Garlic Bread Focaccia

Thick and soft, Ligurian-style focaccia is the base for this simple, homemade garlic bread focaccia recipe. My favorite homemade focaccia bread gets drenched in flavorful garlic butter and dotted with lots of fresh herbs.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, garlic bread is my favorite food. I will gladly forgo a slice of cake or spoonful of tiramisu for dessert in order to eat more garlic bread. I especially like it leftover for breakfast with fried eggs, but honestly, I cannot think of a time when I don’t want to be eating garlic bread.

I also feel this way about focaccia. Last week, I read about a little restaurant in St. Paul called Due Focacceria, an Italian cafe that serves Capalleti Spritzs and focaccia a bunch of different ways. The night after I read about this restaurant, I dreamt about it and that doesn’t feel weird at all. Focaccia is one of the best breads for many reasons, but it’s my favorite because it’s the simplest. It takes almost no effort to mix together a batch of focaccia dough and then you go to sleep while it does its thing and when you wake up, you are two hours and a dimpling away from snacking on freshly baked bread. The marriage of these two things just feels right.

how to make focaccia

Focaccia is a high-hydration, Italian-style bread. My basic recipe is very lightly adapted from Samin Nosrat and you can find it here. I also highly recommend hopping on Netflix and watching Samin make a batch of focaccia in Liguria in the “Fat” episode of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. I’ve played around with a lot of dough recipes and the thing that I love about Samin’s recipe is the brining step. After mixing together the dough and letting it rest overnight, we dump the dough into a well-oiled pan and stretch it for another proof. After giving it about 30 minutes for the gluten strands to relax, we’ll stretch it again into its final shape, dimple it, and brine it in a little bit of salt water. This extra little step adds so much moisture and flavor to the dough, you don’t want to skip it! Even if you already have a favorite focaccia recipe, I recommend you add brining as a step—you won’t be disappointed.

After the second proof, the dough is dimpled again and drizzled with olive oil. For this garlic bread focaccia, we’ll sprinkle the top with a bunch of fresh herbs. I used rosemary, thyme, and oregano, but you can use any of your favorites. The focaccia is baked until golden brown and crispy.

While the focaccia is baking, we make the garlic butter by heating a bunch of garlic, butter, red pepper flakes, and salt over low heat until fragrant and the garlic is softened. Smash the garlic into small pieces and return it to the butter and the drench the focaccia with the garlic butter right when it comes out of the oven.

Yield

one 9x13" baking dish

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Inactive time

12 Hour

Total time

12 H & 55 M

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Garlic Bread Focaccia

Thick and soft, Ligurian-style focaccia is the base for this simple, homemade garlic bread focaccia recipe. My homemade focaccia bread gets drenched in flavorful garlic butter and dotted with lots of fresh herbs. Base focaccia recipe inspired by Samin Nosrat.

Ingredients

for the dough

• 600g (2 1/2 cups) water
• 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 15g (2 1/2 tsp) honey
• 800g (5 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
• 18g (2 tbsp) kosher salt
• 50g (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil, plus more for pan and drizzling

for the saltwater brine

• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

for the garlic butter

• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 sprigs fresh oregano
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 large cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• Flaky salt

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, stir together water, yeast, olive oil, and honey. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add flour and salt and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined and no flour streaks remain. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest on your countertop for 12-14 hours, until doubled in volume. (I like to mix this together before bed and let it rest overnight.)
2. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of a 9x13” baking dish. Turn dough out onto the baking sheet and gently stretch the dough towards to the edges of the pan. To do this without tearing the dough, I like to reach my hands underneath and gently pulling it towards the outside. At this point, it will probably shrink back a bit, but that’s okay. Drizzle the whole thing with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, use your fingers to dimple the entire surface of the dough. Stir together warm water and salt and then pour brine over the top of the dimpled dough. Cover again and proof for another 45 minutes.
4. About 30 minutes into your final proof, preheat your oven to 425° F. When the oven is hot and the dough is proofed, remove cover, sprinkle with fresh herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30-35 minutes, until deeply golden brown.
5. While the focaccia is baking, combine butter, garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan. Set over low heat and cook until butter is melted and garlic cloves have softened. Remove garlic cloves, roughly chop, and return them to the butter.
6. Pour garlic butter over hot focaccia and sprinkle with flaky salt. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, and then use a spatula to loosen the edges from the side of the pan.

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Browned Butter and Cardamom Zucchini Bread

Looking for ways to use up your summer zucchini? This quick and easy, ultra-moist zucchini bread recipe is for you! A simple recipe for the best zucchini bread, filled with warming spices, browned butter, and topped with mascarpone whipped cream.

