This Overnight No Knead Focaccia can’t get any easier. It only takes a few moments to mix it up then forget about it in the fridge overnight.
You can make this with an 8 hour stint in the fridge but you will also need to let it come to room temperature before baking which will take about 2 hours.
You can work this so it fits into your schedule. Mix early in the morning and bake for supper. Or you can make it and leave it up to 24 hours. Just take it out 2 hours so it can come to room temperature before baking.
Here is what the dough looks like after a 24 hour stint in the fridge.
You can have fun with the toppings if you like. But if you want easier you can just brush the top of the dough with olive oil, some dried Italian herbs and coarse sea salt.
But -I didn’t want to miss out on the fun of creating a flower garden!
Chef’s Tips for Overnight No Knead Focaccia
- You can use all purpose or bread flour in this recipe.
- Use tweezers to position the ‘flower petals’ and stems etc for your garden scape. I find it helpful to lay out the design on a cutting board and then transfer the design to the dough top. It makes it much easier to make corrections on the cutting board than on the dough.
- Try to push the garnishes into the dough a bit. The ones that don’t sink in well may slide off after baking.
- Use your fingers to make good indentations in the dough just before brushing on the olive oil. The indentations will capture some of the oil and add flavour to each piece of focaccia.
- If you are using juicy vegetables like cherry tomatoes remove seeds and juice. Cut peppers very thinly so there isn’t a lot of juice that might soak into the bread and make it soggy.
- You can slice this into squares, wedges or vertically.
Ingredients
Focaccia
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsps salt
- 2 1/4 tsps Quick rising yeast
- 2 cups warm water
Toppings Variation #1
- chive stems and flowers
- black olives
- grape tomatoes
- goat cheese
Toppings Variation #2
- 2 Tbsps olive oil
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs or 3 tsps fresh
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and yeast and mix well. Add the warm water and stir until evenly moist. Dough will be shaggy but make sure there are no pockets of dry flour.
- Cover and refrigerate for 8-24 hours. Remove dough from fridge about 2 hours before you plan to bake it.
- When ready to bake preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Remove dough from the bowl and shape into a disc with just enough flour that it is not stickly. Lightly roll out to a rectangle or desired shape.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer dough to the parchment paper. Using your fingers make random indentations all over dough surface.
- Toppings Variation #1 -Brush the dough top with olive oil. Use tweezers to position your toppings to look like stems and flowers. I used chives for stems, tomatoes and black olives for flowers, roasted onions for flower shapes and goat cheese for clouds in the sky. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Toppings Variation #2 - Mix herbs into the olive oil. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil mixture. Sprinkle coarse sea salt evenly over the top.
- Put focaccia in the oven and immediately reduce oven to 425 degrees. Bake 22-28 minutes until golden and undersides is crisp. Check after 22 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.
Notes
