I can’t say that I ever had before. Sure, I’ve eaten it out of a bread basket at restaurants here and there. But to have the urge to make it? Can’t really say I ever had. For some reason, one morning last week, I all of a sudden needed fresh focaccia bread. (No, I’m not pregnant) I poked around for awhile until I found a recipe that met my basic criteria (mostly good reviews, no ingredients I didn’t want or didn’t have) and had it thrown into my bread machine within 5 minutes. I know. Again with that bread machine. But, you know what? We went to the playground while the bread machine did all the work. Gosh, I love that bread machine.
Overall, it was easier than I thought to get my focaccia on. I didn’t go nuts leaving finger marks in the bread the way you are supposed to in order to get those indentations typical of focaccia. Mine came out more rustic looking and that was fine with me. Next time, I would halve the recipe and use a couple tablespoons of fresh rosemary (the recipe makes a full half sheet pan which is way more than my family needed!) Happy baking 
- 1¾ cup warm water
- 1 cup olive oil, divided in half
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 5 cups AP flour
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2¼ tsp bread machine yeast (or one package active dry yeast)
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Herbs de Provence
- Place the warm water, ½ cup olive oil, sugar, flour, salt and yeast into the bowl of the bread machine according to bread machine instructions
- Set the bread machine to Dough setting and press Start
- When the dough cycle has completed, pour the other ½ cup of olive oil onto a half sheet pan (or standard baking sheet)
- Place the dough in the sheet pan and turn it over a few times to fully coat it with olive oil
- Begin kneading, pushing and stretching the dough to fill the entire pan
- Cover and let rise for about an hour
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees F
- Sprinkle the kosher salt and Herbs de Provence over the dough
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes