This lemon chili focaccia is divine, to say the least! The brightness and acidity from the lemons pair perfectly with the spice and savory comforting flavors from the seasonings and olive oil. It’s easy to make, feeds plenty of people, and doesn’t take too much time. It’s so good that I get asked by my friends and family weekly to make a batch. If any of this appeals to you, then you need to try this bread!
Why weigh the ingredients for the focaccia dough?
This really comes down to the flour. It’s really hard to achieve consistency when using volume measurements to measure flour, using a scale also allows you to measure all your dry ingredients straight into one bowl so you end up with less clutter and dishes. Using a scale will give your focaccia the best chance at being spectacular!
How long can it store this focaccia?
In an air tight container at room temperature, the focaccia should be good for about 3 days.
Can I eat the lemons?
Yes, you can! Some like to remove them after baking, but if you’re like me, it’s your favorite part! Either way, you’re getting the flavor from the lemons on the bread.
Uses
Aside from enjoying this bread as a snack, appetizer, and side, it can also be cut into larger portions, split through the side, and used as a very flavorful and rustic sandwich bread!
Variation’s
Tomatoes
Try placing thinly sliced cherry tomatoes all over the surface of the seasoned and pressed dough before baking, honestly, this almost made the recipe, it’s my favorite way to make it. The tomatoes bring a lot of natural glutamate which gives a nice punch of umami to the bread. Note it may affect the shelf life of the bread.
Chili oil
Try finishing the bread with a generous drizzling of chili oil once it’s finished baking.
Jalapeños
Top the seasoned dough with sliced jalapeños to give it a little extra kick, feel free to change up the peppers you use to achieve the amount of spice you want.
This is too much bread
That’s a good problem to have! Okay but on a more serious note, if this is too much for you, find people to share it with. Your friends will be so happy. If you don’t have anyone to share it with, that’s okay, share it with anyone who wants it, This focaccia will make you friends if you give it the opportunity.
How to fold the dough
technique’sThis recipe call for two different folding techniques to develop the gluten structure in the dough. Here are a couple links to resources that will show you how to do them.
The bowl fold: The first stretch and fold in this video!
The coil fold: Learn how to coil fold here!
Chili Lemon Focaccia
Equipment
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Medium mixing bowl
- 1 Scale
Ingredients
The Dough
- 590 grams Bread Flour
- 18 grams Salt
- 12 grams Instant dry yeast
- 590 grams Water
The Toppings
- 1 Tbsp Chili powder
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1-2 tsp Red chili flakes
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
- ½ tsp Ground cumin
- ½ tsp Oregano
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- Olive oil A generous amount for the pan as well as topping
- 1-2 Lemons thinly sliced About 20 slices
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt, and yeast with a whisk in a large bowl, add water, and fold in with a rubber spatula until evenly combined, set aside for 5 minutes to hydrate.
- Now the dough should be close to a batter consistency, take the rubber spatula and give it a few bowl folds ( I did about 8 or so) then cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Fill a small bowl with water and set it to the side.
- Wet your hands in the small bowl of water and give the dough 4 coil folds, turning the bowl 90 degrees between each fold. Place the damp towel back over the bowl and rest for 20 minutes. Repeat this cycle 3 more times, 4 times in total.
- Rest the dough for 20 more minutes.
- Place one oven rack just below the center of the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Generously oil a baking sheet with olive oil, making sure to coat the sides as well.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet, and stretch it to fill the pan. If the dough is resisting, let it rest for 5-10 minutes, repeat until it’s filling the pan.
- Grab another cookie sheet, generously oil, then place it upside down over the pan of dough creating a cover for the dough to rise. Let rise for 1 hour somewhere warm, like above the preheated oven.
- Once it is done rising, evenly sprinkle with the chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, ground cumin, red chili flakes, kosher salt, and ground black pepper. Drizzle generously with olive oil.
- Press your fingers all over the dough, and top with the thinly sliced lemons in a 4×6 grid pattern.
- Immediately place in the oven on the rack you positioned earlier.
- Bake 25-30 minutes.
- Turn the oven off, remove the pan, and place it on a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 30-60 minutes before removing from the pan and cutting.
- Enjoy!
Want something sweet? Click here for sweeter recipes!
Hands down the BEST FOCACCIA IVE EATEN!!! The lemons and spices pare so well, it’s almost too good!