Olive Oil Focaccia: The Recipe and Which Oil to Use
Olive oil focaccia is the one bread where the oil is not an ingredient so much as the method: it goes into the dough, it fills the tin, and it pools in the dimples on top, so the oil adds up to around a sixth of the flour's weight. That makes it the most honest test there is of the oil in your cupboard. Below is our own olive oil focaccia recipe, written for this article in grams, US cups and baker's percentages, with a same-day version and an overnight one. After the method we cover what the oil does at each of its three stages, which olive oil to use where, the Ligurian brine trick that gives focaccia its salty, glossy top, and the variations worth knowing.
For our own oil, see our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml).
The Short Answer
- Our olive oil focaccia uses 500g strong bread flour, 400g water, 10g salt, 4g instant yeast and 30g extra virgin olive oil in the dough: 100%, 80%, 2%, 0.8% and 6% in baker's percentages. It fills a 23 × 33cm (9 × 13in) tin.
- The oil is used three times: 6% in the dough for a soft, open crumb, about 8% in the tin to fry the base crisp, and a brine of oil, water and salt poured over the dimpled dough just before baking.
- It bakes at 230°C / 210°C fan / 450°F for 22–25 minutes, until deep golden on top and crisp underneath.
- Use a good everyday extra virgin olive oil in the dough and the tin; save your freshest, most characterful bottle for the brine and the finishing drizzle, where you taste it almost raw.
- Extra virgin olive oil is fine at focaccia temperatures: the oil in the tin and the dimples sits on wet dough and does not reach the oven's setting for most of the bake.
- The overnight version, with the dough resting 12–24 hours in the fridge, gives more flavour and bigger bubbles for the same hands-on time.
- Sidr & Stone's olive oil is a single-estate, cold-pressed, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil from our own farm on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco, sold in 500ml dark glass.
Olive Oil Focaccia Recipe: Ingredients and Baker's Percentages
This makes one focaccia in a 23 × 33cm (9 × 13in) tin, about 3–4cm (1½in) tall once baked, cutting into 12 squares. Weigh everything if you can; focaccia dough is wet, and cups are imprecise. If you use cups, spoon the flour into the cup and level it.
| Ingredient | Metric | US | Baker's % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong white bread flour | 500g | 4 cups | 100% |
| Lukewarm water (about 30°C / 85°F) | 400g (400ml) | 1⅔ cups | 80% |
| Fine salt | 10g | 1¾ tsp | 2% |
| Instant (fast-action) yeast | 4g | 1¼ tsp | 0.8% |
| Extra virgin olive oil, in the dough | 30g | 2 tbsp + 1 tsp | 6% |
| Extra virgin olive oil, for the tin | 40g | 3 tbsp | 8% |
| Brine: water, extra virgin olive oil and fine salt | 25g water, 15g oil, 2g salt | 5 tsp water, 1 tbsp oil, ⅓ tsp salt | 5%, 3%, 0.4% |
| To finish: flaky sea salt, and rosemary if you like | a good pinch | a good pinch | not counted |
What the percentages mean: in baker's percentages every ingredient is a share of the flour weight, which counts as 100%. So 80% water means 80g of water for every 100g of flour, and 6% oil means 6g of oil per 100g of flour. Counting all three stages, the oil adds up to 17% of the flour weight, and that is what separates focaccia from an ordinary white loaf, which carries little or none.
How to scale it: the dough itself (flour, water, salt, yeast and dough oil) adds up to 188.8%. For a 20cm (8in) square tin, use about 60% of everything: 300g flour, 240g water, 6g salt, 2.4g yeast and 18g oil, with 25g of oil in the tin. For a full 30 × 40cm (12 × 16in) baking tray, use 1.5 times the recipe.
Flour and yeast notes: strong bread flour (about 12–13% protein) holds 80% water comfortably and gives the open, bubbly crumb; plain or all-purpose flour works, but hold back 30g of the water or the dough will be very slack. With active dry yeast, use 5g (1½ tsp) and stir it into the water first. Weigh coarse kosher salt rather than measuring it by the spoon, as it is lighter by volume.
Method: How to Make Olive Oil Focaccia, Step by Step
The dough is too wet to knead in the usual way, so it is built with rests and folds in the bowl. Hands-on time is about 20 minutes; the rest is waiting.
- Mix. In a large bowl, stir the flour and yeast together. Add the water and mix with a spoon or a wet hand until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
- Add the salt and the dough oil. Scatter the salt over the dough and squeeze it through with a wet hand. Pour over the 30g of olive oil and keep squeezing and folding for 2–3 minutes until it is absorbed. The dough will look torn and greasy, then come back together smooth and glossy.
