Easy focaccia bread recipe | Jamie Oliver bread recipes (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to use bread flour or all purpose flour for focaccia? ›

Focaccia: The two focaccias were very different. The one made with bread flour was taller, airier, had much more open bubbles in the crumb, and browned nicely. In the mixer, the all-purpose dough never seemed to come together as a cohesive whole in the same way as the bread flour dough.

As mentioned above, focaccia bread is different from pizza dough because of the amount of yeast in the dough. That causes it to rise and become airy and puffy in the oven—it's typically about a half to one-inch-thick.

Now, focaccia uses plenty of olive oil, not only in the dough, but for kneading, proofing, in the baking pan, and on the bread's surface before baking. All this fat means the texture is light, moist and springy, the crust emerges golden and crisp, plus the center stays soft for days afterwards.

Not allowing the focaccia to proof long enough in the fridge will prevent enough gluten from being formed. This causes flat and dense focaccia once baked.

You can use all-purpose flour as a 1:1 substitute for bread flour and vice-versa. For example, for 1 cup of bread flour, you can use 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Bread and pizza crust made with all-purpose flour may have a little less chew than those made with bread flour, but the results will still be good.

Trust me. This dough will be very, very wet – almost like cake mix. If you can, wet your hands (to stop them sticking) and fold the dough over a little, just to see what a dough of this wetness (or 'hydration') feels like.

Because it creates the kind of focaccia that I like, light and fluffy instead of fine crumbed and cakey. Focaccia is all about olive oil, on the dough, in the dough, in the topping, and finally a little drizzle when it comes out off the oven nice and hot. It may SEEM like a lot but it's a big bread we're making here!

A moderate consumption of focaccia bread can be healthy. It is because complex carbs in focaccia offer the body energy slowly and help control blood sugar levels. In addition, it gains an advantage if it contains whole wheat flour. It is also rich in vitamin, mineral, and fibre content.

It could be the type of flour you used. The best flour to use to make focaccia bread is bread flour which gives you fluffy baked bread. Or, it could also be because you did not knead the dough enough for the gluten to form a structure which can result in flat or dense bread.

Focaccia is an Italian flatbread. It can be thick and pillowy or thin with chewy, crispy edges.

What are the two important things 6 olive oil does for focaccia? ›

Olive oil does two important things for focaccia bread: 1) it lends a rich fruity flavor and 2) it creates a tender crumb and crisp crust.

Today, I am sharing a simple focaccia bread recipe that is crispy on the outside and airy, fluffy in the inside. I used only bread flour for this recipe but feel free to use all-purpose or whole wheat flour.

Ingredients: Almost all focaccia varieties use flour, water, salt, oil, and yeast. Two rising periods: In the first period, the dough is mixed together, then set to rest and rise (also called bulk fermentation). In the latter period, the dough is deflated, then transferred to a pan for a second rise.

Bread flour produces baked goods with more structure and chew than all-purpose flour, as all-purpose only has a protein content of 10 to 12 percent, versus the 12 to 14 percent of bread. All-purpose flour produces tender baked goods (as opposed to chewy ones) and is ideal for cakes, muffins, biscuits, piecrust, etc.

Only using standard all-purpose flour

Strong, glutenous bread flour is one component of good focaccia bread. Substituting some (not all) of the all-purpose flour for bread flour in your recipe will result in a more elastic and stretchy texture.

Why is my focaccia dough so sticky? It's normal for focaccia dough to be sticky! As long as it isn't a soup and you can turn it over and coat it with oil, your dough is probably fine. This focaccia recipe is a “no-knead” recipe and the high hydration helps the gluten to form without kneading.

Swapping in bread flour for all-purpose flour in cookies won't change the flavor of your cookies at all. Rather, the switch will impact the texture of your final product. The result? Cookies that are chewier than the all-purpose version.