Easy Overnight Focaccia (Olive oil and Rosemary)

This Overnight Focaccia Bread with Olive Oil and Rosemary has been baked and loved by readers around the world. With simple pantry ingredients, 10 minutes, and just one bowl, you can make the most fluffy, golden, and beautiful focaccia flatbread of life!

Perfect for meal prepping, you can make this focaccia in just 10 minutes, and enjoy it for up to 3 days onward. It sits in the fridge overnight and develops incredible flavor, bakes quick, and freezes great.

This is not a dimply super thick focaccia, rather a flatbread type focaccia with fluffy edges and a thin crispy centre. Wonderful for serving with olive dip, roasted pepper marmalade, soup, or a big pan of saucy moroccan fish.

There are nights when we just eat this as the main course for dinner with a side bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

When you bring this flatbread out to the table you will be swarmed with compliments! Artisan bread here we come!

To Make a similar bread but in a breadstick style, try this Crispy Focaccia with Garlic Herb Oil Recipe.

Overnight Focaccia

For the most flavorful focaccia bread we use the method of overnight fermentation. A “cold rise”, as it is called in the bread making world, allows the dough to rise slowly, and that extra time gives the dough extra flavor.

After mixing and shaping the dough place it in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight, or for up to three days. It is so simple but this trick produces the most incredible tasting bread!

Same Day Bake

If you want to bake the bread on the same day, I have included instructions for that as well, just look for the heading SAME DAY BAKE in the recipe card. To do the quicker bake, after mixing the dough, leave it to rise on the countertop, at room temperature, for 3-7 hours. Then shape and bake as normal!

+The focaccia will still taste incredible baked on the same day, although it won’t have as deep a flavor that you get with the overnight rise. Do what suits your schedule!

What do you need to make overnight focaccia?

Overnight focaccia uses mostly the same ingredients as a regular focaccia, except less yeast. Because the dough is given a long, slow rise, the small amount of yeast in the recipe has time to do the same work. Less yeast is needed, which heightens the flavor of the bread. Olive Oil also gives the bread lots of extra flavor.

The Ingredients/Substitutions:

Flour. Use all purpose flour or bread flour.

Water. We use room temperature water or very slightly warm water in this recipe.

Salt. Increases the flavor of the dough.

Yeast. Use instant yeast. If you only have active yeast on hand, activate it first by adding the water(use a slightly warm water here), yeast and sugar to the bowl and letting it sit for a couple minutes, before adding the rest of the ingredients and continuing with the recipe.

Sugar. Sugar gives the yeast food and helps it rise the bread. You can substitute with honey if needed, or desired.

Olive Oil. Olive oil adds richness to the dough. You can substitute with canola oil if need be.

What Kind of Pan is best for making Overnight Focaccia?

1. A baking steel is the best tool for baking overnight focaccia- it heats up evenly and ensures the bread is crispy on the bottom and soft and fluffy at the edges. I use the original baking steel which you can buy at this link.
2. A baking sheet turned upside down. Great for a beginning without any fancy oven tools!
3. Pizza Stone. gets very hot and stays hot, even when the oven door is opened- cooks focaccia very fast

Can you Freeze Focaccia?

The answer is YES! This focaccia flatbread freezes incredibly, and tastes just as fresh as it did the day it came out of the oven. Follow my simple tips on freezing for the best results:

Bake and Freeze

To Bake the focaccia and freeze already made, follow instructions, bake as normal, but do not brush with olive oil while warm. Let the bread cool for 5 minutes, but the trick here is to freeze it while still warm!

Place each focaccia in an extra long ziplock bag with a paper towel on top of the bread, and then close the zip, leaving an inch open at the end. Suck as much air as you can out of the bag. This creates a vacuum seal and keeps your focaccia so fresh!

+Placing a paper towel inside the bag with the bread will help prevent freezer burn. The paper towel will collect any condensation.

+To thaw, simply remove the bread and place it on the counter at room temperature, and let it defrost, around 20 minutes. Heat up in a preheated oven for a few minutes, and enjoy!

Freeze Raw Focaccia Dough

The other option is making the dough and freezing it raw. I find this option best to use if you don’t have so much space in your freezer, or if you want to make a large batch of dough, to last you for a couple months.

1. Mix the dough and shape it into balls. I recommend doubling this recipe if you already plan to freeze it! Easy dinner for a rainy day!

2. Mist two ziplock bags with spray oil or brush with olive oil. Place the each dough ball inside one bag, and seal, getting out as much air as possible. Place in the freezer for up to 2 months.

3. When ready to bake, transfer the dough from the freezer to the fridge and let it thaw, utilizing the same method of overnight fermentation for the most delicious bread. Continue with the recipe as normal, treating it like refrigerated dough.