- Stretch and fold. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Then, with a wet hand, lift one side of the dough, stretch it up until it resists and fold it over the middle; turn the bowl a quarter and repeat on all four sides. Do four sets of these folds, 30 minutes apart. By the last set the dough should be smooth, elastic and full of bubbles.
- First rise. Choose your timing. Same day: leave the covered dough at warm room temperature (22–25°C / 72–77°F) for about an hour after the last fold, until roughly doubled. Overnight: put the covered bowl straight into the fridge for 12–24 hours.
- Oil the tin. Pour the 40g of olive oil into a 23 × 33cm (9 × 13in) metal tin and tilt it to coat the base and corners. A metal tin gives a crisper base than glass or ceramic.
- Tip and settle. Tip the dough gently into the tin, turn it over once so both sides are oiled, and leave it for 15 minutes. Then stretch it gently towards the corners with oiled fingertips; if it springs back, wait another 10 minutes and try again rather than forcing it.
- Second rise. Cover the tin and leave until the dough fills it, is puffy and has bubbles on the surface: about 45–60 minutes for the same-day dough, or 1½–2 hours for dough straight from the fridge.
- Heat the oven. About 30 minutes before baking, heat the oven to 230°C conventional, 210°C fan, 450°F or gas mark 8, with a shelf in the lower third.
- Brine and dimple. Whisk the brine (25g water, 15g olive oil, 2g salt) in a small bowl until it emulsifies. Pour it over the dough, then press oiled fingertips straight down to the base of the tin all over, about 2cm (¾in) apart. The brine settles into the dimples. Scatter over flaky salt, and rosemary needles if using.
- Bake. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the top is deep golden with darker edges. Lift a corner with a spatula: the base should be golden and crisp. If it is pale, give it 3–5 minutes more on the oven floor or the lowest shelf.
- Finish. Slide the focaccia onto a rack straight away, so the base does not steam in the tin, and drizzle over a final tablespoon of your best olive oil. Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
The two things that go wrong most often are both about patience. Dimpling under-risen dough gives a dense, flat focaccia; and cutting it hot squashes the crumb, which is still setting. Our olive oil pizza dough uses the same idea of adding the oil after the flour and water have come together, and its pan-pizza variation is a close cousin of this bread.
What the Olive Oil Does at Each Stage
Focaccia uses olive oil in three places, and each one does a different job. Knowing which is which is what lets you decide where your good oil goes.
| Stage | How much | What it does | How much of the oil's flavour you taste |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the dough | 30g (6%) | Coats the gluten so the wet dough is extensible and the crumb soft and tender; slows staling | Little; the bake mellows it |
| In the tin | 40g (8%) | Shallow-fries the base and sides into a crisp, golden crust; stops sticking | Some; it gives the base its rich, fried edge |
| Brine in the dimples | 15g oil with water and salt | Seasons the top, keeps it moist while it bakes, and leaves glossy, salty pools | A lot; partly baked, partly soaked in |
| Finishing drizzle | About 1 tbsp | Adds aroma and gloss after baking | All of it; it is raw |
The brine: a Ligurian idea worth borrowing
In Genoa, focaccia genovese is traditionally finished with a salamoia, a brine of water, olive oil and salt poured over the dimpled dough just before it goes into the oven. The water does something plain oil cannot. It keeps the surface from drying out and hardening too early, so the top stays tender while the base crisps, and it carries the salt into the dimples, where it bakes into the characteristic shiny, salty hollows. Whisking the brine briefly until it turns cloudy helps the oil and water spread evenly rather than separating on the surface.
The objection: "Isn't that far too much oil?"
It is a lot of oil, and it is supposed to be; focaccia is an enriched, celebratory bread rather than an everyday loaf. But not all of it ends up in each mouthful. Some stays in the tin, and the 70g in the dough and tin are spread across 12 generous squares, which works out at around 6g, a little over a teaspoon, per square before the brine and drizzle. If you want a lighter bread, cut the tin oil to 25g; the base will be less crisp and slightly more likely to stick, but the bread still works. Going much lower than that turns it into a flat white loaf with oil on top.
Which Olive Oil Is Best for Focaccia?
