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If you’ve ever found yourself standing over a sheet pan of warm, olive oil-drenched bread, tearing off piece after piece with absolutely no self-control—congratulations, you’ve met focaccia. This is not your average loaf. It’s the crispy, chewy, deeply golden, salty, slightly oily (in the best way) bread of your dreams. The edges? Perfectly crunchy. The center? Soft and airy. The top? A salty, dimpled wonderland begging to be torn apart and devoured. It’s the bread that needs no toppings but somehow makes every sandwich, soup, or haphazard snack session exponentially better.

Focaccia is a study in how a few simple ingredients can make something truly otherworldly. It’s a matter of six ingredients (excluding water), so be sure to use the best quality olive oil can you find, good flaky sea salt, and a high-quality bread flour you can get your hands on—locally milled is great if you can find it, but King Arthur bread flour is my go-to. Making great focaccia is about technique, patience, and a whole lot of olive oil. This recipe, inspired by Claire Saffitz, Samin Nosrat, and Giuseppe Dell’Anno, takes the best of both worlds: a beautifully elastic dough and a genius saltwater brine that gives it that signature crispy-yet-pillowy texture. The best part? It’s surprisingly low-effort. Sure, you have to let it rest overnight (and yes, that wait is painful), but most of the time, you’re just watching dough do its thing. And trust me—when you pull that golden slab from the oven, the wait will feel 100% worth it.

A Little History: Focaccia, aka the OG Flatbread

Before there was pizza (yes, pizza owes its existence to this beauty), there was focaccia. This rustic, olive oil-rich bread dates back to the Etruscans and Romans, who were out here making crisp, dimpled loaves before it was cool. Focaccia (or “panis focacius” as the Romans called it) was originally cooked on the hearth, giving it a slightly charred, crisp crust while staying pillowy inside.

Over the centuries, this beloved bread evolved into a staple across Italy. Liguria, in particular, takes its focaccia game seriously, producing versions that are deeply golden, salty, and kissed with olive oil. Other regions have their own spins—some with rosemary, others with olives and tomatoes, or even a sweet variation. But at its core, focaccia is all about simplicity: flour, water, yeast, salt, and an irresponsible amount of olive oil.

What Makes a Great Focaccia?

A great focaccia should hit a few key marks:

Crispy, golden edges thanks to all that olive oil (seriously, it’s practically deep-fried at the bottom).
A fluffy, chewy interior that’s light but not dry.
A salty, dimpled top that shatters just slightly when you bite into it.
Oil-soaked, but in a good way—like it just had a luxurious spa treatment in extra-virgin olive oil.

The Recipe: A Claire Saffitz x Samin Nosrat x Giuseppe Dell’Anno Hybrid

This recipe borrows inspiration from Claire Saffitz’s ingredient amounts and technique and Samin Nosrat’s and Giuseppe Dell’Anno’s brine/emulsion methods, creating the ultimate balance of flavor and texture. It’s the kind of bread you’ll find yourself picking at straight from the pan because waiting for it to cool is for people with patience (so, not me—I usually eat a third of it within 20 minutes of coming out of the oven. I simply cannot control myself).

Equipment Needed

The Process (Because Good Bread Takes Time)

Weigh Your Ingredients: If you take away one thing from this recipe, let it be this: Weigh your ingredients. It’s worth saying and putting it in bold twice! Measuring by weight instead of volume ensures consistency and accuracy, especially for something as finicky as bread dough. Flour can be wildly inconsistent when measured by cups, and the difference can make or break your focaccia. Kitchen scales are relatively affordable and invaluable in so many recipes.
Mixing the Dough: This is a high-hydration dough, meaning it’s wetter and stickier than your standard bread dough. That’s on purpose. Kneading it in a stand mixer makes it easier, but be warned: it will fight you before it gets smooth and stretchy.
First Rise: The dough gets coated in olive oil (read: a slip-n-slide for yeast) and left to rise at room temp until it doubles in size.
Stretch & Fold: Instead of aggressively punching down the dough, you’ll gently stretch and fold it, developing gluten structure while keeping that airy texture intact.
Overnight Proofing: This step is not optional if you want maximum flavor. A slow proof in the fridge gives the dough time to develop a deeper, more complex taste.
Dimpling & Brining: The signature move—pressing deep dimples into the dough with oiled fingers, then drenching it in a warm water + olive oil brine. This gives it that crisp, salty crust we all love.
Baking: Start on a lower rack to build that crispy foundation, then finish it on a higher rack for that deep golden top. The result? A focaccia that’s simultaneously crunchy, fluffy, and impossibly good.

