Garlic Bread Focaccia

Thick and soft, Ligurian-style focaccia is the base for this simple, homemade garlic bread focaccia recipe. My favorite homemade focaccia bread gets drenched in flavorful garlic butter and dotted with lots of fresh herbs.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, garlic bread is my favorite food. I will gladly forgo a slice of cake or spoonful of tiramisu for dessert in order to eat more garlic bread. I especially like it leftover for breakfast with fried eggs, but honestly, I cannot think of a time when I don’t want to be eating garlic bread.

I also feel this way about focaccia. Last week, I read about a little restaurant in St. Paul called Due Focacceria, an Italian cafe that serves Capalleti Spritzs and focaccia a bunch of different ways. The night after I read about this restaurant, I dreamt about it and that doesn’t feel weird at all. Focaccia is one of the best breads for many reasons, but it’s my favorite because it’s the simplest. It takes almost no effort to mix together a batch of focaccia dough and then you go to sleep while it does its thing and when you wake up, you are two hours and a dimpling away from snacking on freshly baked bread. The marriage of these two things just feels right.

how to make focaccia

Focaccia is a high-hydration, Italian-style bread. My basic recipe is very lightly adapted from Samin Nosrat and you can find it here. I also highly recommend hopping on Netflix and watching Samin make a batch of focaccia in Liguria in the “Fat” episode of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. I’ve played around with a lot of dough recipes and the thing that I love about Samin’s recipe is the brining step. After mixing together the dough and letting it rest overnight, we dump the dough into a well-oiled pan and stretch it for another proof. After giving it about 30 minutes for the gluten strands to relax, we’ll stretch it again into its final shape, dimple it, and brine it in a little bit of salt water. This extra little step adds so much moisture and flavor to the dough, you don’t want to skip it! Even if you already have a favorite focaccia recipe, I recommend you add brining as a step—you won’t be disappointed.

After the second proof, the dough is dimpled again and drizzled with olive oil. For this garlic bread focaccia, we’ll sprinkle the top with a bunch of fresh herbs. I used rosemary, thyme, and oregano, but you can use any of your favorites. The focaccia is baked until golden brown and crispy.

While the focaccia is baking, we make the garlic butter by heating a bunch of garlic, butter, red pepper flakes, and salt over low heat until fragrant and the garlic is softened. Smash the garlic into small pieces and return it to the butter and the drench the focaccia with the garlic butter right when it comes out of the oven.

Yield

one 9x13" baking dish

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Inactive time

12 Hour

Total time

12 H & 55 M

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Garlic Bread Focaccia

Thick and soft, Ligurian-style focaccia is the base for this simple, homemade garlic bread focaccia recipe. My homemade focaccia bread gets drenched in flavorful garlic butter and dotted with lots of fresh herbs. Base focaccia recipe inspired by Samin Nosrat.

Ingredients

for the dough

• 600g (2 1/2 cups) water
• 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 15g (2 1/2 tsp) honey
• 800g (5 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
• 18g (2 tbsp) kosher salt
• 50g (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil, plus more for pan and drizzling

for the saltwater brine

• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

for the garlic butter

• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 sprigs fresh oregano
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 large cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• Flaky salt

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, stir together water, yeast, olive oil, and honey. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add flour and salt and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined and no flour streaks remain. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest on your countertop for 12-14 hours, until doubled in volume. (I like to mix this together before bed and let it rest overnight.)
2. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of a 9x13” baking dish. Turn dough out onto the baking sheet and gently stretch the dough towards to the edges of the pan. To do this without tearing the dough, I like to reach my hands underneath and gently pulling it towards the outside. At this point, it will probably shrink back a bit, but that’s okay. Drizzle the whole thing with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, use your fingers to dimple the entire surface of the dough. Stir together warm water and salt and then pour brine over the top of the dimpled dough. Cover again and proof for another 45 minutes.
4. About 30 minutes into your final proof, preheat your oven to 425° F. When the oven is hot and the dough is proofed, remove cover, sprinkle with fresh herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30-35 minutes, until deeply golden brown.
5. While the focaccia is baking, combine butter, garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan. Set over low heat and cook until butter is melted and garlic cloves have softened. Remove garlic cloves, roughly chop, and return them to the butter.
6. Pour garlic butter over hot focaccia and sprinkle with flaky salt. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, and then use a spatula to loosen the edges from the side of the pan.

Similar Recipes

Thoughts about Blogging and Samin Nosrat's Ligurian Focaccia

Alon Shaya's Pitas

Briolata

Schiacciata with Caramelized Onions and Figs

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Asiago Challah

Inspired by the Panera Bread asiago loaf, this easy challah bread recipe is filled and topped with shredded asiago cheese.