The short answer is extra virgin olive oil throughout, used two ways: a good everyday extra virgin in the dough and the tin, where the oven softens its character, and your freshest, most aromatic bottle in the brine and the finishing drizzle, where you taste it. Texture is much the same with any liquid oil; flavour is what changes, and it changes most at the top of the bread.
| Oil | Dough and tin | Brine and finishing drizzle |
|---|---|---|
| Robust, peppery extra virgin (bitter and pungent notes) | Very good; mellows in the oven | Excellent with rosemary, onion or olives; can overpower a plain or sweet topping |
| Medium-fruity extra virgin | Excellent all-rounder | Excellent; the safest choice for a classic salted focaccia |
| Mild, delicate extra virgin | Good; a softer, rounder bread | Very good with plain salt, cherry tomatoes or grapes |
| Refined or "light" olive oil | Same texture, almost no olive flavour | Not worth it; there is nothing to taste |
| Sunflower, rapeseed (canola) or vegetable oil | Works for texture | Not a substitute; the bread loses its point |
Regional tradition points the same way. Ligurian focaccia grew up beside Liguria's own olive oil, much of it pressed from the small Taggiasca olive and known for a mild, sweet, gentle character that sits easily on a plain salted bread. Further south, the focaccia of Puglia is made in a region of more robust oils, such as those from the Coratina olive, and is usually topped with tomatoes and olives that stand up to a peppery oil. Neither is more correct; match the oil to what you put on top.
Whatever you choose, freshness matters more than any label. A rancid oil smells of crayons, putty or stale nuts, and pooled in the dimples of a focaccia, that is exactly what you will taste. Our guide to choosing a quality olive oil sets out what to check on the bottle: the grade, a harvest or best-before date, dark glass or a tin, and a named origin.
The objection: "Doesn't extra virgin olive oil burn in a 230°C oven?"
Not in focaccia. The oven is set to 230°C (450°F), but the oil in the tin and the dimples is sitting on wet dough, and the water in that dough holds the bread's interior below boiling point for most of the bake. Only the very edges and the base get properly hot, and that is precisely where you want the oil to fry the crust golden. A good extra virgin olive oil handles this comfortably; our article on olive oil at high heat explains why smoke point alone is a poor guide. What the oven does do is mellow the oil's fresh, green notes, which is why the finishing drizzle goes on after baking.
Variations: Overnight, Sourdough, Toppings and a Pugliese-Style Version
These are starting points, so watch the dough rather than the clock.
- Overnight (cold-fermented) focaccia: already built into the method. A long, cool rise gives a more complex, slightly tangy flavour and larger, more irregular bubbles. The dough keeps well in the fridge for up to 48 hours; after 24 it becomes noticeably more sour and slack.
- Sourdough focaccia: replace the yeast with 100g of active, bubbly starter at 100% hydration, and reduce the flour to 450g and the water to 350g to keep the same overall proportions. Expect the bulk rise to take 4–6 hours at warm room temperature, or rest the dough in the fridge overnight after the folds. Our olive oil sourdough bread covers starter timing in more detail.
- Rosemary and sea salt: the classic. Press small sprigs or needles of fresh rosemary into the dimples after the brine, so they sit in the oil and do not scorch. For a loaf where the rosemary runs right through the crumb, see our rosemary olive oil bread, which warms the herb in the oil first; the same trick works in this dough.
- Pugliese-style, with tomatoes and olives: press halved cherry tomatoes (cut side up) and pitted black olives into the dimpled dough with the brine, and add a pinch of dried oregano. Many Pugliese bakers also work boiled, mashed potato into the dough; 100g of cooled mashed potato in place of 50g of the water gives a softer, moister crumb.
- Red onion: toss thin slices of red onion in a teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt and scatter them over before baking; the edges char and sweeten.
- Same-day in a hurry: raise the yeast to 7g (2¼ tsp) and keep everything else the same; the first rise drops to about 45 minutes. The flavour is plainer than the overnight version, but it is still a very good bread.
- No stand mixer needed: this recipe is designed for a bowl and a wet hand. If you do use a mixer, mix on low with the dough hook for 6–8 minutes after adding the oil, then go straight to the first rise.
Serving, Storing and Reheating
Focaccia is at its best on the day, warm rather than hot, cut into squares or long fingers. It needs nothing more than a saucer of good olive oil, though it is also the natural bread for soups, salads, roast vegetables and sandwiches split through the middle. If you want to build a proper dipping oil to go with it, with herbs, balsamic or za'atar, our guide to dipping oil covers proportions and what is worth adding.
Once completely cool, keep focaccia wrapped in foil or in a bread bag at room temperature for up to two days; the oil in the dough keeps it softer for longer than a lean bread. Avoid the fridge, which stales bread faster. To revive it, warm squares for 5–8 minutes in an oven at 200°C / 180°C fan / 400°F, or crisp them cut side down in a dry frying pan. For longer keeping, freeze it in squares and reheat from frozen in the oven for about 10 minutes.
