Easy No-Knead Spelt Focaccia

It took me a while to decide on posting a regular focaccia recipe with yeast (not a sourdough one), but many of you have asked over the years, so here it is – my easy no-knead spelt flour focaccia bread.

This homemade focaccia is incredibly soft, fluffy, delicious and easy to make. Instead of spelt flour, you can use regular bread flour, and the time required for rising and proofing the dough can be adjusted according to how much time you have.

All in all – if you love good homemade bread, make sure you try out this easy no-knead spelt focaccia recipe!

Ingredients for the homemade spelt focaccia bread

To make this soft and tasty no-knead focaccia bread, you will need the following ingredients:

• White spelt flour 
• Water
• Dry baker’s yeast
• Raw cane sugar 
• Sea salt
• Toppings of choice

White spelt flour is my flour of choice for most bread recipes; it is easy to handle and allows you to make soft and fluffy bread, but is healthier than regular wheat flour. If you prefer to use regular bread flour in this recipe – feel free to do so! I recommend using one with higher protein content, such as this 00 type flour.

You can use wheat flour in the same amount as spelt flour and get great results. Actually, you might even get a nicer-looking focaccia bread because the high amounts of gluten in wheat will form bigger bubbles. 

If you like to use whole-grain spelt or wheat flour, it will also work. The bread will be less bubbly in that case, because of all the bran in the whole-grain flour.

I use raw cane sugar in this recipe, but any sugar will do. No non-carb sweeteners though! Sugar is here to feed the yeast and make the dough rise well, so it has to be a real one. If you don’t want to use sugar, you can skip it.

Making the no-knead spelt focaccia

To make the focaccia bread, follow these easy steps:

1. Combine all the ingredients

In a bowl, mix lukewarm water with sugar and yeast. Add the flour and mix well to combine. I recommend doing this with your hand, but if it feels too sticky, you can also use a wooden cooking spoon. Add the salt and mix a bit more to combine it with the dough.

Alternatively, you can use a bread-mixing machine – I still don’t own one because I just love to do things the old-school way, but many of my friends swear that getting a bread mixer like this one saved their lives.

The dough will look and feel quite soft and sticky. Don’t worry – this is how it should be. As it sits and rises, the gluten in it will develop and make it more stretchy and easier to handle. 

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature.

2. Let the dough rise and apply the stretch and fold method

As the dough rises, you will need to stretch and fold it a few times for the best result. You can also skip this step and just allow it to rise, but I highly recommend doing the stretches and folds, because they will give the focaccia an extra bubbly and fluffy texture.

I recommend doing 3-4 sets of stretches and folds at approximately 15-minute intervals. To perform this method, just pick up one side of the dough, stretch it, and fold it over the rest of the dough. Do this a couple of times, leave it for 15 minutes, and repeat the whole thing three to four times.

Be careful not to over-stretch the dough to prevent breaking. You need to keep its elasticity for a nice texture and bubble formation.

3. The final proofing

After approximately an hour and three to four sets of stretches and folds, you can transfer the dough to the baking tray. Firstly, oil the bottom of the tray with some olive oil. This will make the focaccia easy to remove from the tray once it is baked, and also give it a nice crust. Then, transfer the dough to the oiled tray.

I like to use parchment paper too – putting a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the tray and spreading some olive oil on it before putting the focaccia dough inside is my little hack for making it less oily. When you have parchment paper, you don’t need as much olive oil to keep the focaccia from sticking to the tray.

After transferring the dough to the tray, cover it with a kitchen cloth and let it proof for about half an hour to forty-five minutes. The soft dough will distribute evenly inside the tray within ten minutes or so, so no need to press it or try to stretch it. Just leave it and it will do its magic.

Check on the dough after half an hour – it is supposed to have doubled in size. If that is not the case, leave it for fifteen to thirty more minutes.

4. Dimple the dough

Now, the fun part that everyone loves: drizzle the dough with a few tablespoons of olive oil, oil your fingers with some olive oil to prevent sticking, and gently press your fingers into the dough throughout its whole surface.

Dimpled focaccia dough can now go directly into the oven, or it can sit for an additional fifteen minutes while you wait for the oven to preheat. Thought I’d mention this because I’m sure that I am not the only one who often forgets to turn on the oven before the dough is ready.

5. Garnish the focaccia

Optionally, add some rosemary, coarse sea salt, oregano or other garnishes on top of the focaccia dough. Some other great options are pitted olives, cherry tomatoes, caramelised onions and sun-dried tomatoes.

This time I went super simple and didn’t add any garnishes at all. My boyfriend was a bit disappointed, but I hope you will forgive me. Anyway, he forgot about his initial disappointment after having a slice of this heavenly thing.

6. Bake it

Bake the focaccia in a preheated oven at 230 °C for 25 minutes. It might work slightly differently in different ovens, so keep an eye on your focaccia as it bakes. It should be nice and golden on top when it’s done.

Let the focaccia cool down wrapped in a tea towel before slicing it.

Storing the homemade focaccia

After your focaccia has cooled down wrapped in a tea towel, you can store it in a plastic bag at room temperature to keep it as fresh as possible. 

If plastic is not your thing, you can also keep it fresh by wrapping it in a beeswax wrap (I use those and love them, they are easy to make at home too). Another option is to keep it in an air-tight container.

As it stays wrapped, the focaccia will inevitably lose its original crunchiness in the crust, but it will still be amazing with its beautifully soft texture. You can slice it and toast it a bit in a pan to make it even better.

