Sandwiches are the ultimate warm-weather food—portable, no stove required, and the perfect way to show off peak produce.
But serve them on ordinary bread, and suddenly your lovely summer hang feels like a school field trip.
Golden, dimpled, olive oil–glossed—it’s the sandwich glow-up that’s like the radiant, plumped-up version of Martha Stewart.
This is the best, simple focaccia recipe around. It uses six pantry staples, and takes under two hours, with most of your time spent waiting for the dough to rise under the shroud of a tea towel.
Use the time to make a salad. Or better yet, check out people with way more time than you making #focacciaart on Instagram.
This Smitten Kitchen recipe makes about 12 sandwiches.
Note: Next time I’ll perfect my dimple game.
Smitten Kitchen Focaccia
Ingredients:
- 4 cups (520 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water, made by mixing 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 1/2 cups cold water
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Flaky sea salt
- Fresh rosemary
Method:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast.
- Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a loose, sticky dough.
- Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and choose your schedule:
- Quickest rise: Set aside in a warmish spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until doubled.
- Overnight in fridge: Set inside your refrigerator overnight, about 8 to 10 hours.
- Overnight at room temperature: For this method, you will need to use only cold, no lukewarm, water. Leave the bowl on your counter at room temperature for 10 hours.
Make your focaccia:
- Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto a rimmed sheet pan (can use a 13×18, or half-sheet pan, but if you have something more 11×17-ish, as I use here, will make for slightly thicker loaf; you can line it first with parchment paper for maximum nonstick security).
- Heat oven to 425°F.
- Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl in quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball. Use the forks to lift the dough onto the prepared sheet pan. Roll the dough ball in the oil to coat it all over.
- Let dough rest for 20 minutes (for Quickest rise or Overnight at room temperature) or 1 hour (if you used the Overnight in the fridge rise, so it warms up) without touching it.
- Then, drizzle last 1 tablespoon of olive oil over and use your fingertips to stretch and press the dough to the edges, leaving it intentionally dimply.
- If your dough resists being stretched all the way, get it as stretched as you can, wait 5 minutes, and return to stretch it the rest of the way, repeating this rest if needed.
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and chopped or minced fresh rosemary and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, checking in on the earlier end, until lightly puffed on top and golden and crisp underneath. Remove from oven and let cool completely (this will go faster if you transfer the bread to a cooling rack) before assembling sandwiches.
Smitten Kitchen’s got brilliant focaccia sandwich recipes—from hummus and pickled carrots to avocado with crispy kale.
If you’re feeling extra confident and want to use the foraged finds of the season, hop on the #focacciaart train and turn fiddleheads and ramps into a display of spring tulips.
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