Focaccia al Rosmarino

Focaccia al rosmarino is the simplest focaccia in the Italian repertoire: the same olive-oil-enriched dough as focaccia genovese, topped only with fresh rosemary and olive oil. No cheese, no tomato, no elaborate topping. Approximately €0.19 per serving for six servings — the lowest-cost recipe in the pizza and focaccia category. Vegan.

Ingredients (6 servings)

• 500g Type 00 flour (farina 00)
• 7g fresh yeast (lievito di birra fresco)
• 300ml water (lukewarm)
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the pan and surface
• 5g fresh rosemary (rosmarino fresco), needles stripped from the stem
• 10g salt

Instructions

1. Make the dough Dissolve the fresh yeast in 100ml of the lukewarm water. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast water and the remaining 200ml water gradually. Add 30ml of the olive oil. Knead by hand or with a stand mixer for 8 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky. The dough should be softer than pizza dough — if it feels stiff, add 10–15ml more water.

Cover with a damp cloth and rest at room temperature for 1 hour, or until roughly doubled.

2. Pan and second rest Generously oil a rectangular baking tray (approximately 30×40cm). Transfer the dough to the tray and press it gently toward the edges. If the dough springs back, cover and rest for 10 minutes, then try again. Drizzle the remaining 30ml of olive oil over the surface.

Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

3. Dimple and top Using your fingertips, press firm dimples across the entire surface — approximately 2cm apart, deep enough to hold olive oil. Strip the rosemary needles from the stem and scatter evenly across the surface. Press them lightly into the dimples. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

4. Bake Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan). Bake for 20–25 minutes until the surface is deeply golden and the edges are pulling away from the pan. The olive oil in the dimples should be visibly bubbling in the final 5 minutes.

5. Serve Remove from the oven and serve warm. Focaccia al rosmarino keeps for one day at room temperature wrapped in a clean cloth; reheat briefly in a hot oven before serving.

Notes

The dimpling step is functional. Deep dimples trap the olive oil and rosemary needles, preventing the herbs from burning on the exposed surface and creating the characteristic soft-crisp texture contrast of good focaccia. Undimpled focaccia with scattered rosemary will lose the rosemary to the oven floor within minutes.

Fresh rosemary works better than dried at this baking temperature. Dried rosemary would char at 220°C. Fresh needles soften and concentrate in flavour without burning.

Cost Context

At Italian supermarket prices (Q1 2025):

• Farina-00 500g (€0.50/kg): €0.25
• Lievito-di-birra 7g (€7.00/kg): €0.05
• Olio-extravergine-oliva 60ml (€9.50/L): €0.57
• Rosmarino 5g (€10.00/kg): €0.05
• Total (60ml oil basis): €0.92 for 6 servings — approximately €0.15 per serving

Including the additional oil used for the pan (approximately 25ml): total approximately €1.16, or €0.19 per serving.

All four ingredients are priced (HIGH confidence). This is the lowest-cost item in the Italian pizza and focaccia category. Compare to focaccia cipolla at €0.26/serving — adding 300g of caramelised onion (€0.45) raises the cost by €0.07/serving. Compare to pizza marinara at €0.47/serving — four servings from a similar dough base but with tomato and a lower per-batch yield. For the full cost ranking see Cheapest Pizza and Focaccia Toppings — Cost Ranked. Use the Recipe Cost Calculator for the itemised breakdown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does dimpling matter? The dimples in focaccia serve two functions. Structurally, they slow oven rise and keep the bread flat rather than bready. Practically, they collect the olive oil drizzled over the surface — the oil pools in each depression and lightly fries the base of the dimple during baking, producing the characteristic glossy-spotted surface of Italian focaccia. Without dimples, the oil runs to the edges of the tray and the rosemary burns on the exposed top.

Is focaccia dough the same as pizza dough? Very close, but not identical. Both use flour, yeast, water, salt, and olive oil. Focaccia dough is typically wetter (65–70% hydration vs. 60–63% for pizza) and contains more olive oil mixed directly into the dough. Pizza dough is kneaded longer for chew; focaccia is handled more gently to preserve airiness. The result: focaccia is thicker, softer, and more olive-oil-rich than pizza, with a lower per-serving cost because the same dough batch yields 6 servings rather than 4.