Focaccia 'bout it...

Recipe: Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia, by Sarah Jampel, available at Bon Appetit

*Click the link for the recipe, or find it at the bottom of the post.

There's a moment ... when you pull warm bread out of a hot oven ... that I swear to you time stands still. The alchemy of flour, salt, yeast and water has worked its magic and transformed a pale, puffy dough into a rich, golden-brown (if you're lucky), crusty hunk of deliciousness. And then there's the smell. Earthy and pungent, but also slightly sweet and grainy. It's heaven. I'm not saying I've burned my nose on a hot loaf of bread before. I'm also not saying I HAVEN'T done that.

This focaccia delivered that level of full-throttle serotonin-boosting sensory-wonderfulness on all fronts. Smell, taste, sight, touch ... hell, even sound. I was on a Zoom virtual brunch when I pulled this beauty out of the oven, and I think I had to mute myself for a moment to audibly gasp several times as I took in the magnificence.

Bread, especially one this rich, can be a rough thing for me to fully enjoy because ... (gasp) the calories, and (oh no!) carbohydrates. The second I think about eating bread, I start doing mental gymnastics to plan out the rest of the week and deny myself something later so I can "earn" this now. In my opinion, that's a crummy way to look at food (bread pun not intended). Bread is foundational. It is not inherently bad, nor am I inherently bad for eating it. Reveling in the enjoyment of its flavors and textures, rather than guilting myself for it, allows me to appreciate the nourishment and satiety it gives my body, and celebrate the complexity and delicacy of something I made myself. And, ultimately, that generally means I eat less because I'm not nourishment-eating and guilt-eating at the same time.

Anyway...

Bon Appetit dropped this recipe online (and then later in print) back in a time before the world shut down and COVID was just beginning to get a foothold in the US, let's call it February. I had been regularly baking bread for a couple years by that point, but never focaccia. I saw the recipe, and being a fan of focaccia, I flagged to to tackle later, when I wasn't so busy. Then, mid-March, I was suddenly very very NOT busy.

But as the world turned upside down and yeast and flour disappeared from the shelves, I fell in with the sourdough crowd (thanks to a gifted starter from my friend Kate) and happily enjoyed tangy loaf after tangy loaf for months. But last Sunday, I needed something to make for virtual brunch (I like to show up and show out), and I didn't have the time or energy for the effort of a 36-hour sourdough. Enter the aptly named shockingly-easy focaccia.

This is a pared down recipe, an introductory focaccia that is a delicious canvas for any herbs, spices or toppings you might choose to add. I kept it simple, following the recipe, though I wish I had some rosemary to throw into the mix.

If you're a regular loaf-style bread baker, there's a lot about the focaccia dough and method that's going to seem really ... wrong. The dough is way too wet, you don't knead it at all and the amount of oil involved is ... obscene. But trust the recipe! In my case, it behaved exactly as it should, and was seriously delicious.

MY PREPARATION NOTES

• I prepared my dough in a stand mixer though you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT have to have a mixer for this recipe. I'm just lazy. (For the record, I started with a whisk attachment for the yeast/honey/water mixture then switched to the paddle to mix in the flour.)

• Make sure to note the difference in the amount of salt depending on the type you used. I almost screwed up and had a REALLY salty focaccia situation.

• Yes. It's a lot of olive oil. Just accept that and don't tell your calorie counter. You're not going to eat all of the focaccia by yourself/in one sitting (at least, I don't recommend you do), so don't freak out.

• The rise times in the fridge and on the counter are ranges. In my case, I did a 14-hour overnight bulk rise in the fridge and a 3 hour counter rise the next morning.

• I made the "deep-dish" version of this bread in the 9x13 baking pan, but I'm sure the sheet tray version is lovely as well.

• I used 2 cloves of garlic in the butter because garlic isn't my favorite breakfast flavor. I could personally go up to 3 for general use, and if you are a garlic stan, by all means hit it up to 4.

SERVING

This bread needs no adornment in the way of butter or condiments. It is crusty on the outside, pillowy on the inside and delicious all the way through. I served mine up next to a sweet potato and cayenne hash with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and my very favorite Valentina Hot Sauce.

MY RATING: 5/5

WILL I MAKE IT AGAIN?: I'm surprised I haven't already, frankly.

THE RECIPE