as there is flour), the gluten proteins are able to move about more freely and essentially do the kneading job themselves. Keeping the dough in the fridge allows the yeast to slowly leaven the dough and impart flavour whilst gluten does its thing.

What does the potato do?

This focaccia is a winner even without the extra potato, but adding cooked potato to dough increases the amount of starch, which increases how much liquid the dough can hold. That means softer bread that goes stale more slowly.

Why the huge range in fridge time? How long do you do?

The longer you can leave the dough in the fridge, the better the resulting flavour. A minimum overnight stay in the fridge (a full night’s sleep of 8 hours, to be specific) will do the trick. I prefer to allow my dough to sit in the fridge for 2-3 days for the most incredible flavour so don’t be afraid to try that out, too. All you have to do is nothing. Set and forget with emphasis on forget! Once you realise how easy and delicious this focaccia is, you’ll move into the lifestyle I lead of always having a bowl of focaccia dough in the fridge to be dragged out and baked whenever you’re in the mood.

Do I have to make garlic confit?

Ugh, no. You can skip making tender, buttery, smearably-soft garlic pieces and the resulting garlic infused oil if you hate the finer things in life, but it’s so simple to cover garlic cloves in olive oil and leave them on low in the oven while you’re doing something else in the kitchen. If you can be arsed doing so, garlic confit and the infused oil are a delightful thing to have on hand, and make the flavour of this focaccia MAGNIFICENT.

IMPORTANT!

Garlic confit, the oil, and any focaccia using either of them MUST be stored in the fridge between preparing and using, or they can become a health hazard. (Specifically, botulism. No fun.)

Bit greedy on the toppings, no?

Traditional focaccia doesn’t go too topping heavy. Usually something simple like rosemary suffices and makes a delicious bread (I wrote this sentence at gunpoint wielded by the Italian government). This simple bread can hold so many delicious flavours so round these parts I prefer to test its limits! Check the ingredients for my fave toppings and choose a few to combine. I mean, I literally put all of them on every single time, but you do you do. 

Can I bake this in a different sized baking dish?

Oh, please do. I use an approximately 40cm x 28cm rectangle baking tray to bake one batch of focaccia. If I’m making a double batch, I use my oven’s extra-wide roasting tray to make one enormous beauty and it works just great. You can also divide the dough into several smaller baking dishes so don’t feel constrained to make one large one. I’ve also had success dividing the dough into 24 muffin tins for extra crispy, mini-focaccia bites. If using muffin tins, bake for 20-25 minutes instead. Really, whatever you can shove the dough into should do the trick.