No Need To Knead: This Easy Focaccia Recipe Requires Minimal Effort (2024)

FAQs

Does focaccia need kneading? ›

Making the dough

Mix everything with your dough scraper until it starts to come together and add the olive oil. Mix again into a dough and since we are not kneading this one, it's really important that it comes together into a cohesive mass; no lumps, dry patches, or oily areas.

WATER: Moisture, in the form of warm water, is needed to activate the yeast and hydrate the dough so the gluten can develop. Because focaccia dough isn't kneaded with a traditional kneading process, this dough relies on a higher hydration level.

The method uses a long rise instead of kneading to align the dough's gluten molecules with each other so as to produce a strong, elastic network, resulting in long, sticky strands. The automatic alignment is possible because of the wetness of the dough, which makes the molecules more mobile.

Bread flour is slightly higher in protein than All-purpose, so gives the focaccia just a little more chew. I love the mix of both, but just AP flour works just fine too! See FAQ for using only AP flour in the recipe if that is what you have. Yeast - I used instant yeast in this recipe.

Over-kneaded dough can become very hard to work with and produce a more flat and chewy bread. It's vital to stop mixing at the first signs of over-kneading, as a fully over-kneaded dough cannot be fixed.

A failure to knead dough (unless you're working with a no-knead recipe) can lead to: Poor gluten development: When you don't knead bread, the gluten won't form properly. This can result in a lack of elasticity and strength, meaning your final product is likely to come out of the oven dense and heavy.

Herb Oil – Made with olive oil, fresh or dry herbs, kosher salt, black pepper, and minced garlic. Bread Flour – Using bread flour gives the focaccia a chewy texture; you can substitute all-purpose flour without ruining the recipe, but your bread will be significantly lighter and missing that characteristic texture.

Why is my bread dense: Usually bread will be too dense when there is too much flour. Keep in mind this dough will be pretty sticky, do not add more flour than specified. Other factors that come into play are humidity and age of flour. Little yeast, long rise, sticky dough are keys to a good, light loaf.

With our own bread baking, we have experienced that not enough gluten results in collapse of free standing loafs and too much gluten results in a compact crumb without the so desired large holes. The protein content of the flour we use when making rustic bread, giving us the best result, lies between 12 and 13%.

Classic no-knead bread (made with ¼ tsp instant yeast and 2¾ cups of flour) often tastes flat and dull. That lack of flavor comes from the yeast outpacing enzymes and consuming too many of the available sugars in the dough.

How do you know if no-knead bread has risen enough? ›

No knead dough doesn't rise like standard yeast breads, it only puffs up and gets bubbly. It will be a little bigger after the resting time but don't look for a much larger volume.

Focaccia made with high-protein bread flour produces the best results, but all-purpose flour will work as well.

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.

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.

Use a sourdough starter or other means of natural leavening to give focaccia dough its rise. A long rise with natural leavening is the best way to make focaccia, as this method creates subtle new flavors and deeper complexity.

Sandwich breads are kneaded more. Really wet doughs, like a rustic French miche, are hardly kneaded at all.

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.

Why is my focaccia not fluffy or chewy? 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.