World Bread Day 2022: No-Knead Focaccia

We're celebrating World Bread Day today. I love bread! I enjoy making the dough, the aroma that fills up my kitchen during baking, and of course the taste. When I came across this popular No-Knead Focaccia bread recipe recently, I had to try it. I loved it so much that I made it several times already in the last few months and again this weekend for World Bread Day. #wbd2022 #worldbreadday #worldbreadday2022

Zorra from the blog Kochtopf organizes World Bread Day every year. I can't believe this is the 17th edition of this annual online bread event. Thank you for organizing, Zorra!

This recipe is so easy to make: 4 ingredients and 5 min of your time to get the dough ready for an overnight retardation in the fridge. I highly recommend that you give it a try! You won't regret it :)

Look at that beautiful open crumb!

This Focaccia bread is very versatile. It's great on its own or alongside a big bowl of hearty soup. But in a pinch, it's also great as a "pizza crust" :)

It's so simple: 4 ingredients + ample time = delicious and effortless bread! Kudos and a big Thank You to Alexandra from Alexandra's Kitchen for sharing this amazing recipe. The 3-min YouTube tutorial is spot on and very easy to follow.

I'll include my summary of the recipe here. For more detailed instructions, please visit Alexandra's blog or watch the YouTube video.

No-Knead Focaccia Bread

(lightly adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 512 g All Purpose Flour (I used Organic All Purpose Flour by Central Mills from Costco)
• 6 g salt
• 6 g active dry yeast
• 450 g lukewarm water

Instructions:

• My schedule:
• I usually start the dough around 8pm the day before I bake the bread.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
• Add the lukewarm water and stir with a spatula until combine and there are no visible streaks of dry flour in the bowl.
• Drizzle the top of the dough with some olive oil.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight for at least 12-18 hours.
• Remove the dough from the fridge.
• Take your 9x13 pan and drizzle about 2 Tbsp of olive oil in it.
• Do one round of Stretch-and-Folds to the dough and then place the dough in the baking pan.
• Drizzle some extra olive oil on top and let it sit at room temperature for 2-4 hours until puffy and almost doubled in volume.
• Preheat your oven to 425 F.
• Put some olive oil on your hands and dimple the dough.
• Optional: sprinkle the dough with some flaky salt or fresh herbs like rosemary.
• Bake at 425 F for about 20-25 min until golden brown and the internal temperature registers at least 200 F.
• Move the bread to a cooling rack and let it cool completely.

Storage:

• This bread stays nice and soft at room temperature for about 2-3 days.
• For longer storage, I highly recommend freezing the bread. I like to cut the whole into 12 pieces and freeze them in Ziploc bags.

Usage:

• Eat as-is or toasted, with good olive oil or salted butter.
• Use the bread to make sandwiches. We made pulled BBQ chicken and used the Focaccia to make sandwiches with it.
• When you're here in a hurry, you can use the baked Focaccia as a pizza crust. Slice a piece of Focaccia in half lengthwise, spread some pizza or pasta sauce on it, add your favorite toppings, some shredded cheese, and bake it for about 15 min in a 400 F oven.