This no knead focaccia bread was made a while ago. It came out beautifully and drew the family into the kitchen at lightning speed with its delightful aroma. It was topped with homegrown baby tomatoes and rosemary along with red onion, chilli flakes and garlic. All the flavours sang in every mouthful and every little crumb disappeared in no time at all.
This no knead focaccia bread is quite simple to make and as the title says, it does not involve any kneading. But it does take some time, so you will need to plan accordingly. But, then again, for most of that time, the dough is just resting, and does not need constant hands on attention. So, one can go about doing other things in the meantime. Or one might decide to just relax with some music or read a book in the meantime. It’s all good as long you remember to keep your timer on and check on the dough when needed.
Make sure that the yeast you are using is still good to be used or else it might affect the results.
Continue reading for the full printable recipe for this no knead focaccia bread.
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Recipe card-
No knead focaccia bread
A no knead focaccia bread which is easy to make and has a flavourful topping.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 4 cups plain flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1½ tsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1½ cup lukewarm water
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the topping (this can be readied when the dough is resting for the last 30 minutes)
- 10 baby tomatoes, halved (I used red and yellow)
- 4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
- a few sprigs of rosemary, chopped
- ½ a red onion, sliced
- 1 tsp crushed red chillies
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
To spray
- a little water ( at room temperature) in a small spray bottle to spray over the dough and in the oven before baking
To grease tray and hands while handling dough
- olive oil
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the flour, sugar and yeast and mix together.
- Dissolve the salt in the lukewarm water.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the salty water.
- Add the 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
- Use a spatula to just bring everything together.
- Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
- Grease another clean bowl liberally with some olive oil. (see notes below)
- Using a spatula, transfer the dough into the second bowl.
- Liberally grease your hand with olive oil and lift and fold in the dough from all sides; lifting it up at one end and tucking it in towards the centre.
- Turn the smooth side up, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Fold two more times at 30 minute intervals.
- So far, altogether, the pattern from the beginning should be minutes – mix with spatula and rest for 20 minutes, fold and rest for 30 minutes, second fold and rest for 30 minutes, third fold and rest for 30 minutes.
- Lightly grease a baking tray (mine was about 14 by 13 inches) and line with parchment paper. Grease the top of the parchment paper very well with olive oil.
- Tip the dough onto the tray.
- With oiled hands, fold the dough in from the sides, tuck in and turn over.
- Use the tips of your fingers to spread out the dough; mine was about 11 by 13 inches after spreading.
- Cover the dough with and oiled plastic wrap and let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, ready the topping.
- Add all the ingredients for the topping in a bowl, mix well and keep aside.
- Pre heat the oven at 250 deg C.
- Remove the plastic wrap.
- With greased hands, and using just your fingertips, make dimples all over the dough.
- Pick out the tomatoes and onions from the topping mixture and arrange them over the dimpled dough.
- Spoon the rest of the topping. I spooned enough of the olive oil mixture on top, but did not use all of it. I did take out most of the spices and herbs in the oil and spooned it over. I saved the extra olive oil mixture and used it later for dipping the baked bread in. If you wish, you can sprinkle some salt over the top. I did not add any.
- Take the sprayer with the water and spray about 6-7 bursts of water over the surface of the prepared dough; this will moisten the top and give a better rise.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 230 deg C.
- Place the tray in the centre of the oven.
- Spray some more water directly and quickly into the oven (6-7 bursts). This will help create steam which in turn will help the bread rise better.
- Quickly shut the oven door and bake for 15-16 minutes.
- Take the bread out of the oven and transfer to a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes.
- Slice and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- If you wish, you can skip this and continue to do the rest of the steps in the first bowl, but using a second bowl helps to handle the sticky dough better.
All the baking recipes in this website can be found here.
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Until next time,
Sunita
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