Completely foolproof No Knead Focaccia bread. It is so easy! Mix everything up in a bowl with a spoon, leave for a few hours, then bake!
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Good bread is one of my favorite foods, especially when it is fresh from the oven and slathered in my Easy Vegan Butter or dipped in good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
I realize that when it comes to yeast and bread baking a lot of people are wary because they think it's difficult. And that can be right. Some breads are difficult to make.
But, this easy focaccia is different. It is virtually foolproof. If you can put some ingredients in a bowl and stir them all together then you've got this. There is nothing more to it than that.
The rosemary-infused focaccia bread smell that permeates your house while this little miracle bakes is the stuff of dreams. It smells amazing! When you break into that salt and rosemary scattered crust you will find a soft and fluffy interior that is just begging you to eat it. All of it. Now.
Ingredients
Success tip - Use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil for the best flavor.
How To Make No Knead Focaccia
All you need to make Easy No Knead Focaccia Bread is a large bowl, a spoon, a metal pan (like an 8 x 8-inch square, or an 8 x 12 inch, or a round 8 or 9-inch cake pan), and some patience.
Here's how it's done in a few easy steps:
- Add everything to a bowl, starting with the dry ingredients and ending with the water. Mix it all up with a big spoon (I like to use a wooden spoon) to make a sticky, wet, slightly lumpy dough.
- Cover and leave at room temperature for about 8 hours. It will be risen and full of air bubbles.
- Transfer the dough into the prepared pan. Just scrape/spoon it out with a silicone spatula or spoon.
- Dimple it with your fingers then pour over olive oil, sprinkle flaky sea salt and herbs, then bake.
It really is that easy! The only hands-on time needed is a couple of minutes to mix the flour, yeast, salt, and water together with a spoon, and later, a couple of minutes to scrape the dough into a pan and drizzle with olive oil then sprinkle with rosemary and salt. No kneading. No shaping.
You can mix it up before you go to bed at night and then bake it in the morning, or you can mix it up in the morning, head off to work, then bake it when you get home. Either way, you are this close to fresh Rosemary and Sea Salt Crusted Focaccia perfection!
How Long Can You Let No Knead Bread Rise?
Because you aren't kneading the bread, time is needed to develop the gluten. The sweet spot is about 8 hours in a 20 °C (68 °F) kitchen but it's pretty flexible. You still get a good result if you bake it a little earlier or later.
If it's hotter where you are you can get away with less time. Use my progress pictures for a guide as to how it should look at each stage and judge accordingly when it's ready to bake.
You can extend the resting time if you need to by putting the bowl of dough in the fridge. You could probably get away with leaving it there for up to 24 to 48 hours dependent on your fridge's temperature. The lower temperatures slow down the activity of the yeast which helps to delay things. If you try this though I advise keeping an eye on it the first time you do it, and baking it once it has just about doubled in size. Once you've done it once you'll have a good idea of how long you can get away with leaving it.
Variations
Go with the rosemary and sea salt option or switch things up. Some ideas include:
- Whole cherry tomatoes or large tomato slices & fresh basil
- Roasted garlic cloves with rosemary or thyme
- Pitted olives
- Caramelized onions and fresh thyme
- Melty vegan cheese
- Roasted red pepper, swirls of pesto and vegan parmesan
How To Serve
This No Knead Rosemary Focaccia is wonderful served warm or cool. It makes the perfect accompaniment to pasta dishes like spaghetti and Vegan Marinara Sauce, my Vegan Vodka Sauce Pasta, soups like Vegan Potato Soup, Easy Tomato Basil Soup, or Red Lentil Soup with Lemon. Or stews and casseroles. It is also great used to make sandwiches (try it with my White Bean & Artichoke Sandwich Filling) and makes the most wonderful paninis.
Storage, Freezing & Reheating Tips
No Knead Focaccia Bread is best on the day it's baked but leftovers can be wrapped and kept for a day or two. They are best warmed before eating though. I like to wrap them in foil and then pop them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at about 350° F. Or if you are in a hurry you can microwave for 20 or 30 seconds.