If you want to store the focaccia for more than three days, I recommend slicing and freezing it. That way you prevent it from catching mould or drying out from staying too long at room temperature. 

When stored in the freezer, the focaccia will keep its freshness and taste great when defrosted. You can take slices directly from the freezer and put them in a pan over low heat to defrost and toast a bit.

Extra tips

• If you have some more time on hand, you can make the dough the evening before and let it sit in the fridge overnight, covered with a lid or a plate to prevent losing moisture. The next day, take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to slowly rise at room temperature for two to three hours. Then, start the stretch-and-fold method and follow all the next steps as described earlier in the post.
• Depending on how warm or cold it is, the dough might take shorter or longer to rise and proof. Check on it regularly and adjust the time for rising if needed. The general rule is to wait until the dough doubles in size before you dimple it and put it in the oven.
• If the focaccia is rising too slowly in the winter, it might be too cold in your kitchen. Put it near the radiator or at some other warm spot, and give it some more time to rise.

Serving ideas

Check out these easy recipes that can be the perfect match with your homemade spelt focaccia:

• Parsley and chives pesto
• Mushroom and walnut pâté
• Creamy mushroom and chestnut soup
• Easy sweet potato soup
• Homemade hazelnut butter
• Easy oven-baked plum jam
• Sugar-free grapefruit marmalade

Useful equipment

For this recipe, you will need:

• Mixing bowl
• Wooden cooking spoon for mixing the dough
• Bread mixer (optional)
• Tea towel
• Baking tray

Yield: 20 cm × 20 cm baking tray

Easy No-Knead Spelt Focaccia

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Follow this recipe to make the best no-knead focaccia with spelt flour or regular bread flour. This easy homemade focaccia is soft, fluffy and delicious. If you love home-baked bread, definitely give it a shot!

Ingredients

• 400 g white spelt flour (14 oz or approx. 3 ⅓ cup)
• 360 ml lukewarm water (12 fl. oz or approx. 1 ½ cup)
• 7 g dry baker’s yeast (0.25 oz or approx. 2 tsp)
• 12-15 g raw cane sugar (0.45 oz or approx. 1 tbsp)
• 10 g sea salt (0.35 oz or approx. 2 tsp)
• 4-5 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
• Rosemary, coarse salt and olives to garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix water, sugar and yeast.
2. Add the flour and mix to combine. You can do this by hand, with a cooking spoon or with a dough mixer if you have one. The mixture will be sticky and soft, but compact enough to handle.
3. Add the salt and mix well to combine.
4. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough sit at room temperature.
5. After fifteen to twenty minutes, start with the stretch-and-fold method: do three to four sets of stretches and folds at approximately 15-minute intervals. Just pick up one side of the dough, stretch it, and fold it over the rest of the dough. Repeat this a couple of times, let the dough rest for 15 minutes, and do the whole thing two to three more times. 
6. You will notice that the dough is getting more and more stretchy and easier to handle with each set of stretches and folds. It should also be rising a bit: if it is not rising at all, then let it sit a bit longer and apply more sets of stretches and folds. If it is rising at least a bit (you will see some bubbles form too), proceed to the next step.
7. Oil a baking tray with 1-2 tbsp olive oil, or as much as you need to cover the bottom of the tray when you spread it with your fingers. I use a 20 cm × 20 cm baking tray, it will also work great in a 20 cm × 25 cm. 
8. After the final set of stretches and folds, transfer the dough to the baking tray and let it proof for the final half an hour to an hour. It is ready for baking when it has doubled in size.
9. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the dough and dimple it - oil your fingers and gently press the fingertips all across the dough surface to create small pockets. This will help it to rise more evenly in the oven.
10. Add your garnishes - rosemary, coarse salt, olives and sun-dried tomatoes all work amazing. Or, you can skip the garnishes altogether - it will still taste fantastic.
11. Put the dimpled and garnished focaccia dough in an oven preheated to 230 °C (450 °F) and bake it for 25 minutes. It can take a bit shorter or longer in different ovens, so keep an eye on it: its whole surface should be golden-brown when it’s done.
12. Let the focaccia cool down wrapped in a tea towel.
13. Once it has cooled down, store the focaccia in a plastic bag or a wax wrap to keep it fresh and fluffy. If you want to store it for longer than three days, freeze it to keep it as fresh as possible.

Notes

For the most accurate result, I recommend weighing the flour and measuring the volume of water precisely rather than measuring it by cups. 

Other dough ingredients (sugar, salt and yeast) can be measured less precisely - adding them by spoons without weighing them will work completely fine.

Instead of white spelt flour, you can use any wheat bread flour or whole-grain spelt flour. Whole-grain spelt flour will give you a bit less bubbly result, but it will still be nice and soft.

To prevent using too much oil when putting the dough into the baking tray, I first line the tray with a piece of parchment paper, and then put the oil on the paper. This prevents sticking better than just oil, so you won’t need to use that much oil.

If you have enough time, you can make the dough the night before and let it rest in the fridge overnight. This will help you get an even nicer, bubblier and bouncier texture. Read more in the post above the recipe.

Don’t worry if your dough is taking longer to rise than the times written in this recipe. This can happen if the temperature in the room is a bit lower. In that case, you can put it in a warmer spot and give it some more time. When it has doubled in size after its final proof in the baking tray - it is ready for baking.