An effortlessly Italian bake with a golden crust, pillowy crumb and a luxurious finish

There is something wonderfully Italian about a freshly baked focaccia arriving at the table.

Golden and crisp around the edges, impossibly soft in the centre and glistening with good extra virgin olive oil, it is the sort of bread that makes everyone reach for another piece.

And the beauty of this version is that there is no kneading involved.

Instead, the dough is gently stretched and folded before being left to develop its flavour slowly in the refrigerator. The result is a focaccia with a beautifully airy crumb, a crisp olive-oil crust and plenty of those irresistible little pockets of air.

For the topping, we take a slightly more indulgent route. Sweet red grapes are roasted into the dough with fresh rosemary and olive oil, creating a delicious contrast between savoury, fragrant bread and bursts of natural sweetness.

Serve it warm with a generous spoonful of creamy stracciatella, and you have something that feels equally at home at an Italian aperitivo, a long Sunday lunch or simply alongside a glass of wine at sunset.

The recipe

Serves: 6–8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Resting & fermentation: 8–24 hours
Baking time: 15–20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the focaccia

• 430 ml cool water
• 7 g dried yeast
• 540 g plain flour
• 11 g fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the topping

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the tin
• 300 g seedless red grapes
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp raw or light brown sugar
• A generous pinch of flaky sea salt

To serve

• 250 g stracciatella
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• A few fresh rosemary leaves

Method

1. Make the dough

Pour the cool water into a large mixing bowl and stir in the dried yeast until dissolved.

Add the flour, sea salt and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until you have a wet, sticky dough with no obvious dry patches of flour.

Don’t be tempted to add lots of extra flour. The high hydration is what will eventually give the focaccia its beautifully open, airy texture.

Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Stretch, fold and relax

Lightly oil your hands. Take one side of the dough, gently stretch it upwards and fold it back over itself.

Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Continue until you have completed four folds.

Cover the bowl again and leave the dough to rest for another 30 minutes.

After the second rest, repeat the folding process once more if the dough still feels particularly loose. It should gradually become smoother and more elastic.

3. Let time do the work

Lightly oil the bowl and gently shape the dough into a loose ball. Turn it over once so that it is coated in a thin layer of olive oil.

Cover and place it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

For the best flavour and texture, leave it overnight — and up to 24 hours if your schedule allows.

This long, slow fermentation is where the magic happens.

4. Prepare the focaccia

Generously coat a rectangular baking tin with extra virgin olive oil.

Transfer the chilled dough into the tin. With well-oiled fingertips, gently stretch the dough towards the corners.

Don’t force it. If it springs back, leave it alone for 10–15 minutes and try again.

Once the dough has relaxed, use your fingertips to press deep dimples across the entire surface.

This is the moment when focaccia starts to look like focaccia.

5. Add the toppings

Scatter the grapes over the dough, gently pressing some of them into the surface.

Strip the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and scatter them generously over the top.

Sprinkle lightly with the sugar and flaky sea salt, then finish with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Leave the focaccia to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.

6. Bake until golden

Preheat the oven to 210°C.

Just before baking, give the dough a final gentle press with your fingertips, particularly around the grapes.

Bake for approximately 15–20 minutes, until the focaccia is beautifully golden, the edges are crisp and the grapes have softened and begun to caramelise.

If your oven needs a little longer to achieve a deep golden crust, give it another few minutes.

7. The finishing touch

Remove the focaccia from the tin while it is still warm and place it on a wooden board.

Tear or cut it into generous pieces and serve with a bowl of cool, creamy stracciatella.

Finish with a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil, a little freshly cracked black pepper and a few rosemary leaves.

Then simply tear off a piece and dip it into the stracciatella.

Why the no-knead method works

Focaccia is wonderfully forgiving.

Rather than developing the gluten through vigorous kneading, this recipe relies on hydration, gentle folds and time. The long fermentation allows the dough to develop both structure and flavour while you get on with your day.

The most important ingredient is therefore not flour or yeast.

It is patience.

Give the dough a long rest in the refrigerator and you will be rewarded with a lighter, more flavourful focaccia with that characteristic pillowy interior.

The La Dolce Vita touch

The combination of grapes and rosemary may sound unusual at first, but it is wonderfully Mediterranean.

As they bake, the grapes become soft and intensely sweet, while rosemary perfumes the olive-oil-rich dough. The creamy stracciatella provides the perfect counterpoint cool, rich and wonderfully indulgent.

For an aperitivo, place the focaccia in the centre of the table alongside prosciutto, olives and marinated vegetables.

Or keep it beautifully simple: warm focaccia, stracciatella, a glass of Italian wine and good company.

Because sometimes the most memorable meals are the ones that ask for very little.