Garlic Confit Focaccia
Garlic bread just LEVELLED UP with this gorgeous gorgeous garlic confit focaccia. Heaven in carb form.
Focaccia vs garlic bread
Now I’ve made a bit of a bold claim here. I’m attempting to convince you that this garlic focaccia is as good as/if not better than your classic, much loved garlic bread. I’m gonna stand by this because this bready beauty uses my garlic confit recipe, which once you’ve gone confit, you don’t go back. It requires a little more time and effort but make a big batch of my garlic confit and you can basically use it in any savoury dish as it gives a velvety, sweet and rich flavour that adds a different dimension to your dough/dish. It’s basically caramelised garlic. I personally like to spread it over nice and thick over toasted crusty bread and go to town on it.
This recipe was one of my fave creations from the ‘Gorgeous, Gorgeous Garlic’ series I started in 2022 and I’ll tell you why. When making bread from scratch it can seem a little intimidating, but what I love about this recipe is that you don’t need to be an experienced baker to make a decent focaccia. Simply follow my instructions and you’ll end up with the perfect crisp, golden outside and soft yet chewy inside. Ideal as a snack (don’t forget ya oil and balsamic vinegar), as a sandwich bread or simply as a side – however ya wanna eat it.
All I will say is that a jar of confit garlic NEEDS to be a staple in your kitchen as you can never have too much garlic. It will honestly transform the way you cook. Level it up even further with my Confit Butter Garlic recipe.
Feel free to experiment with different herbs and toppings such as caramelised onions, olives, Parmesan cheese or even sweet peppers.
You can say goodbye to that shop bought garlic bread now 👋
More from my Gorgeous Gorgeous Garlic series…
- Garlic & bacon spaghetti
- Garlic lemon and chilli pasta with burrata
- Confit garlic mushrooms on toast
- Butter confit roast chicken
Ingredients
- 310g strong white bread flour, plus some for dusting
- 190ml lukewarm water
- 1 heaped tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 6g dried active yeast
- 10 cloves of confit garlic or 3 cloves of raw garlic minced into a paste
- Plenty of extra virgin olive oil
- Flaky sea salt
- 2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked
- Another 5-10 confit garlic cloves
- Small handful of finely grated Parmesan
Method
- Place half the water into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast and mix well until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl mix the rest of the water with the salt and sugar until dissolved.
- Add the flour to the yeast mix and then the salt and sugar water on top followed by the confit garlic cloves and start to mix well.
- Once a dough has formed start kneading and carry on for 5 mins until a smooth bouncy dough forms.
- In an oven proof tray drizzle in enough olive oil to coat it then add the dough into the tray and cling film immediately. Leave in a warm place for an hour to rise.
- When the dough has rested and risen for an hour, knock it back by squishing it with your fingers. The fun part.
- Add another layer of confit garlic, flaky salt and drizzle of oil then cover with cling film again and leave to rest for another 30 mins.
- Whilst waiting, use this time to preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
- When the dough is ready, remove the clingfilm, sprinkle with rosemary and Parmesan and bake for 15-20 mins until golden and crispy.
- Once baked, eat it hot or leave to cool and eat it later. Either way, enjoy!