Black Pepper Focaccia
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This pillowy black pepper focaccia is the easiest beginner bread, since it’s a true no-knead dough and doesn’t even require stretches-and-folds or a stand mixer. It’s great torn and dunked into soup or sliced horizontally and built into sandwiches.
Equipment
Ingredients
Focaccia Dough
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1¾ cups warm water (between 105-115°F or 40-46°C)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons salt (use fine sea salt or table salt)
- 1½ teaspoons freshly-ground black pepper
Topping
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- freshly-ground black pepper
Instructions
Day One
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the active dry yeast, granulated sugar, and warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes, until it’s foamy on top. If it’s not foamy, your yeast might be expired.
- Stir the olive oil into the foamy yeast mixture.
- Add the flour, salt, and black pepper on top, and mix with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula for a minute, until there’s no visible pockets of dry flour and it forms a soft, wet dough.
- Cover the mixing bowl tightly with plastic wrap (to retain moisture so it doesn’t dry out) and let it rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours (to jump start fermentation).
- Transfer the bowl to the fridge for 12-16 hours (for slow, cold fermentation).
Anywhere in this 1-2 hour time frame is good, depending on your schedule. The dough should begin to rise & grow in size, but it probably won’t double by the time it goes into the fridge.
Day Two
- Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter.
- Dump the dough from your mixing bowl onto the center of the baking dish. Use your fingers to gently press the dough into all the edges and corners of the baking dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 4 hours, or until it’s puffed up and jiggles on top when you shake the baking dish.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
- Lightly coat your fingers in olive oil (don’t skip this, or else the dough will stick all over your fingers!) Use your fingers to press dimples into the dough, pressing all the way to the bottom of the baking dish. Aim to have the dimples spread about 1 inch apart from each other, all over the surface of the dough.
- Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil over all the dough, and sprinkle a few more cracks of freshly ground black pepper on top.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes on the center rack, or until the focaccia is golden brown and puffed up. Cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Don't skimp on the butter here, since this dough will stick to your baking dish if it's not greased enough. You can also line it with parchment paper to hand over the edges, to make it easier to remove the whole loaf from the pan.
Notes
- Rise: Be sure to cover your bowl tightly with plastic wrap, to avoid it drying out in the fridge overnight, which can diminish its ability to rise.
- Topping: You can also sprinkle a little flaky sea salt and chopped rosemary with the black pepper on top just before it goes in the oven for even more flavor.
- Reheat: I like to slice mine in half horizontally and toast each side to build sandwiches or slather with pesto or avocado for breakfast. You can also reheat it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 square (of 12)Calories: 203kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 5gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 294mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 2IUVitamin C: 0.002mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 2mg
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