If I haven’t convinced you yet to try no-knead bread, perhaps this post will. These easy little Focaccia Rolls are so good that I’ve had to stash them in my freezer just so that I won’t eat them all up. Sure, they’re just 30 seconds in the microwave away from being warm and delicious again, but at least the freezer has slowed me down a little ;)
Also check out our classic no knead focaccia bread recipe!
No-Knead Focaccia Rolls
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Trade Effort for Time
These Focaccia Rolls are really easy, but they do need to take their sweet time. You’ll need to start them the day before, so plan ahead. Actual hands-on time is probably less than 30 minutes, most of which is dedicated to shaping the dough into the rolls. All of the “work” is done by the yeast as the dough ferments overnight.
Flavor Your Focaccia Rolls
I brushed each roll with olive oil and then sprinkled Italian seasoning on top. I love the texture that the olive oil gave the rolls, but you could certainly make them without if you want. Also, you could mix dry herbs right into the dough (with the other dry ingredients in the beginning) and have an herb-infused roll. There are so many possibilities. Run with it!
Freeze for Later
As I mentioned above, I love freezing these Focaccia Rolls! Just make sure to cool the rolls completely at room temperature to prevent condensation, then place them in a gallon-sized freezer bag, and pop them in the freezer. Then you can just take a couple out at a time to thaw as needed. They thaw quickly at room temperature, or if you want to rewarm them, just wrap them in foil and pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes. Done!
No-Knead Focaccia Rolls
Servings 12Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour ($0.59)
- 1/2 Tbsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp instant yeast ($0.02)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning ($0.30)
Instructions
- The day before (about 18 hours ahead of time) combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Stir until well mixed. Add the water, starting with 1.5 cups, and add a little more at a time until the flour forms a cohesive, wet ball. There should not be any dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl. The total amount of water you’ll need will vary, but should be between 1.5 to 2 cups. See the photos below for more info.
- Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 16-18 hours to ferment.
- After 16-18 hours, the dough will look like a large, bubbly mass. Sprinkle with enough flour to be able to scrape it out of the bowl without it sticking to your hands. Place the dough on a well floured surface. Cut the dough into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball. The dough will be quite wet, floppy, and sticky, so sprinkle liberally with flour as you work.
- Place the rolls on a baking sheet covered in foil and lightly sprayed with non-stick spray (I used two baking sheets). Brush the top of each lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over top. Let rise for 30 minutes to one hour or until doubled in size.
- While the rolls are still rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Once it is fully preheated, place the rolls in the oven and bake until the surface is a light golden brown (about 25 minutes). Serve warm!
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Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Focaccia Rolls – Step By Step Photos
Begin a day ahead of time by stirring together the flour, salt, and yeast.
Starting with 1.5 cups of water, add just enough to form a wet, sticky ball of dough. There should be no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl or on the surface of the dough. It is better for the dough to be slightly too wet than too dry at this point.
Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 16-18 hours to ferment. After that time, it will have expanded into this big, frothy mass.
Sprinkle the dough liberally with flour so that you can scrape it out of the bowl without it sticking to your hands. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. The dough will be very loose, soft, and sticky.
Cut the dough into four equal parts and then cut each quarter into three pieces to yield 12 pieces total.
Shape each piece into a ball, sprinkling with flour as you go (the dough will still be quite sticky). Place the balls on a baking sheet covered with foil and lightly coated with non-stick spray.
Lightly brush each roll with olive oil and then sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Let rise for about one hour or, if your kitchen is warm and you’re impatient like me, let rise for 30 minutes.
Towards the end of the rise time, begin to preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Once it is fully preheated, place the rolls in the oven and bake until they are light golden brown on the surface (about 25 minutes). Serve hot!
Everybody who is complaining about flat rolls, look at the recipe! I think there is an error in the amount of yeast listed. NO WAY is 1/4 tsp enough! I believe the author intended to say 2 1/4 tsp, which is the amount in one packet.
I have made this with one packet and it is excellent.
Could this be used for hamburger buns or is it too “hard” of a bread for that purpose? Or are there any recipes on the site that could be used to make buns? I’d love to get away from high priced store-bought preservatives.
I think these would definitely be too tough for hamburgers. We actually don’t have anything at the moment that I think would be good, so we’ll need to add that to our queue! Thanks for the suggestion!
I do use these for hamburger buns and no one (including a denture-wearer) has trouble with them. Maybe worth a try.
