Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia

Yield: 1 large 9”x 13” loaf

Prep/Inactive Time: ~4 hours

Cook Time: 1 hour

Let’s be honest, nothing is better than fresh made bread! Yes, it takes a good amount of time and patience but we promise you won’t regret this.

Ingredients

6 ¼ cups (or 850g) bread flour

3 cups room temp water, divided

2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

1 ½ tablespoons salt

5 Tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for greasing and drizzling

Optional: Rosemary garlic oil (recipe below)

Directions

1. Combine flour and 2 ½ cups warm water in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough is formed. Let dough rest while preparing the yeast mixture.

2. In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and ½ cup of warm water. Mix with a fork and let sit for about 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

3. Pour yeast mixture into the stand mixer bowl and gently mix into dough while on low speed. Add in salt and continue to mix, increasing speed to medium. The dough will start to look very elastic and be very sticky (almost like a batter). This should take about 5 minutes.

4. Pour 3 tablespoons of oil into a large (very LARGE) bowl, swirling to coat the sides. Scrape dough into the oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm area until the dough has doubled in size (2-3 hours).

5. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of oil in a 9x13# pan, using fingertips to spread the oil throughout the entire pan. Using a spatula, deflate the dough and then scrape into the baking pan. Using oiled hands, push dough into all the corners of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, placing a rack in the center of the oven.

7. Remove plastic and drizzle with prepared garlic rosemary oil (or regular olive oil). Using oiled hands, start pressing fingers down through the dough to make dimples. Sprinkle generously with salt.

8. Bake focaccia until the surface is deep golden brown all over, 25-35 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then slide a metal spatula underneath to the bread from the pan (fyi this will be kind of tough but I promise the hard work will be worth it). Let cool completely on a wire wrack before cutting. Enjoy with more garlic rosemary olive oil!

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Garlic Rosemary Oil

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh rosemary

4-6 cloves garlic, smashed

To make the infused oil, simply combine all the ingredients into a small pot and heat on medium-low heat until small bubbles start to form. Let bubble for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and let the ingredients infuse into oil for 1 hour. Now it’s ready to use!