Easy No-Knead Sweet Focaccia Bread with Cinnamon Sugar

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 2 15

Cook Time: 30

Proof the dough twice:: 17

Total Time: 19 45

Servings: servings ( 9 x 9 pan )

Calories: 238kcal

Author: Marvellina

This super delicious sweet focaccia bread with cinnamon sugar topping is so easy to make and requires no kneading. The bread can be baked on the same day or the next day.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

380 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
297 g water
5 g salt
2 g instant yeast if you choose longer fermentation
7 g instant yeast if you choose same-day bake
30 g sugar
60 g raisins

For drizzling and to coat pan:

Olive oil

Cinnamon-sugar topping:

2 tsp ground cinnamon
50 g brown sugar
Small pinch of salt

Instructions

Prepare the dough:

Mix everything for the dough in a large mixing bowl. You will get a shaggy, sticky, and wet dough. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes

Four sets of stretchs and folds:

After 30 minutes, uncover the plastic wrap and lightly oil your hands and pull the edge of the dough up, sort of wiggling and stretching it up as you pull and fold it towards the center. Repeat this motion until you have gone all around. You probably get about 4 stretches and folds total. Flip the dough to the smooth side. Cover with a wrap again and rest for another 30 minutes
Repeat with the second, third, and fourth set of stretches and folds every 30 minutes
After that, I like to transfer the dough to a clean container and oil the container so the dough won't stick. Coat the dough with a bit of oil to prevent it from drying out. Let the dough ferment until almost double in volume.

If not baking on the same day (long fermentation):

Put the container inside the fridge and let it continue to rise in the fridge for 12-24 hours. This long cold fermentation is when it develops that amazing flavor and great texture

To bake on the same day:

Cover the dough and let it continue fermenting until it is double or close to double in volume. The temperature of the place I put the dough in was about 82 F (28 C). It takes about 1-2 hours if using yeast. The time highly depends on the temperature
After that, proceed to the shaping and final proofing

Shaping and Final proofing:

Oil 9 x 9 pan. This size of pan gives you a thick focaccia. If you prefer a thinner, you can use larger size pan like half-sheet pan (18x 13 inches). Line a parchment paper. Oil the parchment paper on all sides. Scoop the dough into the pan. Use your hands to stretch the dough to fit the pan. Drizzle with a bit of oil and rub the surface with some oil to prevent it from drying out. Cover and let it rest and proof at a warm place until the dough is really puffy and jiggly (full of air). This may take 1-2 hours or longer depending on the temperature
If you do cold fermentation, this last proofing will take much longer because the dough is cold. It may take 2-3 hours or longer

Preheat oven:

15 minutes before the end of final proofing, preheat the oven to 430 F (220 C) for conventional oven, 410 F (210 C) for convection oven

Prepare topping and dimple the dough:

Mix ground cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar in a bowl
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the surface of the dough as evenly as you can. Lightly oil your fingers. Use all of your fingers and gently push straight down (not at an angle) into the dough, all the way down to create deep dimples. Lift all of your fingers up and then move to a different spot and create more dimples again. Once you have created dimples, it is best to bake the focaccia right away to maintain those "bubbly" air pockets you created through the dimpling process

Bake:

Put the pan on the lowest rack and bake for 25-30 minutes if using 9 x 9 inches pan, and about 18-20 minute if using half-sheet pan, or bake until internal temperature is at least 190 F. Since there is sugar topping on top, you want to tent the surface loosely with aluminum foil (shiny side up) after 15 minutes into baking to prevent it from browning too much before the bread is cooked through

Transfer to cooling rack immediately: (to prevent soggy bottom)

Once the bread is out of the oven, lift the parchment paper up and put it on top of the cooling rack. Carefully peel the parchment paper from the sides and gently slide the bread directly onto the cooling rack. This is to preserve the "crispness" of the bottom part of the bread. If you let it cool down wrapped in the parchment paper, the bottom gets soggy and wet

To serve:

Let the bread cool down for at least 10 minutes and then serve. They are best served on the same day

Storage:

Even though focaccia is best on the same day, but from my experience, it keeps well for about 2 days when stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. It may lose it crispness, but this can be easily revived by reheating it
They also freeze very well. Let them cool completely. Cut into serving slices. Wrap them in plastic wrap and then another layer of aluminum foil won't hurt too. I then put inside a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal. They can be kept in the freezer for one month

To reheat focaccia:

You don't need to thaw if it's frozen. Spray with a bit of water, loosely wrap in aluminum foil and then reheat in the oven at 375 F (190 C) for 10-15 minutes if frozen, about 5 minutes if not frozen. For the crispy top, you can expose the top and reheat for another 2-3 minutes and serve immediately

Nutrition