Can I ferment this in the fridge for 72 hours to develop flavor?
Hi Janet, Yes, since refrigeration slows down the fermentation process so much, you can leave it in the refrigerator to ferment for 24-72 hours instead of room temperature for 18. Both methods will produce great flavor, just at different speeds. :)
I made these last weekend without reading the comments…I just made a half portion. I did a big pot of soup this weekend and my husband and I liked them so much the first time, I decided to make a full recipe of these rolls. I then read the comments and was REALLY surprised because they turned out well for me, and I’m not necessarily “good” at rolls. I think I might not have halved the instant yeast when I did the half recipe, so when I made the full one, I doubled the yeast. I also let the dough rise for about 30 hours, just because it worked for my schedule to throw it together Friday morning and to bake them Saturday afternoon.. They turned out perfectly, again. Maybe doubling the instant yeast and increasing the rise time is the key, I don’t know. It was also impressed upon me once that you want your instant yeast to be really new. I only buy it in those little packs of 3 so it gets used before it ages. All I know is that these turned out super well here and I hope those that want to make this will give it a go.
I bake for a living and tried this recipie. The quantities are totally wrong, as is the prove time with no second despite the poolish starter and vague about ‘dusting’ flour edition. Tried this out of curiosity and wish I hadn’t wasted the ingredients! Oven temp is far too high also. Please don’t bother wasting your time. Also far too little yeast …this must be published by someone who hasn’t bake it! Happy onward baking all :-)
Tried the recipe, mine also stayed kinda flat (would not hold it’s ball shape) maybe too much water?
First time trying it so I’ll keep experimenting. 😒
Made this recipe twice. The first time the bottom got really hard as I was waiting for the top to get light golden brown as the recipe states. Was very unsatisfied, but when warming up in microwave on damp paper towel, they got softer and were still pretty good in soup. It was pretty flavorless though.
The second time, I doubled the salt since I was using a courser salt than table salt, I put a heaping tablespoon of italian seasoning inside the dough rather than only putting on top, and I only left it in for about 28 minutes when the bread was still pretty pale. It was amazing! I ate five that day because I couldn’t stop myself. Only thing I’m going to change next time from how I made it the second time is to go with 3/4 T salt rather than 1 T salt. It’s a pity that the bread doesn’t actually come out like the pretty picture, but it tastes amazing and is especially good for dipping in soups so I’m definitely going to make more of this in the future. Maybe I’ll use some whole wheat flour so I don’t feel bad eating it.
So I tried this recipe, but my rolls came out fairly flat. My dough was very sticky as yours looks in the photos. However, when I cut them and shaped them, were very flat. The stayed flat through the second proving and of course baked flat as well. Is there a way to fix this (more or less proving time perhaps or a different temperature as house is about 72 degrees at night)?
It’s hard to say what the problem might be without having been there to watch your process and see the dough in person, but what did your dough look like after fermenting? Was it inflated and very bubbly? It sounds like your yeast didn’t fully activate. What type of yeast did you use? Was the oven fully preheated before you put the rolls in?
I had a similar issue and this is what has worked for me. I noticed they came out flatter when I rolled them in my hand. However, they are rounder and fluffier if I shape them by “tucking” them. Pinch a bit of the dough on top and tuck it to the bottom.
I’ve tried the focaccia rolls twice and the ciabatta once – all failed. It is all well until I put it into rolls. The dough is simply not rising again afterward and I get the most dense “bread/rolls” ever. I’m giving up on the bread recipes (and me wasting flour) . However, all meal/entree recipes that I’ve tried are fantastic!
Just curious if this could work with a 1-1 gluten free flour? Thank you!
We haven’t tested it but you could sure try! *Edited to say that it more than likely will not work in this recipe. You can try another recipe that’s been tested by gluten free focused bakers such as this https://theglutenanddairyfreebakehouse.com/2015/08/09/focaccia-rolls/
This is a bad response from the team: the recipe calls for yeast, which only acts/ feeds on wheat flour. If you replace wheat flour with alternative flour, no proofing will happen – the bread will not rise. No point in even trying.
The actual recipe is a decent recipe, other than the fact that there was no mention of ambient temperature: a hot summer night of proofing will be completely different from a cooler season. The former would cause over-proofing during the bulk fermentation stage.
My apologies John. You are correct. There are a lot of families who do want to try gluten free alternatives. I’ll correct my original response.
