Soft, flavorful bread with a focaccia-like texture, perfect for tearing and dipping. Try it along side a bowl of your favorite soup for a relatively easy, elegant, homemade, soul-satisfying meal.
Rosemary Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm 105-115 degrees Fahrenheit water
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt plus more for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons rosemary dried or fresh, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 1/4-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or until bubbly. While the yeast is getting bubbly, combine 2 cups of the flour, salt, 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary, oregano and garlic powder.
- Add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix well. (I put it in my stand mixer with the dough hook on). Slowly add remaining flour to make a very soft dough-- try and resist the urge to add too much flour. You want a soft, wet dough.
- Cover and allow to rise 45 min- 1 hour or until double in size.
- Lightly flour your work surface and transfer dough onto this surface. Divide in half. Shape each half into a rounded loaf and place on a greased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Cover and allow to rise another 45 minutes.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Use remaining tablespoon of olive oil to brush over tops of loaves, discarding excess if you have any. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary and some Kosher salt.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until very lightly golden-brown. Serve immediately (if you can) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (if you want).
This bread tastes a lot like the loaves that you get at Macaroni Grill, only (at least I think) better: warm, soft, a little salty; rip off a piece (no knives here) and dip it in some extra-virgin olive oil with a dash of balsamic vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper and you have a meal! If you’re more interested in balanced nutrition, slice each loaf in half length-wise and add Garlic-Herb Sandwich Spread, smoked turkey, Provolone, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce and then cut into wedges. Or try it alongside a bowl of Italian Turkey Soup. This recipe makes 2 small loaves, and each is studded with fresh rosemary and full of flavor.
How do I start making bread?
Scared of making yeast bread? Don’t be! Follow our handy-dandy yeast tips and you’ll sail through with flying colors! You’ll start by proofing yeast– it should look nice and bubbly like this:
Add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Â Mix well. (you can just toss everything in your stand mixer with the dough hook on).
Next Step: Create Your Dough:
Slowly add remaining flour to make a very soft dough–try and resist the urge to add too much flour. You want a soft, wet dough.
Rise and Shape your Bread Dough
After your dough rises, you’ll divide it in half to make 2 loaves and place each of these loaves on your baking sheet to rise one more time.
How to Bake and Serve your Rosemary Focaccia Loaves
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until very lightly golden-brown. This is the type of bread you’ll want to serve immediately, while it’s warm. Just tear chunks to serve.
There is something soul-satisfying about tearing into fresh bread with your hands. These loaves are so soft and tender and full of flavor.
Questions & Reviews
I just made it that time with butter instead of olive oil- I was probably out, haha.
i had the same problem with my loaves collapsing when I brushed them with the oil. so I covered them back up with the towel and let them rise again. My bread tasted great, the loaves didn’t look wonderful… but oh well. I have seen a similar recipe through pinterest and they have you brush your loaves with the butter or oil and then let it do the 2nd rise. Really good bread. I sadly can eat one loaf by myself!
And I would like to know the measurements for the dipping sauce-olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I did make it just guessing and it tasted great but don’t know for sure if I did it right.
Thanks!!
I have this in the oven now, and it was looking really good until I brushed it with the olive oil, and it fell and was totally flat when I put it in the oven. Any ideas why or tips to fix it next time??
It might have risen just a tad too much, but if you’re worried in the future, you can drizzle the oil instead, or brush it with olive oil half way through baking.
I can’t believe that this is not the site’s most popular recipe (well, this and the Brazilian cheese bread which is also incredible). I have been on the search for an excellent recipe for focaccia bread for years, and this is 100% it. I think I have tried every other recipe out there. In fact, after I had already made this several times, I tried one of my friend’s recipes. She claimed it was the best ever. It wasn’t even close. (My husband complained: what happened to the bread?!) Thank you for providing me with the only recipe I will ever need for any Italian meal.
I made it, totally delicious! I did use some whole wheat flour. My fiance says he would have liked it more with just white flour, but the rest of the dinner party thought it was fantastic. I really didn’t even think I needed the oil for dipping, it was so wonderful on its own!!! Thank you!
Ii stumbled across this recipe yesterday afternoon and really wanted to try it, but I didn’t have any rosemary and I couldn’t run to the store, so I substituted thyme. It was fabulous. Can’t wait to try with rosemary. I can’t imagine it could be better!
I was looking for a focaccia recipe on the Internet tonight and I came across this recipe and website. I love that you had step-by-step instructions including photos so I decided to give it a shot. It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making again. Thank you, Maria
Just made this for a future post on our blog – it smells divine and tastes DIVINE-R. Love, love, love. Great recipe!
This is also great if you use a flavoured olive oil; I used ‘Tuscan Herb’ and it was amazing.
If you will form this dough into sub-sandwich sized loaves, this makes the best po-boy bread. I am sure it would be delicious for any kind of sandwich. The best I have ever had was in a “hole-in-the-wall” sandwich shop across from the courthouse in Opelousas, LA.
I made this bread on the weekend and i substituted with whole wheat flour and the bread was so moist and delicious. It’s definitely a good swap to make the bread slightly healthier!
