Easy Homemade Focaccia Bread

I’ve made this amazing focaccia recipe so many times! Our easy homemade focaccia bread is absolutely perfect for beginners. We make the dough with homemade garlic rosemary olive oil, which makes the bread taste incredible!

Watch the Recipe

Focaccia was one of the first bread recipes I learned to make, and even though that was many years ago, I still come back to it. Focaccia bread is easy (I promise).

With our focaccia recipe, you’ll make homemade focaccia that is soft, chewy inside, beautifully golden brown, and crisp around the edges. It also tastes amazing thanks to our easy garlic and herb infused olive oil used to make dough and for baking the bread.

Key Ingredients

• Olive oil: Makes focaccia taste delicious, adding to its texture and flavor. The secret to the best focaccia bread is using a great olive oil. You don’t need to spend lots of money (use the olive oil you enjoy).
• Garlic, thyme, and rosemary: For extra flavor, I infuse the olive oil for this focaccia recipe with garlic and herbs. I love rosemary focaccia, so I use fresh rosemary, but you can try a different blend of herbs if you’d like to (or leave them out and just make garlic focaccia).
• Flour: All-purpose flour or bread flour is perfect for making focaccia bread. I use all-purpose most of the time since that’s what I stock in my kitchen.
• Instant yeast: The method for making focaccia below works with active dry or instant yeast, but I find that instant yeast typically has a bit more pep, so that’s what I keep in my kitchen.
• Sugar: A bit of sugar (1/4 teaspoon) helps wake up our yeast. Use sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

How to Make Focaccia Bread

To make homemade focaccia, we’ll first make our garlic and herb olive oil. It’s so easy and makes the bread unbelievably delicious. I combine the olive oil with minced garlic, thyme, rosemary, and black pepper in a skillet over low heat. I’m not trying to brown the garlic and herbs, only warm them to release flavor and oils into the olive oil.

While the oil cools, start your dough. Just like making pizza dough, the first step for focaccia is to wake up your yeast. So add it to a bowl with warm water and a small amount of sugar. Stir a few times, and then let it start to bubble. If you don’t see any bubbling after 5 minutes, you probably have dead yeast, so you will need to get more yeast and try again. You can see the bubbles around the edge of the bowl in the next photo (they look small and foamy).

Now stir in some of the flour and some of the infused olive oil, then let the wet dough sit for 5 minutes before adding the remaining flour and salt (salt can inhibit yeast, which is why we are adding it now as opposed to earlier).

At this point, the focaccia dough looks shaggy and may be sticky. I gently knead it 5 to 10 times to bring it together, then allow it to rise in a warm(ish) area until doubled in size. If your oven has a proof setting, use it. It proofs for about 1 hour. (For my tips on proofing focaccia dough in the refrigerator overnight, see our recipe tips below.)

Now it’s time to bake your focaccia, so empty the dough into an oiled 9×13-inch rimmed baking sheet or pan. Add lots of dimples with your fingertips, and then pour over more of your infused olive oil.

You’ll let the dough rise again, but for 20 minutes this time, and then bake in a hot oven until golden brown (about 20 minutes).

How to Make Overnight Focaccia

You can make focaccia dough up to 3 days in advance. Make the dough according to our recipe, but instead of proofing the dough at room temperature for the first rise, proof it in the refrigerator. Oil the dough well, place it into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a sealed lid, and leave it for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the focaccia, dump the dough onto your oiled baking pan and add more oil. Since the dough is cold, allow it to sit on the counter for 2 hours. After 2 hours, your dough should be at room temperature. Use your fingers to press the dough down into the pan and add dimples. Pour over the rest of your infused olive oil, and let the dough proof for 20 to 30 minutes before baking it in the oven.

Storing Focaccia

Baked focaccia lasts at room temperature for 2 days. Keep it in an airtight container so that it does not dry out. For long-term storage (longer than 2 days), freeze your bread. Freeze your baked and cooled focaccia bread in an airtight bag or container for up to 1 month. I like to cut the focaccia into portions and wrap them in foil before adding them to a freezer bag. Thaw at room temperature for an hour or two before reheating.

To reheat, bake in a 375°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes. If the bread seems dry, misting with a little water before baking helps revive it. If your focaccia bread is past its prime, cut it into cubes and make homemade croutons!

What to Serve with Focaccia

Our family makes a lot of homemade focaccia! We love using it for sandwiches. I love it with this tuna salad or this egg salad. It’s amazing dipped into soup. Try our creamy vegetable soup, homemade tomato soup, or this white bean soup with kale.

You can serve focaccia with dips. I especially love this easy olive oil dip and our creamy spinach and artichoke dip. And, this bread goes really well with anything Italian like these big Italian meatballs or lasagna.

I also love turning this into focaccia pizza! Bake the bread as directed, and top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Slide back into the oven and bake until bubbly.