Have gotten rave review about these buns and am making these for the third time! I wanted to share some things that worked for me. I know nothing about the different types of yeast, and since the yeast in my fridge has been in there since about 2012, I was skeptical that it had any life left in it. I put the yeast with 1/4 teaspoon of sugar in about a cup of warm water (as another commenter suggested) for a few minutes while measuring everything else out and it worked splendidly.
I found that the All-Purpose Garlic Herb Seasoning (minus the salt and pepper) makes a fantastic topping, though as per usual I go heavier than suggested on the garlic.
As another commenter mentioned, I had trouble with the first batch burning on the bottom when following the baking methods exactly (a microplane was helpful in removing the bottommost burnt layer and also a chunk of my pinky skin). The second time I attempted this recipe I used my pizza stone and made them in batches of 4 for the suggested time and temperature and they came out perfect. No black bottoms!
Could you make this (or any of your other bread recipes) with sourdough starter instead of yeast?
We haven’t tried this recipe with a sourdough starter yet to know for sure. But I have a starter going and may give this a go to see. Until then this is a good outline here to show you how you can swap it https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/10/29/adding-sourdough-recipe
I can’t find instant yeast anywhere! I have something called fast rise yeast(works in bread machines). Will this work? How much should I use? Does the process change? Thanks!
SAF Instant Yeast is available on Amazon for pennies compared to the brands you find in the store.
These are delicious. The tops of mine were VERY hard at first, but they soften a bit (to perfection) after a while. I, too, turned the heat down (to 375F), because the bottoms were getting dark. Ovens vary, of course. What surprised me is HOW GOOD these are a couple of days later, and even after freezing. Mine were a bit smallish (the room was cold), but the flavor more than made up for the size. PERFECT with sliced roasted chicken thigh and a bit of mayo and mustard. Thanks, Beth!
Hi Beth,
Thanks for this recipe. I’ve made it several times, but still have the same problem. While they taste great, my rolls never seem to rise correctly. They are flatter than the ones showed above, and I can’t seem to get them to stay in a rolled ball shape. I used all purpose flour, about 2 cups of water, and Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise yeast. What am I missing?
Thanks for all the great recipes!
It’s hard to say without actually seeing your process or the texture of your dough, but I’m thinking maybe the dough is just too loose. After the dough ferments overnight, make sure to dust it liberally with flour as you scrape it out of the bowl and shape the rolls. That extra flour will absorb some of the excess moisture and help it hold its shape.
great, I’ll give it a try. Thanks Beth!
To help with the shaping, you can try balling the dough up and then press up from bottom center while spreading the top. Bring the part that you are spreading around to the bottom and pinch together. It makes a more “finished” look and pulling the edges and pinching keeps the dough from spreading as much.
Hi Beth, am not a fan of Olive Oil, but do use Grapeseed oil, what do you think?
Yes, you could do that, it will just be less flavorful as grapeseed oil is very mild. :)
Wonderful.
There is no reason not to have fresh focaccia rolls all the time! Super and easy!
Would this recipe work for bread bowls if I made fewer (but larger) rolls instead ? Thanks!
Hmm, I’m honestly not sure. It’s a bit too hard to guess how that would turn out, or if the crumb/crust would be good for a bread bowl.
Has anyone tried baking these with dry active yeast instead of instant? If so, did you proof the yeast in 1.5c warm water and then mix into flour/salt mixture?
I’m wondering the same thing. :)
hi! I made these last night/today with active dry yeast and they turned out fine! I proofed my yeast in 1 cup of warm water along with 1/4 tsp of sugar. I then added that to the flour/salt mixture and continued adding water from there. when I woke up this morning my dough had definitely doubled in size and the rolls turned out delicious :)
I have made this recipe twice now, following the recipe exactly, and both times at around the 10 minute mark, the bottoms of the rolls were completely burned. I haven’t seen any other comments about burning, so I was hoping someone would have some insight as to what I am doing wrong!
Where is the rack set in your oven? If it’s really close to the bottom, this could be the cause. Also, try switching out the foil for parchment, which reflects heat less. That could help counteract whatever is causing the bottoms to cook faster for you. :)
Thank you for the suggestions, Beth. I will try them when it gets cool enough to turn on the oven again!
Hi Beth! Great recipe. I’m wondering how you would freeze these rolls so they don’t go stale before they’re gobbled up? I’m wanting to use them in meal prep like the ones you included with your kale salad meal prep. Thanks!