Is there anything that screams late summer more than zucchini bread? If you’re anything like me, by the time school is starting, you are finding yourself with a bounty of zucchini and squash, while simultaneously running out of any new ideas as to what to do with it. (Although, I recently stumbled upon a recipe for zucchini butter from Andrea Bemis’ new cookbook that I am looking forward to trying out).

One of you actually requested a zucchini bread recipe earlier this summer and my wheels have been turning for the last few months. This really beautiful zucchini bread is a compilation of a traditional, no frills style quick bread and a much-more extravagant zucchini cake we made the first week of culinary school. The result is a dense, moist loaf cake, stuffed with shredded summer zucchini, nutty browned butter and warming spices, topped with a light mascarpone whipped cream.

how to make zucchini bread

Zucchini bread, like pumpkin and banana bread, falls into the quick bread category of baked goods. I assume we call them ‘breads’ because they are often baked loaf-style, but really, let’s not kid ourselves, they are cakes. Easy, simple cakes! Quick breads are often known for their density (think of those thick, hefty slices of banana bread in coffee shop displays), which can be attributed to a liquid fat, like oil or melted butter.

Pretty much all quick breads follow the same technique: mix together your wet ingredients, mix together your dry ingredients, add dry to the wet and stir to combine. It’s so simple. No creaming butter or whipping egg whites. You don’t need a mixer or any fancy equipment. Quick breads are low maintenance and high-reward.

For this recipe, we follow that same formula, using browned butter as our liquid fat. The slightly cooled butter is whisked with tahini, eggs, orange zest, sugar, and vanilla before the shredded zucchini gets folded in. Then dry ingredients (flour, leavening agents, and spices) are folded in and the whole thing is baked and it’s a work of art.

Quick tip for you: If you are frosting the bread, wait until it is COMPLETELY cooled. (I tried to rush this little photoshoot and learned my lesson on this one.) If you want to enjoy your zucchini bread slightly warm, skip the whipped cream and just plop a pat of butter or a swoop of mascarpone on a slice. It will be just as perfect and far less melty.

ideas for zucchini bread variation:

You know that I’m all about making your baking your own so here are some ideas for flavor variation that you can play around with!

• Lime + Coconut Zucchini Bread: Sub the orange zest for lime zest and use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter. Fold some shredded coconut into the batter and sprinkle some on top before baking.

• Lemon + Ginger Zucchini Bread: Sub the orange zest for lemon zest and add grated fresh ginger to the batter. Replace the browned butter with a good, fruity olive oil.

• Chocolate + Peanut Butter Zucchini Bread: Replace the tahini with peanut butter and add chocolate chips!

Yield: one 9x5" loaf

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Browned Butter and Cardamom Zucchini Bread

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

A simple recipe for the best zucchini bread, filled with warming spices, browned butter, and topped with mascarpone whipped cream.

Ingredients

for the zucchini bread

• 14 oz shredded zucchini (from 2 medium zucchinis)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, browned and cooled slightly
• 3 tbsp (50 g) smooth tahini
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (106 g) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cup (210 g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (50 g) spelt flour

for the mascarpone whipped cream

• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions

to make the zucchini bread

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x5” loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Place butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant and little brown flecks are scattered throughout. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. Grate zucchini and place in a bowl. Set aside.
4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, spelt flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.
5. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and orange zest. Use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugars until fragrant.
6. Add the tahini, vanilla extract, and cooled brown butter to the sugars. Whisk until smooth.
7. Add the eggs and continue to whisk until the batter is homogenized.
8. Add the zucchini to the liquid batter and fold in using a rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients in two additions, folding gently just until everything is combined and no pockets of flour remain.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until cake is deeply golden and a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out cleanly. Let cool in the pan.

to make the mascarpone whipped cream

1. Place mascarpone cheese and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or standing mixer for about 2 minutes, until well combined and mascarpone is fluffy.
2. Add the heavy cream and continue to whip for 3-4 minutes, until mixture reaches soft peaks. Spoon over cooled zucchini bread.

Notes:

Some recipes call for squeezing the liquid out of the zucchini. For this recipe, we are going to skip that step and use some of that moisture in the bread itself. I do like to let the zucchini sit shredded in a bowl for about 10 minutes, while I prep the rest of the ingredients, and then use a fork to transfer the zucchini to the batter. If there is any residual liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl after removing the zucchini, trash that and don’t add it to the batter. 