Hi Kathryn, I just recently moved from UT to Houston, too and just tried this recipe for the first time. What I’ve found as I’ve made yeast recipes here is that the first rising always goes MUCH faster than the time the recipe says (my bread had already doubled in size after 30 min in the first rising). If you shorten the first rising period, that seems to help the second rising a lot. Other than the rising times, I followed the recipe and the bread turned out great (and my yeast breads don’t always turn out) :). Hope this helps and good luck!
Hey! So I made this recipe up in Utah not too long ago and it turned out pretty well and we loved it! Now I am in Texas (Houston) and tried to make it and followed directions and did everything the same as I did up in Utah.. It ended up rising ok when it was in the bowl (a little sticky) but when I put it on the pan into two loaves, it ended up not rising at ALL! Just wondering if you think the humidity levels or elevation could have affected how much it rises and if I should make adjustments to the recipe somehow next time I make it… (because there WILL be a next time. I have to redeem myself haha)
This is by far the best tasting bread I have made!! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!! I actually ate the remaining two slices for breakfast this morning — I couldn't help myself.
Random question (a year and a half after you post it.. haha). How much balsamic vinegar and olive oil do you use for the dip? I know I've had it at Macaroni Grill, I just don't know how much of each to use.
I know I'm about a year late on this recipe, but I made it for the first time tonight and, OH MY GRACIOUS, it was absolutely amazing!!! We also made the spaghetti and meatball recipe (minus the meatballs) and it was beyond delicious, as well!
I've spent the last 18 months working on the CPA exam and randomly discovered your site about six months ago. I think every study break I took consisted of perusing your site and salivating over all the recipes I wanted to try. I just found out I passed my final section so I am free to start working on the VERY long list I compiled during that time! I think my daughter is equally thrilled to no longer subsist on PBJ's and grilled cheese sandwiches 🙂 Sorry for the needless explanation, but I can't tell you how much I appreciated the wit and humor in your blog posts amidst studying the most mind-numbing material imaginable. You ladies (and your recipes!) are awesome!!!
Definitely finish it Christina- I don't think it will be a total waste. It will have a slightly different texture, but it should still taste okay. Just slather butter on it when it comes out of the oven 😉
My loaf is just finishing the first rise and I realized I forgot the TBS. of butter in the dough. How screwed am I? Do I bother finishing it?
Great recipe! The only challenge I faced was the dough collapsed when I brushed it with the butter & rosemary…I tried just gently brushing with butter & then sprinkling with rosemary – still collapsed. thoughts? Anyone try spray butter?? Thanks…
I am in LOVE with this bread…thank you so much for sharing this wonderful and easy recipe! I'm a total newbie when it comes to bread making, and this was just like (if not better than) those marvelously addictive loaves they serve at Macaroni Grill!
I did as some others suggested and used fine sea salt in place of Kosher because I was out. I also brushed the loaves with olive oil in place of melted butter. The result was heavenly, aromatic and fluffy!
This was good, even though i think i didn't activate my yeast very well (water not warm enough). So mine came out a little flatter than yours. But I'll try again soon! I used fresh rosemary from my CSA box and it was SO GOOD!
I made this yesterday and LOVED it! Thank you so much for making me realize that yeast breads are not intimidating! I've made two of your yeast breads now, and both have turned out beautifully. I am no longer afraid!
Ah, Russell, I'm loving all your comments!! And don't worry, I think there are a couple other guys here who read/post. I know two of 'em personally (well, not including our hubbies) and I can tell you you're in good company! 🙂 Go forth, Dough Whisperer.
Pizza dough breadsticks yesterday… Flour tortillas today… Rosemary Focaccia tomorrow!!! WEEEEHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I decided I'm going to tackle a dough project every day this month…yes…that's the plan.
Emily, realize that the 2 tablespoons is used for 2 loaves of bread. It definitely tastes like rosemary, but I don't think it's overly strong.
I'd really like to try this bread, and I really like rosemary… just not too much of it. 2 Tbls sounds like a LOT. Is it very strongly flavored, or does the rosemary kind of mellow out after baking? Thanks!
Let me first say that I'm in love with this site – so much fun to read and search diff recipes. So my first whirl at one of the recipes on this site was this one and it was soo delish & very easy to make! The only thing I'll do differently is chop up my rosemary a bit more next time – I used dried but they were in big pieces. Other than that it was awesome – my fiance loved it too! Thanks Kate!
Hayley–my guess is that it’s probably dehydrated garlic. I’ve also seen them put freshly ground black pepper in there, but if that’s crunchy, that would be bad… 🙂
Just got finished eating half a loaf of that delicious bread. I couldnt have asked for a better lunch. The only thing I am wondering about is the little crunchy things some places put in the olive oil and balsamic. What is that goodness? Roasted garlic? Any ideas?
*oh yeah* …so i may have nearly made my entire two-week menu from your recipes. these were a first tonight…we were just going to have sandwiches, but it turns out, there was no meat, no cheese, no tomatoes, no spinach. so, we pretty much just dipped and ate. and that was our dinner. and i’m not embarassed.
but they were delicious!