The Zer0 Kitchen Breads & Doughs
No-Knead Focaccia
A high-hydration focaccia you stir together with a spoon, ferment overnight in the fridge, and bake in a well-oiled sheet pan. Written by weight, so it scales to any pan you own.
Focaccia is the recipe that proves ratios are worth learning. There is nothing in it but flour, water, salt, yeast and oil — the whole character of the bread lives in the proportions, and in leaving it alone long enough. Once you can read the table at the bottom of this page, you can rebuild this bread at any size, in any pan, without a recipe at all.
Ingredients
Dough
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All-purpose flour works; the crumb is a little softer.
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Pan and finishing
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Two for the pan, one for the top. Be generous — this is what fries the bottom crust.
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Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Quarter-sheet pan (9 × 13 in) or a 10-inch cast-iron skillet
- Kitchen scale — this recipe is written by weight
- Plastic wrap or a lidded container
Method
The night before
Mix
Whisk the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Pour in the water and the olive oil, then stir with a spoon or your hand until no dry flour remains. The dough will be wet, shaggy and unpromising. That is correct — do not knead it.
5 min
Fold
Let it sit 15 minutes, then reach under one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat three more times. Do this twice more at 15-minute intervals.
45 min
Cold ferment
Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight — 12 hours is the sweet spot, and anything from 8 to 24 works. The dough should roughly double and be visibly bubbly.
12 hr
Baking day
Pan and dimple
Oil the pan heavily. Tip the dough in without deflating it and turn it once to coat. Let it come to room temperature for 2 hours, then press your fingertips straight down through the dough to the pan, all over, to make the dimples.
2 hr
Bake
Drizzle with the remaining oil, scatter over the flaky salt and rosemary, and bake until deeply golden and crisp at the edges.
25 min450 °F (230 °C)
Rest
Lift the focaccia straight out of the pan onto a rack — leaving it in steams the bottom crust soft. Wait 10 minutes before cutting.
10 min
Ratio
Every weight below is a percentage of the flour, which gives this recipe its 5 flour : 4 water ratio. Rescale the recipe and the weights follow; the percentages are what stay true.
| Ingredient | Weight | % of flour |
|---|---|---|
| bread flour | 500 g | 100% |
| water | 400 g | 80% |
| fine sea salt | 10 g | 2% |
| instant yeast | 2 g | 0.4% |
| extra virgin olive oil | 30 g | 6% |
| extra virgin olive oil | 40.5 g | 8.1% |
| flaky sea salt | — | — |
| Total weighed | 982.5 g | 196.5% |
| Per piece | 81.9 g | — |
Cook's notes
- Hydration is the dial. At 80% water this dough is loose and open. Drop the water to 70% for a tighter, more sandwich-friendly crumb; the ratio table below is where you make that decision.
- Scaling by pan area beats scaling by servings: a 9 × 13 in pan is about 117 in², a half-sheet is about 234 in². Double the recipe for the bigger pan and the thickness stays the same.
- No overnight? Ferment at room temperature for 3–4 hours instead. You lose some flavour and gain a day.
Nutrition
Per piece, estimated.
- Calories
- 215 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 33 g
- Fat
- 7 g
- Sodium
- 330 mg