Tips for the Best Focaccia of Your Life

Use a lidded baking sheet instead of plastic wrap. A lidded sheet pan is a game-changer for proofing dough. It keeps the dough from drying out and prevents any sticking disasters that can happen with plastic wrap. Plus, it’s just easier.
Use a high-quality olive oil, flaky sea salt, and bread flour. If your bottle says “light-tasting” or “for sautéing,” put it back. You need the good stuff.
- I use King Arthur bread flour, Maldon sea salt or another flaky variety, and my everyday olive oil is Olio Santo.
Don’t skimp on the salt. Focaccia should be salty in a way that makes you want to eat the whole pan in one sitting. One key thing to note: The measurement of kosher salt given in the recipe is strictly for Diamond Crystal kosher salt, my go-to. You absolutely cannot use salts interchangeably or your risk under- or over-seasoning your dish. Here is a handy guide on converting salt measurements depending on what variety you’re using.
Be patient. The dough is sticky, the overnight proof feels unnecessary, and the smell will make you want to rip into it immediately. Trust the process.
Eat it fresh. Focaccia is at its peak the day it’s made. If you must save some, reheat it in the oven to bring back the crispness. This also freezes extremely well when wrapped and stored properly.

This is the kind of bread that makes you question why you ever bought the store-bought version. It’s simple, but also kind of magical. With every bite, you get crispy, salty, olive oil-soaked perfection—so much so that you’ll start wondering why you didn’t make two pans.

Happy cooking!

Crispy, Salty Focaccia

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Author: Amanda
Yield: one half-sheet pan, 8–10 servings 1x

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Description

If you’ve never made homemade focaccia, prepare yourself—because this is the kind of bread that will ruin store-bought versions for you forever. It’s crispy, golden, salty, and unapologetically drenched in olive oil (in the best way). The edges are crunchy, the interior is light and pillowy, and the brine gives it an irresistible depth of flavor that makes each bite slightly crisp on the outside and perfectly chewy inside. Whether you eat it plain, dunk it in soup, or use it as the base for an absurdly good sandwich, this focaccia delivers on all fronts.

A few key things to know before you get started: weigh your ingredients (seriously, don’t ignore this step), embrace the overnight proof for the best flavor, and invest in a lidded baking sheet to make your life easier. The dough is sticky—it’s supposed to be—so don’t panic and start throwing in extra flour. And when you dimple the dough, don’t just poke at it gently—go all in. Your focaccia wants those deep craters to catch pools of olive oil.

This recipe is inspired by Claire Saffitz’s meticulous technique and Samin Nosrat’s and Giuseppe Dell’Anno’s genius brining/emulsion methods, and it strikes the perfect balance between crispy, fluffy, and deeply flavorful. Make it once, and you’ll wonder why baking homemade bread ever seemed scary.

Ingredients

Scale

3 cups room-temperature water (680 grams)
6 cups (780 grams) bread flour
2–1/4 teaspoons (7 grams) instant yeast
1 teaspoon (12 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (17 grams) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1/2 cup (110 grams) good-quality extra-virgin olive oil, divided

EMULSION:

1/4 cup (55 grams) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup (57 grams) warm water
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Nonstick spray, for preparing the pan

