No Knead (EASY) Roasted Garlic Foccacia

Holy shit, you guys. I haven't been seriously BLOWN away by a recipe in a very long time, but this focaccia is insane. If you are like me, and you are sort of ambitious in the kitchen but the thought of using a mixer stresses you out, this recipe is exactly for you. Anders is a Serious Eats head, so he found this recipe online. I found one on Bon Appétit, so we'll see which one fairs better eventually. :)

The hardest part of this recipe is the waiting, so I suggest you start the dough early in the morning if you want to be eating tasty ass focaccia in the evening. If you can wait, make the dough in the afternoon, and work it out the next day, which is what I did. I like this recipe because we can put whatever we want in it! Next time, I'm going green olives and rosemary.

Ingredients:

For the Focaccia:
1 whole head garlic
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt, for seasoning
3 1/4 cups of all purpose or bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups minus 1 tablespoon water

For the garlic butter:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. For the Focaccia: Adjust oven rack to a center position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove 4 cloves garlic from head and set aside. Place remaining head in the center of a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt. Wrap tightly with foil and place in an oven-safe cast iron, carbon steel, or stainless steel skillet, then transfer to oven. Roast until garlic is completely tender, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and refrigerate until ready to use the next day.

2. Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. To account for the rising, the bowl should be at least 4 to 6 times the volume of the dough. Mix with hands or a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains.

3. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, making sure that edges are well sealed, then let rest on the countertop for 8-24 hours. Dough should rise dramatically and fill bowl.

4. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil to a 12-inch cast iron skillet or large cake pan. Transfer dough to pan by tipping it out of the bowl in one large blob. Turn dough to coat in oil.

Using a flat palm, press dough around skillet, flattening it slightly and spreading oil around the entire bottom and sides of pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let dough stand at room temperature for 2 more hours. After the first hour, adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 550 degrees.

5. At the end of the 2 hours, dough should mostly fill skillet, up to its edge. Use your fingertips to press it around until it fills every corner, popping any large bubbles that appear. Lift up one edge of dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape. Repeat, moving around dough, until no air bubbles are left underneath and dough is evenly spread around skillet.

Peel roasted garlic cloves and break up large cloves into 2 or 3 pieces. Scatter roasted garlic evenly over surface of dough, then push down on each clove until it is embedded into a deep well of dough.

6. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until top is golden brown and bubbly and bottom appears golden brown and crisp when you lift it with at him spatula, 22-26 minutes. If bottom is not as crisp as desired, place pan on a burner and cook over medium heat, moving pan around to cook evenly, until bottom of focaccia is crisp, 1 to 3 minutes. This process took us longer than the original recipe, which called for 16-22 minutes. Ours took 26 minutes total.

After 22 minutes

After 26 minutes

7. Meanwhile, make the garlic butter: Mince 4 reserved raw cloves of garlic. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil with butter in a small skillet and melt over medium-low heat. Add garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until fragrant and garlic is just beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl and season with salt.

8. When focaccia has finished baking, spread garlic butter over top with a spoon. Transfer to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly, slice and serve. Extra bread should be stored in a brown paper bag at room temperature for up to 2 days.