The bread also freezes well. Wrap very well and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Popular Bread Recipes
Recipe
No Knead Focaccia
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 500g (4 cups) all purpose flour or bread flour cups measured by spooning the flour into the cups and levelling off with the back of a knife - do not scoop and do not compact the flour down by pressing on it as you fill the cup (in the UK use strong bread flour)
- 10g (1 very full tablespoon) instant yeast or quick rise yeast . , (if you only have active yeast see recipe notes)
- 10g (2 teaspoons) fine sea salt
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil , divided
- 450mls (1¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons) COLD water not warm water
- 2 tablespoons fresh or dried rosemary
- flaky sea salt for scattering
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add the water and mix well until you can see no more dry flour and you have a wet, slightly lumpy looking mess. Make sure to scrape right into the bottom of the bowl. (See my picture in the collage near the top of my post above for reference).
- Cover with cling wrap, a clean shower cap or a wet dish towel and leave on the kitchen counter for a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 9 hours. Do not refrigerate and do not leave anywhere really warm. Just normal room temperature is fine.
- About 20 minutes before the time is up preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a cake pan or brownie pan with parchment paper. (any pan from 8 x 8 inch to 8 x 12 is fine or an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan - just ensure it's metal. Don't use silicone). You can even spread the dough out on a parchment paper lined regular baking tray if that's all you have.
- When the oven is at temperature, scrape the dough out of the bowl and into the pan. I use a dough scraper but a silicone spatula or spoon will be fine. It will be clingy and sticky but that is normal.
- Once it's all in the pan, flatten it out so it's as even as you can get it all over, then using fingers dipped in olive oil, make dimples all over the top.
- Drizzle over the olive oil (be as generous as you feel comfortable with) and sprinkle on the rosemary and salt.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 37 - 40 minutes.
- When done it will be starting to go golden brown in places on the top. If you want it a little crustier you can bake it for another 5 minutes but no longer as otherwise it will become dry.
- Remove from the oven, lift out using the paper as handles and place on a cooling rack.
- Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
NOTES
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Nina says
Hi, what would be a good price to sell this for by the slice? Thank you
A Virtual Vegan says
If you are planning to sell the bread commercially then we should talk. I do recipe development for commercial endeavours (catering businesses, bakeries, restaurants, and brands), but there is a fee for that. If you are interested, I’d be happy to discuss my prices and services. You can email me at mel@avirtualvegan.com .
Cindy says
Do you think the rosemary focaccia bread could be made without the oil?
Thanks for your help!
Cindy
A Virtual Vegan says
You can definitely make it without the oil. I do sometimes when I'm trying to be good. It will be a little drier as the oil makes it moist and it will stay paler. It will also go stale more quickly because oil acts as a preservative in bread. It's still a good accompaniment to soup or stews, pasta etc though but is really at it's best eaten while warm from the oven.
becca says
hi, was wondering if anyone has tried making this with gluten free flour? if so how did it come out?
Jemma says
All I can say is thank you for this recipe, I made it today for the first time and it turned out great and I’ve never made bread before! So simple, anyone could make this!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's awesome Jemma! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I love that so many people who have never made bread before are able to do it so easily!
Leah says
(Edited because I forgot to add a rating)
I’ve been making this every week for Shabbat and my family loves it. I used to bake challah every week and it was really labor intensive, but now I just make this and everyone likes it way better! I leave out the rosemary because we eat the bread with a lot of dips.
Is there a whole wheat blend version that you use? I’ve been doing a 3:1 white/wheat blend that has been turning out pretty ok. I like the flavor of wheat bread better.
Thanks for the recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Hi Leah, I'm so glad you are enjoying the recipe. I have made challah a few times times and I can see why you turn to this recipe instead. It's much less work! I have never made a whole-wheat version of this bread because my son refuses to eat whole-wheat bread and this recipe is his favourite. But there is no reason why it wouldn't work. You should be able to go up to 50% whole-wheat with no problems. Any more than that and it might end up too heavy. Whole-wheat flour though is generally more absorbent than regular all purpose so you will probably need to up the water a bit. It's hard to say by how much without trying it. If you have made it with all all purpose flour you will know what the dough texture is like. You will need to replicate that with the whole-wheat. Maybe an extra 1/4 of a cup if I had to guess? Good luck!
Rebecca says
Have you ever added roasted garlic into the bread?
A Virtual Vegan says
I have and it's awesome. I usually just make the recipe as it says, then put it in the pan and poke the squishy roasted garlic cloves in with my finger all over the top. There are endless flavour combos you can experiment with with this recipe. Whole cherry tomatoes pushed in to the dough is another favourite of mine!
Heather McBride says
I was looking for recipes with sea salt and found your blog. Woah. This looks absolutely scrumptious. I'm a huge rosemary fan. I am going to make this for the next family gathering!
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you found me. Hope you enjoy it!
Heather McBride says
I've been watching the Great British Baking Show and I'm going to try and duplicate it. I'll let you know how I do.
SLG says
Hi there, I made this delicious bread today. I cooked it at 200 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes. The flavour was delicious but it seemed a little undercooked at the bottom. We ate it all the same as it was flavoursome.
Would you have any ideas why it turned out a little undercooked? Cheers
A Virtual Vegan says
Did you use an 8x8 pan or was it smaller? If it was smaller then it would have been deeper so would have taken longer to cook. Also was it a metal pan? I tested the recipe in a metal pan. If yours wasn't it could affect the cooking time. Even different kinds of metal pan conduct heat differently. Another thing that could affect it is if too much water was used. If the ingredients weren't measured exactly the ratio of flour to water could have been off and made the dough wetter which would make it take longer to cook. You could try increasing the temp to 420°F if you make it again. Hope that helps!
SLG says
Thanks! I’ll try it again!
Sunny Oneill says
I've never baked bread before but, my gosh, this is the simplest recipe for FANTASTIC focaccia. I cut the salt amount in half (that seemed still to be a little too much) and I didn't use as much olive oil (don't hate me, I used just about a Tbsp and a half to drizzle) and it tasted amazing.
I am going to make this for Thanksgiving and just to have it on hand because it's just that easy. And delicious! And while it was quite delicious fresh from the oven, I wrapped it in parchment then a seal of plastic wrap and it tasted every bit as wonderful on the last day as it did the first day. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It's the perfect recipe for someone who has never baked bread before and you can have all sorts of fun with different toppings. Try some herbs and cherry tomatoes pushed down into the dough before baking. It's so good and great to add moistness if you don't use much oil. Have a lovely Thanksgiving!
Sunny Oneill says
MMMMmmmm, that sounds so good, too!
Even with the reduced amount of olive oil, the was very moist, even after a few days (it's so good, it just doesn't stay uneaten for longer than that).
Veggie Steve says
My brother gave me a 12-hour no-knead focaccia recipe, and I can assure you, the hours and hours are worth the planning and waiting. This one is going to be made by Sunday, I can assure you, because if there's anything I love, it's bread!
My only caveat to this recipe is the "wait fifteen minutes before cutting" part. Hey, we waited EIGHT HOURS and FORTY MINUTES already! When it's cool enough to hold, it's cool enough to eat!
A Virtual Vegan says
Ha ha! I must admit to not following my own advice a lot of the time ????. Freshly baked bread is extremely hard to resist. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Ashley says
Best Recipe ever! Turned out so good! My husband and I devoured it! Thank you for such a great recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! That makes me so happy to hear and thank you so much for coming back to leave feedback!
Ruth says
made the Easy Tomato Basil Soup and Miracle No Knead Focaccia with Rosemary & Sea Salt Bread - AWESOME - thank you for sharing this wonderful recipes
A Virtual Vegan says
Brilliant! So glad you enjoyed them both. They are such a good match!
kellie@foodtoglow says
Just saw this on one of the board's we both pin to and I had to come by and see it before I pinned it for myself. It looks and sounds awesome Mel! I do a few no-knead breads that are quite different to this (involving seeds or whole foods instead of flour), but the idea of an actual real-life focaccia is quite enticing. Never mind pinning, I will soon be making it!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much Kellie. I make it at least once a week. It's so easy and so good! I hope you enjoy it when you try it. ????
Lizza Lamp says
I made this last night - very easy and very, very good! I will cut back on the salt on top slightly next time, but that was my only issue. Right out of the oven the texture was perfect - crispy on top and tender in the middle. And the flavor was divine - thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to come back and leave feedback. I really appreciate it!
Caroline says
This was really great! I did the bread mixture in my stand mixer and then let it rise in that bowl. I'd use a tad less water next time. Instead of the 1 Tbs. of sea salt, I used garlic salt and that sent it out of this world!
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you enjoyed it Caroline. I will have to try garlic salt next time I make it!
Susan says
I made this today and it was so easy and delicious! My sandwiches for work for the next few days are going to be amazing!
A Virtual Vegan says
Your comment has made my day Susan! I am so very happy that you love the recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave feedback!