Best Overnight Focaccia

Rosemary, thyme, and black pepper focaccia baked in a 18x13 sheet pan served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Focaccia baked in a 9x9 square pan

Our first time trying focaccia was at a local Maryland restaurant called Facci, and they had super thick and crispy slices of focaccia just like this!

I’ve made focaccia so many times before, but this is definitely the best one. After making a few adjustments to my original recipe, I turned out with this scrumptious loaf of 360° golden, crispy edges packed with herbs and yummy olive oil. I used pasta water (aka liquid gold) instead of normal water for an extra dimension of flavor, and I left the dough for a slow rise in the refrigerator overnight. The pasta water is optional, but I had it from a previous meal and couldn’t bear dumping it down the drain.

You can always switch out the herbs to create different flavor profiles. I use dry herbs because they are much easier to store, but you could definitely use fresh ones instead. My favorites are garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and red pepper flakes! You could also add pesto, shredded cheese, parmesan cheese, fresh vegetables, or even keep it plain.

What’s the same?

• Dough ingredients

  • Focaccia at its simplest form is just bread flour, water, salt, yeast, and olive oil. The bread flour’s high protein content allows for great gluten formation, and using all-purpose may yield a wetter dough and less chewy loaf. Using a high quality olive olive oil is important for good flavor, and the rest of the flavor comes from your choice of herbs.

• Ingredient ratios

  • I find that the hydration of this dough works really well for a fluffy, moist crumb and a crispy top with tons of flavor.

• Infused olive oil

  • By heating oil and herbs, the flavor is well distributed throughout the loaf.

What’s new?

• Overnight cold fermentation

  • A slower fermentation is my preferred method when it comes to focaccia and crusty bread because it allows the development of much more flavor! Yeast not only help create gas bubbles but also create compounds that improve the flavor of bread. You can still make the bread with a room temperature fermentation within 1-2 hours, but the overnight version is much tastier.

• Baking pan

  • I swapped the glass baking dish for a metal pan—the result? Much crispier, darker edges of the bread!

• Loaf thickness

  • Instead of dividing the dough into two 9-inch rounds, I put all of the dough into one 9x9 square cake pan. I have also baked this dough in a 18x13 sheet pan, and it produced a thinner, crispy focaccia more like a flatbread. This is all up to personal preference!

• Butter + olive oil – parchment paper = CRISPY BOTTOM

  • I previously used parchment paper to prevent the bread from sticking, but I didn’t like how soft the bottom and sides were. With only olive oil, the bread often sticks to the pan (even when using copious amounts). I discovered that using a combination of butter and olive oil (butter first, then olive oil on top) allowed the loaf to come cleanly out of the pan while creating a flavorful, crispy crust 360º around!

• Focaccia brine

  • A salt water brine adds a little saltiness to the crust and keeps the bread super moist throughout the bake. I (again) used pasta water for the brine, but you can just use a mixture of water and salt.

• Oven temperature

  • I typically bake my focaccia at 400ºF, but oftentimes have to increase the temperature in order to properly brown the top. I increased the baking temperature to 425ºF and kept the time the same. This helped with the browning as well as cooking the thicker loaf all the way through.

• Pasta water (optional)

  • Pasta water is liquid gold. It’s salty, starchy, and has a unique flavor on its own. I reserved pasta water from another meal and used it in my bread, but this is totally optional. Note that, if you use pasta water, you may have to reduce or even leave out any added salt depending on how much salt you added before—adjust it to taste. I ended up adding no extra salt, and it turned out perfectly (I’m not sure the %salinity of my pasta water, though).

Best Overnight Focaccia
Active Prep Time: 30 mins
nactive Prep Time: 12-14 hours
Cook Time: 25 mins
Yield: 1 loaf, 16 slices

Ingredients For dough:

• 512 g bread flour

• 2 tsp active dry yeast

• 1 ½ tsp kosher salt (adjust or omit if using salted pasta water)

• 440 g cold water or pasta water

• 1 ½ tbsp olive oil

• optional: 1-2 tbsp dry herbs of choice (eg. rosemary, thyme, black pepper, crushed garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, etc.)

For topping and pan greasing:

• ½-1 tbsp unsalted butter, cold

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp dry herbs of choice (eg. rosemary, thyme, black pepper, crushed garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, etc.)

For brine:

• 60 g water

• 1 tsp salt
  
  

Directions
Dough preparation and first rise:

1. If adding herbs: in a small saucepan over medium low heat, combine olive oil and herbs of choice and heat until fragrant, but do not allow anything to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Add flour, salt, and yeast to a large bowl and combine well.

3. Add the infused oil with herbs to the dry ingredients. Using a dough hook hand mixer on medium low speed, slowly pour in the water. Run mixer for 8-10 minutes to form a sticky, elastic dough.

4. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in the refrigerator overnight for 12-14 hours (adjust as necessary, the timing isn't too exact).

Pan preparation and second rise:

5. Use your fingers to thoroughly grease a metal pan with ½-1 tablespoon of cold butter.
6. Drizzle 1-2 tbsp of olive oil into the bottom of the pan and spread the oil to the edges.
7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and carefully turn the dough out into the greased pan. Use your fingers to softly stretch the dough to the pan edges without disturbing or deflating the dough too much. Create shallow dimples in the dough with your fingers (you will be dimpling the dough again right before baking).
8. Drizzle another tablespoon of olive oil onto the dough, sprinkle any more herbs, and leave at room temperature to rise for 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, prepare your dough brine by mixing together the water and salt (or just using 4 tablespoons of salted pasta water).
10. After the first proof of 30 minutes, evenly distributing into the dough dimples, but try to keep too much from seeping underneath the dough. Continue proofing the dough for 30 more minutes.

Baking:

11. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Right before baking, use your fingers to poke deep dimples over the entire surface of the dough. If preferred, drizzle a bit more olive oil onto the bread to slightly pool in the dimples. Sprinkle evenly with flaky sea salt and place in oven in the middle rack.
12. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Timing may vary depending on the thickness of your bread. If the bread still looks pale, transfer to a higher oven rack and/or turn the oven temperature up to 450°F.

Serving and storing:

13. Slice into 16 pieces and serve warm or at room temperature. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Per slice: 150 calories: 24.2 g carbs; 4 g fat; 4 g protein