I’m not sure how I missed this comment last year, but as long as you let the rolls cool completely at room temperature, you can just toss them into a freezer bag and they’ll be good. :) I don’t do anything more special than that! :)
Hi Beth question: I am baking a pot roast tomorrow, can I bake these rolls at a lower temp (like 350 degrees) I realize that it may take longer for the rolls to bake. Thanks.
The blast of high heat really helps them puff up, so I’m not sure how they’ll turn out at 350.
OMG, what? I did not know that baking delicious focaccia rolls was so easy. These came out better than store bought rolls and were extremely easy to make.
I had been to an italian rest. last week where they served almost the same roll presented in a large bowl with italian dressing in the bottom and shaker cheese sprinkled on top of them. Thank you Beth for another great recipe.
I baked these tonight. They were wonderful! The crust is crisp and the inside is chewy.
Question about your Foccacia Rolls — any idea if using part whole-wheat flour would be problematic? Maybe mix in a little wheat germ? I’m trying to minimize using plain processed flour.
You can, but it does change the texture some (more dense). Also, I find that when I do the no-knead breads with part ww flour, the color changes on the surface during the overnight ferment. It’s not a bad thing, it just might surprise you the first time. :)
My typical bread recipe has been failing be recently. My old standby has been turning out tasteless loaves, so I thought I would give this one a go – thinking that the long rise time would yield lots of flavor. Unfortunately while the rolls looks beautiful – there was no taste to speak of (apart from the seasoning on top). What am I doing wrong?
Try adding a bit more salt. Sometimes it’s surprising how a little bit of salt can really make flavors pop out. I find this to be especially true with bread.
I have never made yeast anything in my life (except one miserable failed attempt at sticky buns which didn’t get as far as the oven), but I made this recipe, and it is the best focaccia I have ever eaten! Since it’s just me, I looked up how to freeze dough, and have 10 in the freezer, one in the fridge for dinner, and one in my post-breakfast stomach. Not having Italian seasoning in the house, I topped the one That went in the oven with olive oil, chopped rosemary and kosher salt. I am forever in your debt. For my next trick, I will attempt raisin bread. Stand back, everyone, a yeast monster has been unleashed!
Yum! Chewy and delicious. Hoping they freeze well. Next time I would add some sea salt and crushed red pepper to the toppings. My only compliant is that 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning was way too much. I used about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon. Unfortunately, I had to throw the rest out since I had pre measured it in a pinch bowl and stuck my fingers in it. Didn’t want to risk keeping it.
It always deletes my rating upon post back (post comment button). I am on an iPad, if you need to know for tech support.
Trying one last time.
My dough is in the processing of rising for this recipe. 5 hours in. Is the amount of yeast correct..1/4 tsp? Seems like a low amount.
Yep, 1/4 tsp. Because the rise time is so long, the yeast has plenty of time to reproduce, so in the end the content in the dough is similar to what it would be if you added a lot and let it rise only a couple hours.
Than know s for replying. The rolls worked perfectly. Definitely will be doing these again.
Made these lovely rolls tonight. I was low on unflavored olive oil, so I used melted butter in place of both the olive oil and the cooking spray. Outstanding! Even my “bread skeptical” toddler approves, and he’s tough. I’m tripling the recipe for Thanksgiving on my aunt’s farm. Although it takes a chunk of time, the labor involved is so minor that I almost feel guilty. Almost. I’ve never commented but have made many a recipe from this site. Thank you so much. Happy Thanksgiving!
I messed up the recipe but it came out great anyway!
There were many things I did wrong…the active dry yeast (NOT instant) that I spilled too much of into the bowl, the extra pinch of salt I added to compensate for too much yeast, the water that I heated up before I mixed it into the dough since I didn’t have instant yeast. My kitchen was also really warm while the dough was sitting out.
I admit, I was winging it with the ingredients that I had and my very limited knowledge of baking chemistry.
However, it cut the fermentation time down to about 6 hours. I noticed that my dough looked like the “after” picture already, so I decided the heck with it, and baked it early. It came out well. Just a tip for those who can’t let it ferment that long.
Does anyone have any idea why this worked?
I hope I can repeat this method, because this recipe is a keeper!
