If you have ever wanted to try your hand at breadmaking, but you haven’t been sure where exactly to start, no-knead Focaccia bread is crazy simple and perfect for sandwiches and snacking once complete.

Ingredients:

1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)

2 tsp. honey

2 ½ cups of lukewarm water

5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. Morton kosher salt

6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands

Butter for the pan

Directions:

Mix the packet of dry active yeast, honey, and lukewarm water in a medium bowl. Let it rest for 5 minutes until it starts to foam. 

Next, mix the flour and salt into the previous mixture until combined. This mixture should not be smooth, it should be “shaggy,” or, in other words, combined just enough so there is no visible flour or dry spots. 

Make sure to clear a spot in your fridge for the next step. Grab a large bowl and pour 4 of the 6 Tbsp. of olive oil in the bowl. Transfer your dough into the large bowl and roll it to fully coat it in oil. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise in the fridge until it doubles in size, roughly 8 hours. 

After the dough rises, grab a 13×9 pan and generously butter the bottom. Then, pour 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in the middle of the pan. Keeping the dough in the bowl, use two forks to pick up the outer side of the dough farthest from you and fold it into the middle of the bowl (this is “deflating” the bread, a very important step). 

Turn the bowl a quarter and repeat this step. Repeat this step 2 more times until you have folded the exterior of the bowl into the center and created a rough ball of dough. Then, transfer the dough, along with any extra oil in the bowl, into the buttered pan. Allow that to rise, uncovered, at room temperature for at least 1 ½ hours and up to 4 hours. 1 ½ hours and up to 4 hours. 

Preheat your oven to 450℉. Push the dough out in the pan so that it expands to all the corners and edges, and then, use your fingers to make deep indentations in the bread which creates the texture seen in the picture. Drizzle the rest of the oil on the bread and some flaky sea salt and bake for 20-30 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Take it out of the oven and it is ready to eat. To give it more flavor, use some garlic infused olive oil or butter, or simply add more salt and butter.