- Today, I'm gonna show you how to make, wait, what are we making? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Okay. (chuckles) I'm gonna show you how to make focaccia. This is so easy. (upbeat music) Hey everybody, It's Natasha
of natashaskitchen.com and I'm gonna show you how to make a classic Italian focaccia. The texture of this is incredible. So crisp on the outside,
super soft inside, and you don't have to wait overnight. This is quick to make,
very little active time, and wait until you see
our favorite bread dip. You're going to love it. And I want some bread,
so let's get started. (counter thudding) (Natasha laughs) We'll start with one and
a half cups of warm water and I like to have that between 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. I'll leave a link to the
thermometer I use in the notes. Stir in one teaspoon of
honey until it's dissolved, then add in one packet or
seven grams of instant yeast. Once the yeast is stirred in, let that sit and rest for
about five to seven minutes, or until you see a foamy
layer on the surface. This indicates that the yeast is good and it'll help jumpstart our recipe. We're using our favorite
digital kitchen scale and I will leave a link
to this in the notes. Zero out your mixing bowl. And we're gonna get exactly
three and three-fourths cups or about 470 grams of all purpose flour. If you don't have a kitchen scale, make sure you measure correctly. Spoon the flour into a dry
ingredient measuring cup then scrape off the top. Now whisk in one and a
half teaspoons of salt. Pour your yeast mixture into
the center of the flour. Use a mixing spoon to stir that together until the liquid is incorporated into the flour and you don't
see any more dry flour. You should end up with
a sticky mass of dough. Next, add one tablespoon of
good extra virgin olive oil and use your hands to mix it in. Work the oil into the dough
until it's fully absorbed. Now cover the top with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30
minutes at room temperature until it's visibly puffed. If you're working in a colder environment or want to speed up the process, try our microwave trick. Add a damp towel to the
microwave for about a minute to heat it up, then turn it
off and place the bowl inside, letting it rest. While the dough is proofing, I like to make the topping ahead of time, so the oil infuses with
rosemary and garlic flavor. In a small mixing bowl, combine two tablespoons of
water with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil,
half a teaspoon of salt and we'll need about
one and a half teaspoons of finely chopped rosemary
from two rosemary sprigs. Simply pull the leaves off of the sprigs and finely chop them up. Also, finely mince and add
two large garlic cloves. Now thoroughly mix that topping together, until it's well incorporated. This topping makes the bread into a garlic rosemary
focaccia, and it tastes amazing. But if you want to, you can
also just use olive oil, water and salt for a simple topping. You can see the dough is visibly puffed and about double in size. To keep your hands from
sticking to the dough, dip them in a bowl of cold water. Now to get that irresistible
focaccia texture, we need to develop the
gluten strands in the dough. Gently pull the dough up on
one side without tearing it, then fold it over onto itself. Rotate the bowl and repeat the process until you've done four stretch and folds. Pull up gently making sure not
to tear the gluten strands. Now cover the bowl and
let it rest and puff for another 30 minutes. Repeat the stretch and fold
process three more times, making sure to cover and let
the dough rest for 30 minutes between each time. We're gonna do the third set
of four stretch and folds, letting it rest for 30 minutes afterwards. After the fourth set of
stretching and folding, we're gonna transfer the dough right away to a well-oiled baking pan. I love using a 9 X 13 pan for focaccia because
you can make it thicker, which works great for sandwiches. Add one fourth cup of
extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. Now transfer the dough over the oil and turn it to coat the dough in oil. Gently stretch the dough to fit the pan. If you find it's difficult
to stretch the dough, and it doesn't want to budge,
just cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes, then work the
dough to the edges of the pan. Once the dough is relaxed,
it's much easier to stretch. Just be sure to gently stretch
the dough without tearing it. Once you've finished
stretching your dough, and it's about the size
of your baking pan, cover and let that proof
for about 45 to 60 minutes or until it's visibly risen and puffy. Now to create those
classic focaccia dimples, dip your hands into cold water, then press them directly into the dough press them in quickly and
firmly without breaking all the way through the dough. It'll look a little bit
like playing the piano. I like to go over the dough two or three to create plenty of dimples. Quickly whisk your
garlic rosemary topping, in case it's separated, then evenly drizzle it over
the top of your focaccia. Now last but not least, sprinkle about a teaspoon of kosher salt over the top of your focaccia. Now bake in the center of a preheated oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, for 22 to 25 minutes or until
the top is golden brown. I love to bake for 25
minutes, giving it a chance to form a great crisp edge. Once it's out of the oven, transfer it right away to a wire rack. You want to get it out of the pan so that the bottom doesn't get steamy, otherwise you'll lose that crispy crust. Now let it cool for at least five minutes before slicing into it. All right. Our bread is just a little bit warm still, and that's okay because I
am getting rather impatient. I want some of this. My kitchen smells so good right now. I'm just gonna go for it. Let's do this taste test. I want to show you what's inside. Check this out. Okay, here we go. Look at this. Get in close. Yes. (laughs) It is so tall and fluffy. Make this, and it'll become
your new favorite bread. And thankfully, it's easy. I mean, you can get
started on a dinner party and start your bread and
have it ready by dinner time. You don't have to wait overnight. That's the best part, seriously. Okay. And then, okay, so everything
about this is good, from the top to bottom. Look at this crisp crust. Listen to the crunch. (bread crunching) I'm excited. Okay. For obvious reasons,
'cause I get to eat this. Okay, now you can serve
this as like a dinner bread. I'm gonna show you that
dip in a second here. I'm gonna cut some pieces or you can use it as
the best sandwich bread. And this bread will make a
sandwich person out of you. It is marvelous, as my son would say. Still smells so good. So good. Okay, here we go. Just cut it into little squares here so we can get to this taste test faster. All right. Now it's time to serve this and that dip that I was telling you about. I learned this in an Italian restaurant and it's so easy and so good. And it also looks really fancy. So if you're throwing a
dinner party, try this. Seriously. Okay, so all you need is some
good extra virgin olive oil. We're gonna put this in a shallow dish. Pour that into a little ramekin, followed by some balsamic vinegar and a crackle of fresh black pepper. All right, let's get
this taste test rolling. And seriously, focaccia is
not like any other bread. Everything from the texture
to it smells so good. And then it has a ton of flavor. You can change this up and add
so many different toppings. Check out my notes and my
posts to see more ideas. But this has to be my favorite. All right, we're going in,
going in for the sauce. I hope you try it with this sauce. It's so easy and super yummy. Okay and because there's
a lot of olive oil already in this bread, it's
what makes the crust so crispy. It's just a perfect match
to dip it in some more. Why not? Okay. Mm. This makes me so happy. Crispy crust. So soft. I mean, it's like melt in your mouth, cotton soft inside, and the top, you can really taste the
rosemary and the garlic. I love that it's infused in the oil. So it just kind of penetrates
the top of the bread. This is a must try and my kids love this. So I'm gonna get my son
in here for a taste test. David! Come on over. Taste test. Pick a piece, any piece. He went for the big one. Take a bite. Ooh. You hear the crunch? How is it? Good? Yeah. Like favorite ever? (Natasha chuckles) All right, we're gonna enjoy our bread. I hope you guys make this recipe today and the sauce and we'll
see you in our next video. Hey! Seriously. Honey, this is so good. Come and get some. - [Husband] I know, I know. - David, come on!
- Back for more. - Back for more. - 'Kay, let me finish my bread. - More sauce?
- You can bring it with you. - Mm.