>To go from the freezer to baking on the same day, let the dough defrost at room temperature in the plastic bag, and once defrosted, remove and form into a ball again, mist with oil, cover and let sit at room temperature for 3-7 hours, until ready to bake.

Best Focaccia Toppings

The best focaccia topping is the simplest one: Fresh rosemary and olive oil! Give the dough a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh chopped rosemary before placing it in the oven.

You can use dried rosemary if you don’t have fresh, although the flavor isn’t as strong. You can also experiment with chopped sage, or thyme. Parsley I find is best brushed on after the flatbread bakes, as it has a tendency to burn.

This caramelised honey and onion topping is also great if you want to try something different.

TRY THESE RECIPES WITH HOMEMADE FOCACCIA:

Best Lachmagine

Asado Focaccia

If you try this recipe please give it a star rating below and be sure to add any of your special comments. Readers(and me!!) love hearing how things come out in your own kitchen. Happy cooking!

Easy Overnight Focaccia (olive oil and rosemary)

Estee

The perfect golden focaccia- crisp and thin in the centre and fluffy at the edges. It’s delectable and incredible..You’re going to love it! Make this stand alone focaccia as a beautiful centrepiece, coated in olive oil, baked with rosemary and finished with flaky salt. Overnight fermentation gives this dough that extra- extra- a more complex flavour and texture you won’t be able to get enough of.

5 from 2 votes

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Cook Time 5 mins

Servings 2 large focaccia

Ingredients

  

• 2 ¾ cup plus 1 Tbsps flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ tsp yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

To finish:

• Olive oil
• Two sprigs of rosemary or one teaspoon rosemary leaves
• Flaky salt

Instructions

 

Prep ahead

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix on the lowest speed for one minute, or by hand until well combined. The dough will be sticky. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• With the mixer on medium speed, mix for 3 minutes, or continue mixing by hand. The dough will still be sticky.
• Spread a drizzle of olive oil on your work surface, and rub a spatula with oil(to keep the dough from sticking). With the oiled spatula, scrape the dough out onto your work space and rub your hands in the oil. Stretch and fold the dough once from each direction.
• STRETCH AND FOLD: reach your hands under front end of the dough, stretching it out towards you, and folding it back onto the top of the dough. Repeat from the back of the dough, pulling it outwards, and folding back onto the top. Repeat from each side, oiling your hands as needed to prevent sticking.
• Flip the dough over and tuck it into a ball.
• Place the dough into a ziplock bag bag misted with spray oil(or rubbed with regular oil). Seal the bag and leave it on the counter to rise(for same day baking), place in the fridge for overnight fermentation(recommended), or freeze, depending on when you want to bake.

FREEZE: freeze the dough immediately after forming it into a ball(for up to a month) and transfer the dough to the fridge the day before you want to bake, then continue on with instructions for NEXT DAY BAKING.

ON BAKING DAY

• SAME DAY: If you want to bake the focaccia the same day you are making the dough, leave it on the counter for a minimum of 2 hours before baking, 3 hours in the cold season.
• NEXT DAY or up to 3 DAYS LATER(recommended): 90 minutes before you plan to bake, remove the dough from the fridge. Cut the dough into desired amount of pieces(2 for regular round focaccias or see following recipe requirements). Round each piece into a ball and place on a baking tray fitted with a parchment sheet, cover it, and let the dough rest until baking time.
• Preheat the oven and baking stone(or a baking sheet turned upside down) to the hottest setting.
• When ready to bake, flour your work surface. Sprinkle a ball of dough with flour and tap it to form a disc. Slide the back of your hands under the dough and rotate it, using your thumbs to shape the edges into a circle. Continue gently stretching the dough with your thumbs until it is the desired size-it should be thicker at the edges and the centre should be quite thin, but not paper thin or it will rip.

Bake

• Place the focaccia one at a time on a floured pizza peel/(use a cutting board if you don’t own a peel). Drizzle with olive oil and brush the oil onto all parts with a pastry brush. Sprinkle on some rosemary leaves.
• Slide the focaccia gently onto the baking stone OR if using a baking sheet, carefully dust it with flour, gently slide the focaccia onto it, and place in the oven. Bake for about 4-6 minutes. The edges will puff up and turn golden.
• Brush with another coat of olive oil(be generous- it’s delicious!), and finish with a sprinkle of flaky salt. Enjoy hot.

Notes

Some notes:
+You CAN make the focaccia the same day, just see the below instructions. BUT i highly advise making the dough the night before so it can sit in the fridge overnight- it gets so much more flavour!
+Freeze the ready made focaccia by placing it in an airtight ziplock bag with a paper towel to collect moisture(this prevents freezer burn). Zip the bag up almost all the way and then suck the air out, before closing it. Freeze immediately while still warm.