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Focaccia bread is fluffy, easy enough for beginners, and extra flavorful from the garlic and rosemary!
My focaccia bread recipe requires no kneading, so it’s a great option if you’re new to baking with yeast. Serve it alongside soup, salad, or even turn it into a sandwich or pizza!
Table of Contents
Why We Love This Recipe
- Soft and Chewy On The Inside – The texture is perfect – crispy on the bottom while still soft on the inside.
- Rosemary and Garlic – The combination takes focaccia bread to the next level!
- No Kneading – A great yeasted bread recipe for beginners!
Ingredients For Focaccia Bread
Simple baking ingredients + garlic and rosemary = the best focaccia recipe!
- Warm Water – It should be between 105°F to 115°F to activate the yeast.
- White Granulated Sugar – A small amount of sugar also helps activate the yeast
- Instant Yeast – One small package or 2 ¼ tablespoons from a larger container.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Kosher Salt
- Olive Oil
- Rosemary – fresh herbs will have the best flavor, but you can use dried in a pinch.
- Garlic – Roast the cloves in the oven.
- Coarse Salt – for topping. This is different from table salt or kosher salt. You can find it in the same section of the grocery store and it looks like small flakes. It adds texture and flavor to the top of the bread.
How To Make Garlic Focaccia Bread
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Don’t be intimidated by baking with yeast! I break down the recipe into easy-to-follow steps. You don’t even need to knead this focaccia dough!
- Roast Garlic – Peel the garlic cloves and add them to a small oven-proof skillet. Bake in the oven at 350℉ for about 30 minutes; they should become a nice golden color. After roasting, chop up the cloves.
- Activate Yeast – Start by activating the yeast by adding the sugar and yeast to the warm water in a small bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes until frothy.
- Add to Stand Mixer – Add the flour, salt, olive oil, and garlic to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix together and pour the yeast mixture in and slowly mix. Once combined, increase the speed to medium and mix for about 5 minutes. The dough should be pulling away from the bowl and not sticky to the touch. You can add a little more flour, if needed.
- Rise – Place dough in a large mixing bowl greased with olive oil. Brush the top of the dough with more olive oil then cover with plastic wrap. Store in a warm place to rise for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled in size.
- Prep for Baking – Preheat the oven and grease a 9×13” baking sheet with olive oil.
- Spread out Dough – Add the dough onto the greased baking sheet and use your fingers to push out the dough evenly, so it covers the baking sheet completely. Cover the dough again with plastic wrap and store in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
- Dimple the Dough – Once the dough has risen again, use your fingers to poke holes evenly all over the dough. Brush with more olive oil, sprinkle some roasted garlic cloves and little bits of rosemary all over then sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake – Bake in the oven on a middle rack for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush again, lightly with olive oil.
Focaccia Toppings
You can easily customize this recipe by using different focaccia toppings! I like to brush toppings with a little olive oil to help prevent them from burning. Here are some of my favorites, but the options are endless!
- Black Olives
- Other Fresh Herbs like thyme, oregano and basil.
- Pizza – Top with marinara sauce, cheese, and even pepperoni!
- Fresh Tomato Slices
- Caramelized Onion
- Fresh Grated Parmesan
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes
FAQs
While focaccia and pizza dough are similar, focaccia bread uses more yeast which gives a softer and fluffier texture compared to pizza dough.
All-Purpose flour is used to make focaccia bread. You can swap in bread flour, but the results will be chewier.
Typically focaccia is served room temperature, but it is great served warm or lightly toasted.
Equipment Needed
- 9×13 inch baking sheet – This is essential to spread out the dough into the right shape and thickness.
- Scale (optional, but recommended) – A scale is not required, but it allows for much more accurate flour measurements. If you bake often, I recommend investing in a kitchen scale.
- Thermometer – Having a thermometer helps ensure that the warm water is the optimal temperature to activate the yeast.
- Stand mixer with a dough hook – Using a stand mixer makes this recipe so easy to make! If you don’t have one, you can mix by hand, but get ready to use a little muscle.
Serving Suggestions
The bread is great served in a bread basket with almost any dinner, but my favorite is alongside a bowl of soup, like Italian Bean Soup or Italian Wedding Soup, or a copycat Olive Garden Salad or my Panera Green Goddess Salad.
We also love to use the leftovers to make sandwiches for lunch – my favorite is using pesto, turkey, spinach, and provolone cheese.
Storage and Reheating
Storage – Once cooled completely this focaccia bread can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Do not store it in the refrigerator it will dry out the bread.
Freezing – This bread will freeze well. Store in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 6 months.
- Garlic Oil – I love to brush the dough with the oil from the pan I use to roast the garlic. This adds extra garlicky flavor and it is so good!
- Dimple the Dough – Using your fingers to dimple the dough helps reduce the air and prevents it from rising too quickly.
More Bread Recipes
- Copycat Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread
- Whole Wheat Bread
- Homemade Garlic Breadsticks
- Homemade Bread Bowls
- Garlic Cheese Toast
- Air Fryer Texas Toast Garlic Bread
Garlic Rosemary Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1-1/3 cup Warm water 105°F to 115°F
- 2 teaspoons Granulated sugar
- 1 ounce Instant yeast or 2-¼ teaspoons
- 3-3/4 cups All purpose flour 480g
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1/2 cup Olive oil divided
- 3 sprigs Fresh rosemary
- 2 Whole garlic bulbs bulbs separated and peeled
- Coarse salt topping
Instructions
- Using a thermometer make sure the water is within the range 105°F to 115°F, this is important for the yeast to activate. Add the sugar to the water along with the yeast and allow to sit and froth for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Add the peeled garlic cloves to a small skillet and bake for about 30 minutes. Chop half of the cloves to add to the dough and reserve the other half for topping the bread.
- Measure out 3-¾ cups using the spoon and leveling technique to make sure not too much is added.
- Add the flour, salt, ¼ cup of the olive oil, chopped roasted garlic cloves to a stand mixer bowl (with a dough hook) and mix together.
- Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and slowly mix. Once it seems like it’s mixed, turn up the speed to medium and allow to mix like that for about 5 minutes. Add a little more flour if it seems like the dough is still sticky after this. The dough should be pulling away from the bowl and not sticky to the touch.
- Empty dough into a large mixing bowl greased with olive oil. Brush the top with more olive oil then cover with plastic wrap.
- Store in a warm place to allow the dough to rise for 1-½ hours. In this time the dough should double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Grease a 9×13” baking sheet, with olive oil. Empty out the dough onto the baking sheet and using your fingers push out the dough evenly, to cover the baking sheet completely.
- Cover the dough again with plastic wrap and store in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has risen again, use your finger to poke holes evenly all over the dough.
- Brush with more olive oil, sprinkle some roasted garlic cloves and little bits of rosemary all over then sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake in the oven on a middle rack for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and brush again, lightly with olive oil.
Wonderful aroma when baking; can dried rosemary be used? Or sun dried tomatoes ( Drained?)
Great website☺️
Thanks Sandra – you could use either of those, just make sure to drain the tomatoes really well.