It’s been a good, long while since I shared a bread recipe on here so today is bread day! I get in a mood in the summertime where I don’t love bread-making as much as I do during other months. Maybe it’s the heat and the fact that I would prefer to live on cocktails, guzzle-able wine, and ice cream, and avocados from May to September. So when I do make bread in the summer, it can’t be a whole production. No preferments or overnight cold proofs allowed. This means that my summer glutens come from focaccia, flatbreads, and of course, challah.

If you’ve been around the blog for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about how much I love challah. But in case you missed it, here are seven reasons why challah is the very best bread.

why challah is the best

1. It makes the best toast. Really, the best toast. I like to keep loaves in my freezer and pull them out when I have overnight guests so that they wake up to warm challah toast.

2. You can make a batch in one day (No overnight resting needed!) As I noted before, no overnight resting = year round bread in my book.

3. It's enriched with eggs and fat, but not as decadent as brioche. Ok, so challah is an enriched dough, meaning it has eggs and fat (butter or oil) added to the dough. This gives us a luxurious, soft bread, but without the heaviness and richness of other enriched breads, like brioche.

4. It's the most versatile--use it for cinnamon rolls or garlic knots. Case in point, this recipe is just a little riff on my Favorite Challah recipe.

5. It's fun to braid and shape. I’ve gotten lost down many Youtube/TikTok rabbit holes of challah braiding tutorials. You can literally google “how to braid challah” and find a million different step-by-step videos and they are so much fun to play around with. Challah Prince is one of my favorites.

6. It freezes like a dream. Remember earlier when I said that I keep a loaf in my freezer for guests? Just pop your cooled loaf in a freezer bag and defrost it whenever you need it!

7. You don't need a mixer or any fancy equipment. I discovered in all my challah making that I actually prefer to make challah with my hands. The dough amount is a tad too much for my standing mixer and I find it takes too long and I spend too much time scraping it off the hook. I prefer to mix my dough with a wooden spoon and give it an old-fashioned hand kneading. As Ina Garten would say, “how easy is that?”

about the asiago challah

This recipe is simply a twist on a classic challah, with shredded asiago cheese mixed into the dough and sprinkled on top. You can sub asiago for a different type of cheese, but I would stick to another hard cheese, like parmesan, so you don’t end up adding too much moisture to the dough. Because it has a mix-in, this loaf may take a few more minutes to bake and it needs to cool completely before slicing or the inside will be gummy. If the tops are getting too browned, you can always tent it with a piece of foil while it finishes baking.

Yield: makes two loaves

Author: Anna Ramiz

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Asiago Challah

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinInactive time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 3 H & 34 M

My very favorite everyday challah recipe with shredded asiago cheese folded into the eggy dough.

Ingredients

• 400 g (3 cups) all purpose flour
• 280 g (2 cups) bread flour
• 285 g (1 1/4 cups) buttermilk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 110 g (1/3 cup) honey
• 90 g (1/2 cup) oil, like avocado*
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (80 g) asiago cheese, shredded, plus more for topping
• more flour for dusting
• one egg, for egg wash

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, warmed, and yeast. Stir and let rest for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. When yeast is ready, add eggs, egg yolks, honey, oil, and the rest of the buttermilk. Whisk to combine.
3. Add all purpose flour, bread flour, and salt to the bowl and use a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula to stir until all of the flour has been moistened and a shaggy dough begins to form. Add the asiago cheese and stir to mix in.
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Knead dough on the countertop for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and the dough passes the window pane test.
5. Wipe a small amount of oil around a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the dough is doubled in size.
6. When proofed, punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a bench scraper and a kitchen scale to divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape dough into small rounds, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
7. Shape each dough round into a rope, about 8” in length. You should now have eight ropes, four for each challah loaf.
8. My go-to shape is a four-strand challah braid. If you want to do a three or five strand braid, just divide your dough into the appropriate number of pieces. Shape the challah loaves: I started to type out all of the steps for braiding, but I find that it is SO MUCH EASIER to watch a video that shows exactly where each strand should go. Here’s a great one that I’ve used often.
9. Place braided challah loaves on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.
10. When there is 10 minutes left in the final proofing time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tops of the challah with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining asiago cheese.
11. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 15 minutes until challah is deeply golden brown.

