Here is my recipe for Whole Wheat Summertime focaccia.
The flavors are inspired by pure summertime: Sweet roasted garlic, sprigs of rosemary and a hint of sunny lemon. All kissed with a nice grassy Italian olive oil.
If you're like me, the smell of freshly baked focaccia bread makes you feel warm and cozy. And even better is when that smell is wafting from your own kitchen counter.
It is incredibly simple to have freshly baked bread in just under two hours. And most of that time you can kick up your heels or take a 'bread-baking-nap, while the dough rises.
And no, you don't need one of those fancy bread machines that takes up an entire section of your counter.
Focaccia bread is a favorite of mine. Soft spongy texture, olive-oil kissed crevices and those hand-poked-holes that create a quilt of warm crust. But most focaccia bread is made with white flour. That's fine. But I like to bake whole wheat focaccia. It turns out surprisingly light and it has a nice heartiness to it. Eat it plain or use it as the perfect flavorful sandwich bread.
Got a few hours? Try this recipe and re-discover your inner-bread-baking self.
Read ahead for my Summertime Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread recipe...
Summertime Whole Wheat Focaccia
with lemon, garlic and rosemary
makes one loaf
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 packet active dry yeast
1 ¼ cups warm water
6 cloves fresh garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
Oil for brushing
fresh black pepper and coarse sea salt to taste
garnish: oil, garlic, rosemary and thin lemon slice.
In a large bowl:
Combine warm water and yeast.
Stir in olive oil, 2 tablespoon chopped rosemary, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and flour.
Work into a dough.
Add more flour if dough is too sticky.
Turn the dough on a floured surface.
Knead the dough for a few minutes, in a folding motion until dough is smooth and 'happy'.
Grease the large bowl with olive oil and plop dough into it. Roll around a few times to coat dough in a gloss of oil.
Cover bowl with a warm damp cloth or clean dish towel. Paper towels may sink into dough, so are not recommended.
Place bowl in a warm spot. Perhaps the top of your fridge or high cabinet.
let dough rise for 30-60 minutes. (Quick-rise yeast allows for only a 30 minutes rise time. Regular yeast is about an hour.)
After the rise:
Punch out the dough!One big punch to the dough will do.
Place it on your floured surface and knead gently a few more times.
With a rolling pin, roll out dough to about 1 inch thick. You may modify this based on how thick you can your bread.
Place dough on a baking sheet. Lightly oil it or use parchment paper.
Poke rows of holes in the dough with your finger.
Brush top of dough with a mixture of your remaining ingredients: olive oil, lemon juice, chopped and whole rosemary and chopped garlic. Add a few very thin lemon slices to edges for a sunny presentation. Sprinkle some course sea salt on top as well. Cover with the towel and let rise again for 20 minutes, in a warm spot.
Bake:
Place your dough in a 350 degree pre-heated oven. Let bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a light brown crust forms. Check bread for firmness with a toothpick. Let the bread cool for a few minutes before slicing.
Store in freezer or eat in a few days.
Laloofah says
Tamara, we made ours with unsweetened applesauce in lieu of the oil and it came out beautifully (and deliciously)! The lemon juice brushed on top helped the salt, garlic and rosemary stick to the bread just fine, and the crust was great.
Laloofah says
My husband has long made delicious focaccia bread, but I wanted him to switch to using nothing but whole grain flour. His experiments tasted good enough, but didn't look good or have the best crust texture. So when I did a recipe search and found yours, he immediately made it (subbing the oil with unsweetened applesauce for our oil-free diet) and we absolutely love it! We shared some with friends and they loved it too and asked for the recipe, so I sent them this post. Thank you, we'll enjoy many more loaves of this, throughout the summer and beyond!
Dee says
currently baking in the oven. After many failed attempts @ baking, Im hoping this will turn out well.
Kathy Patalsky says
Focaccia is best with olive oil, so I am not sure if oil free would be the best "focaccia" - but it may still produce a yummy bread.
Tamara says
Great recipe!! Will this work if I make it without any oil? I am SO looking forward to making it!! : )
Sofie says
This is in the oven right now and my house is warm and smells incredible. Sheer happiness! Thank you so much for sharing. Can't wait to try it. 🙂
Marta Jeremy Emily and Abigail says
Yum, I made it this weekend with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and greek olives. WOW! So good! It worked great as a base for an eggplant "Parmesan" sandwich I like to make. Thanks for posting this!
Marta Jeremy Emily and Abigail says
Yum, I made it this weekend with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and greek olives. WOW! So good! It worked great as a base for an eggplant "Parmesan" sandwich I like to make. Thanks for posting this!
Marta Jeremy Emily and Abigail says
Yum, I made it this weekend with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and greek olives. WOW! So good! It worked great as a base for an eggplant "Parmesan" sandwich I like to make. Thanks for posting this!
Kathy says
Tracy, I corrected this. Sometimes I do my recipes *salt to taste, and therefore leave out the actual salt amounts. However you are right about the 1 tsp of salt in the dough. Thanks for the correction.
Kathy
Kathy says
Tracy, I corrected this. Sometimes I do my recipes *salt to taste, and therefore leave out the actual salt amounts. However you are right about the 1 tsp of salt in the dough. Thanks for the correction.Kathy
Kathy says
Tracy, I corrected this. Sometimes I do my recipes *salt to taste, and therefore leave out the actual salt amounts. However you are right about the 1 tsp of salt in the dough. Thanks for the correction.
Kathy
Tracy Warner says
There seems to be an error in your recipe-- did you mean to leave out the salt in the first steps when you combine the flour, rosemary, and lemon with the yeast?
Tracy Warner says
There seems to be an error in your recipe-- did you mean to leave out the salt in the first steps when you combine the flour, rosemary, and lemon with the yeast?
Tracy Warner says
There seems to be an error in your recipe-- did you mean to leave out the salt in the first steps when you combine the flour, rosemary, and lemon with the yeast?
anna says
Mmm, focaccia! My absolute favorite kind of bread. I don't know why I haven't made it before but I think I'll try soon. Your flavors sound sunny and delicious!
anna says
Mmm, focaccia! My absolute favorite kind of bread. I don't know why I haven't made it before but I think I'll try soon. Your flavors sound sunny and delicious!
anna says
Mmm, focaccia! My absolute favorite kind of bread. I don't know why I haven't made it before but I think I'll try soon. Your flavors sound sunny and delicious!
Blossom says
That looks so refreshing and healthy. I love focaccia bread and this one looks very healthy.
Blossom says
That looks so refreshing and healthy. I love focaccia bread and this one looks very healthy.
Blossom says
That looks so refreshing and healthy. I love focaccia bread and this one looks very healthy.