Garlic Rosemary Focaccia...because I'm a #garlicgirl.

Hello Friends! We can all agree that it’s fitting that my return to blogging comes with a recipe, right? A garlic-y, herbaceous, chewy, comforting sheet pan of bread kinda recipe…and you better believe I’m gonna make pizza out of it, too.

So. This recipe is one that I loosely adapted from Gimme Some Oven, one of my go-to sites for easy-but-delicious recipes. With just a handful of ingredients and the added fun of squishing the dough with your fingers, you can be eating pillowy focaccia bread in about 2 hours…and 90 minutes of that is just waiting around (not easy, but worth it, I promise!). Let’s get to it!

Here’s what you need:

1 1/3 cup of warm water (about 110°F)

2 teaspoons of sugar, honey or agave nectar (perfect if you’re allergic to honey like me)

1 package of active-dry yeast

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (plus a bit extra if your dough is wet)

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (for coating the baking sheet and drizzling on the dough prior to baking)

2 teaspoons of flaky sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling (I use fleur de sel for the sprinkling)

6 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

4 sprigs fresh rosemary (2 for mixing into the dough and 2 for sprinkling on top)

Here’s what you need to do:

Proof the yeast. Add warm water (about 110°F) and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough attachment and stir to combine. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water. Give the yeast a quick stir to mix it in with the water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is foamy.

Knead the dough. Set the mixer to low speed and gradually add flour, olive oil and salt. Increase the speed to medium-low and add your minced garlic and two sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced. Continue mixing the dough for 5 minutes. (If the dough is too sticky and isn’t pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add in an extra 1/4 cup of flour while it’s mixing). You can certainly do this step by hand if you don’t have a mixer and kneading dough by hand is extremely satisfying!

First dough rise. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and use your hands to shape it into a ball. Grease a large mixing bowl with olive oil or cooking spray and then place the dough ball in the bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Place in a warm location (I set mine on the stovetop with the oven set to 250 degrees) and let the dough rise for 60 minutes (or until it has nearly doubled in size).

Second dough rise. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out into a large rectangle until that the (you want the dough to be about 1/2” thick. Cover the dough again with the damp towel and let the dough continue to rise for another 20 minutes.

Prepare the dough. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Transfer the dough to a large, olive oil coated baking sheet.(you can also press it into a 9x13 baking dish). Use your fingers to poke deep dents (seriously, poke all the way down to the baking sheet!) all over the surface of the dough. Generously drizzle olive oil evenly all over the top of the dough and sprinkle with sea salt and the remaining fresh rosemary needles.

Bake. Bake for 20 minutes or until the dough is slightly golden and cooked through. YOUR HOUSE WILL SMELL AMAZING.

Serve. Remove from the oven and drizzle with a little more olive oil if desired. Slice and serve warm!

Should you possess more restraint than I, you can do SO MUCH with focaccia (although shoving large pieces of it fresh from the oven into your mouth is pretty unbeatable). Focaccia pizza? HELL YES! Sandwiches? YOU BET! Croutons? SURE THING! Hug it like a pillow and tell it how much you love it? YOU DO YOU. No judgement here, y’all. Happy carb loading (‘tis the season)!