The mascarpone whipped cream is a nice complement to the bread if you are serving it right away, but if you are making this to eat on for the week, I'd recommend skipping the whipped cream (it won't hold very well). The bread is still delicious on it's own!

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Asiago Challah

Inspired by the Panera Bread asiago loaf, this easy challah bread recipe is filled and topped with shredded asiago cheese.

It’s been a good, long while since I shared a bread recipe on here so today is bread day! I get in a mood in the summertime where I don’t love bread-making as much as I do during other months. Maybe it’s the heat and the fact that I would prefer to live on cocktails, guzzle-able wine, and ice cream, and avocados from May to September. So when I do make bread in the summer, it can’t be a whole production. No preferments or overnight cold proofs allowed. This means that my summer glutens come from focaccia, flatbreads, and of course, challah.

If you’ve been around the blog for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about how much I love challah. But in case you missed it, here are seven reasons why challah is the very best bread.

why challah is the best

1. It makes the best toast. Really, the best toast. I like to keep loaves in my freezer and pull them out when I have overnight guests so that they wake up to warm challah toast.

2. You can make a batch in one day (No overnight resting needed!) As I noted before, no overnight resting = year round bread in my book.

3. It's enriched with eggs and fat, but not as decadent as brioche. Ok, so challah is an enriched dough, meaning it has eggs and fat (butter or oil) added to the dough. This gives us a luxurious, soft bread, but without the heaviness and richness of other enriched breads, like brioche.

4. It's the most versatile--use it for cinnamon rolls or garlic knots. Case in point, this recipe is just a little riff on my Favorite Challah recipe.

5. It's fun to braid and shape. I’ve gotten lost down many Youtube/TikTok rabbit holes of challah braiding tutorials. You can literally google “how to braid challah” and find a million different step-by-step videos and they are so much fun to play around with. Challah Prince is one of my favorites.

6. It freezes like a dream. Remember earlier when I said that I keep a loaf in my freezer for guests? Just pop your cooled loaf in a freezer bag and defrost it whenever you need it!

7. You don't need a mixer or any fancy equipment. I discovered in all my challah making that I actually prefer to make challah with my hands. The dough amount is a tad too much for my standing mixer and I find it takes too long and I spend too much time scraping it off the hook. I prefer to mix my dough with a wooden spoon and give it an old-fashioned hand kneading. As Ina Garten would say, “how easy is that?”

about the asiago challah

This recipe is simply a twist on a classic challah, with shredded asiago cheese mixed into the dough and sprinkled on top. You can sub asiago for a different type of cheese, but I would stick to another hard cheese, like parmesan, so you don’t end up adding too much moisture to the dough. Because it has a mix-in, this loaf may take a few more minutes to bake and it needs to cool completely before slicing or the inside will be gummy. If the tops are getting too browned, you can always tent it with a piece of foil while it finishes baking.

Yield: makes two loaves

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Asiago Challah

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinInactive time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 3 H & 34 M

My very favorite everyday challah recipe with shredded asiago cheese folded into the eggy dough.

Ingredients

• 400 g (3 cups) all purpose flour
• 280 g (2 cups) bread flour
• 285 g (1 1/4 cups) buttermilk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 110 g (1/3 cup) honey
• 90 g (1/2 cup) oil, like avocado*
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (80 g) asiago cheese, shredded, plus more for topping
• more flour for dusting
• one egg, for egg wash

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, warmed, and yeast. Stir and let rest for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. When yeast is ready, add eggs, egg yolks, honey, oil, and the rest of the buttermilk. Whisk to combine.
3. Add all purpose flour, bread flour, and salt to the bowl and use a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula to stir until all of the flour has been moistened and a shaggy dough begins to form. Add the asiago cheese and stir to mix in.
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Knead dough on the countertop for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and the dough passes the window pane test.
5. Wipe a small amount of oil around a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the dough is doubled in size.
6. When proofed, punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a bench scraper and a kitchen scale to divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape dough into small rounds, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
7. Shape each dough round into a rope, about 8” in length. You should now have eight ropes, four for each challah loaf.
8. My go-to shape is a four-strand challah braid. If you want to do a three or five strand braid, just divide your dough into the appropriate number of pieces. Shape the challah loaves: I started to type out all of the steps for braiding, but I find that it is SO MUCH EASIER to watch a video that shows exactly where each strand should go. Here’s a great one that I’ve used often.
9. Place braided challah loaves on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.
10. When there is 10 minutes left in the final proofing time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tops of the challah with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining asiago cheese.
11. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 15 minutes until challah is deeply golden brown.

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