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You are here: Home / Bread / Basil and Garlic Focaccia

Basil and Garlic Focaccia

Connie Veneracion
A flatbread from Italy, focaccia dough is soft, sticky and, for first-timers, notoriously difficult to handle. But with patience and practice, it's doable at home.
Basil and Garlic Focaccia with Pasta
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 25 mins
Rising time 3 hrs
Total Time 3 hrs 40 mins
Course Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Servings 1 focaccia loaf for six people

Ingredients
  

  • 3 ½ cups bread flour plus more for dusting
  • ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon rock salt plus more to garnish
  • 1 ¾ cups lukewarm water
  • ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil fresh would be better but use twice as much
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Instructions
 

  • In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and yeast. Make a well in the center and pour in the water.
  • Mix the dry ingredients with the water, slowly, using your fingers, until the mixture looks uniform.
  • Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rise until triple in volume, about two to two and a half hours.
  • Sprinkle flour on the work surface. Dump in the dough. Yes, it will be very sticky but don’t add more flour. Just keep the surface and your hands well-oiled at all times.
  • Using your fingers, gently pull the dough outward to flatten it into a square.
  • Now imagine that the dough is of three portions. Lift ⅓ from the side nearest you and fold inward. Do the same with the ⅓ portion farthest from you.
  • Now, fold in the the sides on your left and right. You have a square once again.
  • Transfer the dough to the bowl once again, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
  • Repeat the folding and rising process.
  • Pour about ¾ of the olive oil into a baking pan. Make sure that the bottom and sides are oiled.
  • Dump the dough into the pan. Pour the rest of the oil over the dough.
  • Cover the dough with cling film. Poke and push the dough outward to flatten it and fill the entire bottom of the pan.
    Basil and Garlic Focaccia Before Baking
  • Sprinkle the basil and garlic on the dough. Sprinkle in more salt as well.
  • Cover the pan with cling film and allow the dough to rise for another half an hour.
  • Fifteen minutes before the rising time of the dough is up, preheat the oven to 450F and position the rack on the lower third.
  • Bake the focaccia for 25 minutes.
    Basil and Garlic Focaccia Cooling on a Rack
  • Scoop out the focaccia with a large spatula, move to a rack and pour the oil from the pan over the bread.
  • When the focaccia is cool enough to handle, you can slice it.
    Slices of Basil and Garlic Focaccia
  • The focaccia is great by itself or you can pair it with pasta.

Notes

Based on a recipe in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.
Keyword Bread, Flatbread
Asian food lover?Visit Devour.Asia for travel stories, food tales and recipes!

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