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Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine 3 cups (680 grams) room temperature water, 6 cups (780 grams) bread flour, 2-1/4 teaspoons (7 grams) instant yeast, 1 teaspoon (12 grams) granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons (17 grams) Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Mix on low until a loose dough forms, then raise the speed to medium-high and mix until the dough begins to look mostly smooth (there will be a few rough patches still) and wraps around the dough hook, about 5 minutes. Turn off the mixer, cover the dough with a damp towel, and rest the dough for 15 minutes.
Return the mixer to medium-high speed and mix the dough until smooth, extremely sticky and elastic, and pulling away from the sides of the bowl; this could take anywhere from 15–20 minutes. You may have to give your mixer a break for a few minutes every 5 minutes or so; if you need to do this, re-cover the dough with the damp cloth to prevent it from drying out. Scrape the bowl and dough hook down as needed. To test the strength of the dough, remove the dough hook from the mixer and use it to pull the dough up in the air; it should stretch for some length before breaking (or it may not break at all). Don’t be tempted to add more flour!
Pour 1/4 cup (55 grams) extra-virgin olive oil into a large mixing bowl; ensure it coats the bottom and sides. Scrape or pour the dough into the prepared bowl. Spread some of the pooling oil onto the top of the dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Spray a half-sheet pan with a lid (I use the high-sided ones, but a regular sheet pan is okay, too) with nonstick cooking spray, being sure to lightly coat the pan completely. This will help prevent the focaccia from sticking, which it has a tendency to do when it bakes. Drizzle another 1/4 cup (55 grams) extra-virgin olive oil into the pan, coating the entire bottom and sides.
Loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl with oiled hands. Slide your hands under each side of the dough and lift it out of the bowl, letting its weight pull it back downward into the bowl and fold over itself. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat this same stretch and fold into the mixing bowl two more times. Perform one last stretch and fold (for a total of 4), landing the dough on the oiled sheet pan instead of the mixing bowl. Cover, and let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then begin stretching it in all directions to fill out the sheet pan. Once the dough starts to spring back/becomes harder to stretch, cover again and let rest for 15 minutes. Return to the dough and stretch to fill the sides and corners to completely cover the pan. Take care not to thin the dough too much in one area or create holes in the dough. Cover, and let sit for 15 minutes more. Transfer to the refrigerator and let proof slowly for approximately 24 hours.
The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator. It will likely not have doubled in size; allow to sit at room temperature to remove the chill and continue proofing until puffy and doubled in size; this could take up to 2 hours.
Arrange one oven rack in the lowest position; if you have a baking stone or steel, place it on this rack. Position another oven rack 8 inches from the top. Preheat the oven to 450°.
Prepare the brine: In a small, lidded container, combine 1/4 cup (55 grams) extra-virgin olive oil and 1/4 cup (57 grams) warm water; shake vigorously to combine.
When the dough is proofed, uncover and use oiled fingertips to dimple the dough all over, taking care not to poke all the way through. Pour the prepared brine all over the top of the dough, then sprinkle fairly generously with flaky sea salt.
Bake the focaccia on the lowest rack (setting the pan on top of the baking stone/steel if you’re using it) until the dough is beginning to turn golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 20–25 minutes. Move the focaccia to the top rack and continue baking until very golden-brown (a little charring is okay, especially on any big bubbles), about 5–10 minutes more.
Let the focaccia cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a thin spatula (like a fish spatula) around the sides and bottom to loosen it. If anything sticks, just wiggle the spatula gently to help release it. Transfer the focaccia to a cooling rack to continue cooling. It’s best eaten fresh and slightly warm, but don’t cut into it while it’s too hot or you’ll lose some of the moisture.

Notes

One key thing to note: The measurement of kosher salt given in the recipe is strictly for Diamond Crystal kosher salt, my go-to. You absolutely cannot use salts interchangeably or your risk under- or over-seasoning your dish. Here is a handy guide on converting salt measurements depending on what variety you’re using.

You can top focaccia with a massive variety of things, from tomatoes and olives to herbs and onions to cheese. Once you’ve mastered the classic recipe, play around with toppings to create something truly your own!

Inspiration: Soft and Crispy Focaccia, Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz; Ligurian Focaccia by Samin Nosrat; Focaccia Genovese, Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes by Giuseppe Dell’Anno

Category: Bread-y Things, Breads, Italian-Inspired

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