On health, the honest framing is short. Focaccia is a treat bread with more fat than an everyday loaf, and that fat is mostly the monounsaturated oleic acid of olive oil rather than the largely saturated fat of butter, which is a reasonable choice within a balanced diet. It does not turn focaccia into a health food, and the bread contains wheat (gluten).
Why Sidr & Stone
In a focaccia, the olive oil is tasted more directly than in almost any other bread: it fries the base, pools in the dimples and goes on raw at the end. That makes the oil's freshness and origin matter, and the oil is the part of this recipe we can speak for. Sidr & Stone's extra virgin olive oil comes from one place, our own farm on the plains outside Marrakech, and we control every step from tree to bottle.
- Single-estate: Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed: the trees are not irrigated; they take what the season gives.
- Organically grown: no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides are used (not yet certified; certification is in progress).
- Single harvest: each batch is small and limited, picked when the fruit is ready; once it is gone, it is gone until the next harvest.
- Cold-pressed: to protect flavour, aroma and polyphenols.
- Unfiltered extra virgin: minimally processed, so a little natural sediment at the bottom of the bottle is normal.
- 100% natural: a single ingredient, olive oil, with nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label: 500ml bottles that protect the oil from light.
- 10% of profits to charity: a Sidr & Stone commitment across every product.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU and US.
We will not tell you ours is the best olive oil for focaccia; your oven, your topping and your own taste decide that. What we will say is that it is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed, and that the product page carries the details of the current batch, so you can judge its freshness for yourself. Use it in the brine and the finishing drizzle, and taste the difference where it shows.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make olive oil focaccia?
Mix strong bread flour, water and yeast, then work in salt and olive oil. Strengthen the wet dough with four sets of stretch-and-folds, let it rise, tip it into a well-oiled tin, let it puff up, then pour over a brine of water, oil and salt, dimple it deeply and bake at 230°C (450°F) for 22–25 minutes.
Why does focaccia use so much olive oil?
Because the oil does three separate jobs: in the dough it makes the wet crumb soft and open, in the tin it fries the base crisp and golden, and on top it seasons and glosses the dimples. Using less is possible, but the base loses its crunch first.
What kind of olive oil is best for focaccia?
Extra virgin olive oil. A good everyday extra virgin is fine in the dough and the tin, where baking mellows it; use your freshest, most aromatic bottle for the brine and the drizzle after baking, where you taste it almost raw.
Can I use regular or light olive oil for focaccia?
Yes, for texture; the bread will rise and crisp the same way. But refined and "light" olive oils have almost no olive flavour, so the focaccia will taste plainer, and you lose the main reason to make it with olive oil at all.
Is Sidr & Stone's olive oil good for focaccia?
Yes. It is a single-estate, cold-pressed, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, so it suits every stage, and it shows most in the brine and the finishing drizzle. Taste a little on a spoon first and decide how much of it you want on top.
Why is my focaccia dense or flat?
Usually because it was under-risen before dimpling, or the dimpling was too timid. Wait until the dough fills the tin and is visibly puffy and bubbly, then press your fingertips all the way to the base of the tin. Too little water, or plain flour without holding back water, can also give a tight crumb.
Where can I buy single-estate extra virgin olive oil?
Our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml) is available directly from the Sidr & Stone website, currently to pre-order as a limited single-harvest batch, with fulfilment in the UK, EU and US.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
Good focaccia comes down to three decisions: enough water to give an open, bubbly crumb, enough patience to let the dough fill the tin before you dimple it, and treating the olive oil as three ingredients rather than one. The oil in the dough shapes the crumb, the oil in the tin builds the crust, and the oil in the brine and the final drizzle is the flavour you remember. Put an everyday extra virgin where the oven will soften it, and your best bottle where it will be tasted.
Weigh the ingredients and think in baker's percentages, and the same formula becomes an overnight bread, a sourdough, a Pugliese tomato-and-olive focaccia or a bigger tray for a crowd by changing two or three numbers.
If you want an oil with a clear origin for the brine and the finishing drizzle, our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml), single-estate, rain-fed and cold-pressed, is available to pre-order now, with fulfilment in the UK, EU and US.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
Disclaimer: This article shares a home-baking recipe and general cooking information at the time of writing; ovens, flours and ingredients vary, so treat times, temperatures and water amounts as starting points. Take normal care with very hot ovens, oiled metal tins and hot oil. The recipe contains wheat (gluten). Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.