This is a small batch focaccia recipe adapted from Claire Saffitiz’s Soft & Chewy Focaccia from her book, Dessert Person. I have re-written the recipe in my own words and made small adjustments to measurements, and baking times as it is smaller batch than hers. You can find her recipe listed in the tips below.
Ingredients & Equipment Needed For This Recipe
Ingredients:
- Bread Flour– For my recipe I actually used half purpose and half bread only because I ran out of bread flour, whoops…but! The recipe worked just great!
- High Quality Extra-Virgin Olive Oil– If you want a high quality bread then go ahead and splurge for a nice olive oil, but it’s not a requirement.
- Kosher Salt
- Active Dry Yeast– Again, I used Instant yeast that I buy in larger amounts (not the packets), as I do more small batch baking so I can control the amounts of yeast easier.
- Warm Water– Not hot. Not cold. WARM.
- Herbs for the top– For this recipe (and Claire’s also) fresh garlic and rosemary were used. She added some red pepper chili flakes in her video which I didn’t add. I also topped my bread with a flakey sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Equipment:
- Stand Mixer– There are some things that are better left for machines and that is bread mixing. Although kneading by hand is more traditional, but much for time consuming.
- Large Glass Bowl– Using a glass bowl when your bread is rising is super helpful for seeing exactly how much your bread has risen.
- 1/4 Sheet Pan– The original recipe calls for a standard 1/2 sheet pan, but since I did a half batch I used the smaller size!
- Shower Cap or Plastic Wrap– This is the only thing I use for proofing. It works so well to cover the bowl of the bread while it’s rising.
How to Make Small Batch Herbed Focaccia
Step One:
Combine together the yeast and warm water in the mixing bowl. Let bloom 10 minutes.
Step Two:
Add the bread flour and salt and mix on low for one minute. Add olive oil and continue to mix for 5 minutes. Let rest for 20 minutes under a damp towel.
Step Three:
Continue to mix the dough on medium speed for 20 more minutes, scraping to make sure the entire dough gets mixed.
Step Four:
Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and cover lightly with plastic wrap or shower cap. Let rest until doubled in size.
Step Five:
Prepare your toppings and add them to 1/4 cup olive oil to marinate until ready to use.
Step Six:
Once dough has doubled, add to a well oiled 1/4 sheet pan and stretch out to edges. Cover and let proof for 25 more minutes. Pre-heat oven to 425° F (218* C)
Step Seven:
Add to the final dough the prepared toppings. Dimple the dough with well oiled hands.
Step Eight:
Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on your toppings. The edged of the dough should be golden brown.
My Kinda Professional Tips For Small Batch Herbed Focaccia
This post is meant to share some insight and tips of mine to help with this recipe. Claire has an awesome YouTube channel where you can find exactly how to make this recipe here. For this recipe, I used her book Dessert Person which I have also linked here. I love a good small-batch recipe, so I like to share those with people who don’t necessarily know how to successfully make them. Sometimes just cutting the ingredients in half isn’t always the answer. Hoping this recipe is a help for people like me who don’t need a lot of food around LOL!
- Bread making is a science and also requires a lot of patience. Most of the time you’re waiting for the bread to rise and develop flavor. So, don’t rush it.
- The baking & rising times are very accurate for this recipe. I have made this a few times (it’s my favorite bread to make), and have let the flavor develop overnight and let me just say yum!
- Let your toppings marinate in the olive oil as your bread is rising. This is enhance the flavor.
- Make sure the bottom of your sheet pan is TOTALLY covered in oil. This will prevent the bottom of the bread from sticking, which has happened to me a few times.
- This small batch focaccia keeps for 2-3 days if well wrapped and kept at room temperature.
Small Batch Herbed Focaccia
Equipment
- Set of Measuring Cups & Spoons (Liquid Too) OR Digital Kitchen Scale if using metric
- Stand Mixer
- Large Mixing Bowl
- 8"X 8" Metal Baking Pan
- Shower Cap or Plastic Wrap
- Bowl Scraper
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Bread Flour (390 g)
- 1 1/4 Cup Water, warm (295 ml)
- 2 Tbl Olive Oil (25 ml)
- 1 tsp Active Dry or Instant Yeast (3 g)
- 1 Tbl Kosher Salt (10 g)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil for Pan & Topping
Topping of Choice (herbs, garlic, onions, etc.)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water and yeast. Let sit to bloom for 5 minutes. Gather the other ingredients.
- Measure the flour and salt and add to the bloomed yeast with the salt on TOP of the bread.
- Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add 2 Tbl of Olive oil and continue to mix on low for 5 minutes. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Once the dough has rested, mix on medium speed for 20 minutes. Stop halfway and scrap the bowl to make sure there are no un mixed bits of flour.
- Once the dough has finished mixing, add to the large mixing bowl with 2 Tbl of olive oil coating the bowl. Cover with the shower cap and place in a warm place until doubled in size.
- This is point at which to prepare your toppings and place them in the remaining 2 Tbl of olive oil, you can add a little more oil if you need/want. Also be sure to add a generous amount of oil to the bottom of your sheet pan.
- Once dough has been doubled in size, punch out the air and place the dough into the oiled pan. Spread out the dough as much as you can to cover the pan. Make sure to get as even layer as you can.
- Cover with plastic and let proof for another 20, or until doubled in size.
- Pre-heat the oven to 425° F (218° C) and place the rack in the center of the oven.
- When the dough has doubled, with greased hands, dimple the dough and remove some of the air bubbles. Cover the top with your olive oil topping mixture.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on your toppings).
- Remove from oven and let cool at least 30 minutes before cutting in to. If you can wait that long.
Notes
Did You Make This Recipe?
Be sure to leave a review below &
tag me on Instagram @kindaprofessionalbaker
I’d love to see what you’re making!
Have you joined my email list? Sign up for my newsletter To Get Monthly Recipe Roundups And More!
Don’t worry, I promise I won’t spam you.