No-Knead Overnight Focaccia

Name: No-Knead Overnight Focaccia
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 12 h 40 min
Yield: 12 pieces
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: For the dough:; 500g strong white bread flour; 400ml cool water; 7g instant dried yeast (one sachet); 10g fine sea salt; For the tin and top:; 60ml extra virgin olive oil — yes, really this much; A few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked; Flaky sea salt, for scattering

Five minutes of work, an overnight rest in the fridge, and a tray of focaccia with a proper open crumb and a crisp, olive-oil-fried base.

By Rishi Tank · 15 July 2026

A tray of golden focaccia dimpled with rosemary and flaky salt, cut into squares

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Total: 12 hrs 40 mins
Makes: 12 pieces

Ingredients

0 of 7 ticked

Pieces

MetricUS cups

For the dough

500g strong white bread flour
400ml cool water
7g instant dried yeast, one sachet
10g fine sea salt

For the tin and top

60ml extra virgin olive oil, yes, really this much
rosemary, a few sprigs, leaves picked
flaky sea salt, for scattering

Method

8 steps

The night before

Whisk the flour, yeast and fine salt together in a large bowl. Pour in the water and mix with a spatula until no dry flour remains. It will look like a shaggy, unpromising paste. That is correct.
Cover the bowl and leave it on the counter for thirty minutes, then do one set of stretch-and-folds: wet your hand, lift one side of the dough up and over itself, rotate the bowl, repeat four times.
Timer: 30 minutes
30 minutes remaining
Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, between twelve and eighteen hours. It should roughly double and be visibly bubbled.

The next day

Pour half the olive oil into a 23x33cm tin and tilt it so the base and sides are coated. Tip the cold dough in and turn it once to coat it in the oil.
Leave it at room temperature until it relaxes enough to nearly fill the tin when nudged. This takes two to four hours depending on your kitchen; do not rush it.
Heat the oven to 220C fan. Oil your fingers with the remaining oil and press straight down through the dough to the base of the tin, making deep dimples all over. Scatter with rosemary and flaky salt.
Bake until deep golden on top and, when you lift a corner with a palette knife, fried and crisp underneath.
Timer: 25 minutes
25 minutes remaining
Lift it out of the tin onto a rack immediately — leaving it in steams the base soft and undoes the fried crust you just made.

Equipment

23x33cm metal baking tin
Digital kitchen scales

Notes from testing

The overnight cold ferment does all the work that kneading would otherwise do, and it develops far more flavour than a same-day dough ever will. The one non-negotiable is the amount of olive oil in the tin — it seems like far too much until you taste the fried, almost-crackling underside it produces.

Nutrition

Estimated, per piece

Estimated nutrition information per piece
Energy	212 kcal
Fat	6.2 g
of which saturates	0.9 g
Carbohydrate	32.8 g
of which sugars	0.3 g
Fibre	1.4 g
Protein	5.4 g
Sodium	396 mg

Nutrition is an automated estimate calculated from USDA FoodData Central and UK CoFID data. It is not a substitute for professional dietary advice and should not be relied on for medical purposes. Source: USDA FoodData Central.