Similar Recipes

Caramelized Tomato and Mozzarella Bread

Pesto-Filled Challah Snails

Briolata

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Spiced Scallion Semolina Bread

I tested this bread four times in one week. The idea for a spiced, savory loaf that didn’t need a sourdough starter had been swirling in my head for a couple of weeks and I had been researching and tweaking until I got the flavors right. Trial Loaf #1 was proofed overnight and baked first thing in the morning. It was a thing of beauty. The crust was golden, the scoring was symmetrical, and the crumb had little threads of ground spices and scallions marbled throughout. The weather, however, was the absolute worst and it stormed all day. It was the kind of storm where those heavy gray clouds filled the sky and though I waited all day, there was never enough light in my house to photograph it. So we did it again. Trial Loaf #2 was fine. I tried playing a bit with the proofing times and didn’t give it a cold proof, which left a little to be desired when it came to oven spring. For Trial #3, I changed the hydration and salt levels and it ended up being both the best tasting and ugliest loaf so far. Figures. By the time we got around to Trial Loaf #4, I’d had my fair share of spiced scallion semolina bread. Luckily, in this case, the fourth time was the charm and though I wasn’t thrilled with the scoring, I was able to get a few passable photographs. All of this to say, if it first you don’t succeed, keep baking bread until you never want to see a loaf again.

All of that being said, this is a fantastic loaf of bread. Like I mentioned before, it doesn’t use a sourdough starter so if you are uninterested in the ten-day culture making process, this one is for you. The procedure does follow that of an artisan bread, with a longer bulk fermentation, followed by an overnight cold-proof. It’s ultra-savory, and has a flavor a little like that of a scallion pancake. You could definitely sub in caramelized onions if you don't have scallions, toss in a little roasted garlic, or experiment with the spices. Don’t skimp on that semolina flour though! It gives a bright, yellow color and a slightly more coarsely ground texture to the final loaf that you won’t want to miss.

Lastly, because I was close to drowning in a sea of spiced scallion semolina bread last month, I can say with great authority that this bread makes excellent breakfast sandwiches. Swoosh it with a little mayo or aioli, pile on your favorite greens and top it with a fried egg. Bon Appetite!

Spiced Scallion Semolina Bread 

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients: 

12 oz (340 g) warm water

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp honey

2 T (20 g) olive oil, plus more for greasing the bowl and sautéing the scallions

2 tsp kosher salt

250 g all purpose flour

200 g semolina flour

1 bunch (7-8) scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 T cumin seeds

1 T fennel seeds

Procedure: 

to make the dough:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine water, honey, and yeast. Let set for 5 minutes, until yeast is foamy. 

2. Add olive oil, all purpose flour, semolina flour, and salt and mix on low speed until flour is combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and knead for 3-5 minutes, until a cohesive dough forms and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. 

3. Transfer dough to a large bowl that has been rubbed with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap.

proofing the dough and making the spiced scallions (first proof: total of 3 hours)

1. Let proof for 1 hour. 

2. While the dough is proofing, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Add chopped scallions and cook for 3-5 minutes until softened. Roughly chop cumin and fennel seeds and then add them to the pan with the scallions. Cook another minute or two, until the mixture is fragrant, and then remove from heat and let cool completely. 

3. After an hour of proofing, perform a fold on the dough. Gently pull the dough from the bottom, out and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat. Do this four times in total, until you have folded all four sides of the dough. Cover dough, and let proof for another hour. 

4. After the second hour, repeat the same series of folds as the first time. Add the cooled spiced scallion mixture, and gently pinch it in until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and proof for one more hour. 

shaping the dough (and an overnight proof)

1. After the final hour, turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Flour it the top and gently press into a rectangle. Pull the bottom of the dough out and fold up, about 2/3 of the way up the rectangle. Pull the left and right sides out and fold them in, over the center of the dough, and then flip the entire parcel up over the top third of the dough, like you are closing an envelope. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 15-20 minutes. 

2. After this resting period, you will form the final shape of the dough and transfer it to proofing baskets to complete its final rise. To shape the dough, use your bench knife to flip your round over on the surface, so that your smooth side is down. This will be the outer crust of your bread. Gently pat the dough into a rough rectangle shape. Grasp the bottom lip of the dough and fold it up, about 2/3 of the way, like you are folding a letter. Press the edge into the dough. Grasp the right side of the dough, stretch it out and over so that it crosses to the left side. Repeat this with the left side. You should have an envelope looking dough shape now. Grab the top side of the dough, stretch it out slightly and fold it over the entire package like you are closing an envelope. Take hold of the dough nearest to you and flip the entire package up and over (away from you) so that all of the seams are on the bottom. Wrap the basket in plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to rest overnight.

baking the bread: 

1. When you are ready to bake, place a large Dutch oven with a lid in your oven and preheat to 500° F. You want the Dutch oven to be very hot when you add your bread to it.  

2. When your oven and pot are preheated, carefully remove the Dutch oven. Flip your dough out of the basket onto a piece of parchment paper. Quickly, use a knife or a lame to score the top of your dough and then grab the sides of the parchment paper and carefully lower it into the Dutch oven. Place the lid back on the Dutch oven and bake for 20 minutes, covered. 

3. After 20 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the Dutch oven and lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

more recipes like this

briolata: sicilian-style sausage bread

go to recipe

herbed focaccia

go to recipe

classic sourdough

go to recipe