A second batch of thoughts–this is a spectacular recipe, and the long fermentation is what makes it so wonderful. Terrific sandwich rolls, IMO. It is definitely part of my keeper collection–loved the suggestion for adding steam to the oven and substituting some WW flour
I’m going to be making these for a dinner party and am wondering if I can add fresh rosemary to these? My husband loves rosemary bread and I wanted to give him that. Thank you in advanced!
I would think you could, but then I’m not sure how the rosemary would do during the fermentation time. My only concern is that there may be some (naturally occurring) bacteria or yeast on the rosemary that might flourish and cause a problem food safety-wise. It’s not a problem with regular doughs that only rise for two hours or so, but the long fermentation gives bacteria enough time to go crazy. :)
Perhaps infuse some olive oil with chopped fresh rosemary, then brush that on during the “brush the rolls with olive oil” step.
You could always add some Rosemary at the end–instead of or in addition to the Italian seasoning sprinkled on the top. Spectacular recipe!
Hi, I have to say I just took these out of the oven, my first batch…..these are fantastic! And that is an understatement. I am addicted
i couldn’t find instant yeast anywhere at my local stores, will just regular active yeast work?
Probably not as well. The difference is that active dry must be dissolved in water and allowed to proof before adding to a recipe (this activates it), whereas instant or bread machine yeast can be added dry.
if you use active dry yeast (vs instant), you just need to “proof it” first.
I set aside about about 1/4 of warm water (of the 2 cups for recipe) and add the yeast, along with a pinch of sugar (and sometimes a pinch of flour). I mix it up and let it sit for about 5 minutes until it gets a bit frothy on top. Finally, I add the rest of the water (stirring so I don’t leave behind any yeasties) and then mix it into the rest of the ingredients.
It’s noteworthy that you can probably just add the 1/4 tablespoon of yeast to the full 2 cups of water (without the sugar or flour), but I find that it doesn’t appear to have activated… and even though it’s probably fine, I appreciate the confidence of proofing it in a smaller batch. :-)
These rolls came out of the oven very nicely this morning. so i just prepared a new batch, triple size… gonna put them in the freezer and also gonna make pizza with it tomorrow.
the only thing i do different is i put my spices in the mixture and also the olive oil…
Would there be a way to make this with wheat flour? By the way, love your website! Thank you for sharing such great and easy recipes!
Most bread recipes are okay when substituting up to 1/2 of the AP flour with WW. You can expect more noticeable texture and flavor changes when using all WW flour. I haven’t tried the no knead recipes with all WW flour, though, so I’m not sure how much it would be affected. If you try it out, let us know how it turns out!
I’m not the person who posted the first comment, but I wanted to let you know that I just made these with white whole wheat flour and they turned out great. Absolutely heavenly with garlic butter. Just perfect.
This recipe does not work with regular WW flour, however. At least it didn’t work for me.
WW and White Bread Flour works really nicely for this recipe… and around the holidays it’s nearly 50% off at the grocery store.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now and I have found that swapping out 1 cup of the flour for WW works out nicely without drying it out. (For taste, I prefer wheat breads) I’ve tried doing 50/50, but they turned out chewy in a bad way.
(& in general comment)
For flavor, I also add a bit more salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil directly to my mix (whisking it with the water first, quickly pouring and mixing everything together, otherwise it gets weirdly distributed throughout in the dough). Adding too much liquid tends to work better than adding too little.
Just made these and they are excellent! Chewy in the middle with a nice crust. I made the recipe with active dry yeast and didn’t change the procedure at all and they turned out nicely.
Beth,
I was a chef for over 10 years and am now a Food Chemistry graduate student. Needless to say that I have tasted a lot of food in my life. This is the best focaccia recipe that I have ever come across. I used a spray bottle to steam the oven at the beginning of baking and about 3 minutes in. The crust it produced was exceptional.
That’s a huge compliment! Thank you and I’m glad you enjoyed it! :D
these were great- everyone in my family enjoyed them (and there are 6 of us!)
I am gluten-free, and I usually just tweek the recipes with my gf all purpose flour, but since it has no gluten, getting to raise is difficult, so I use gf Xanthan Gum to take the place of gluten. I didn’t get the raise that you described and I might get the rolls that this recipes call for, but I tried. Do by any chance have this recipe for people that don’t eat gluten in their flour, I love the taste of focaccia bread.
I wish I knew some tricks, but I don’t! Gluten is definitely vital to making this turn out right. Check out this blog, Gluten Free On A Shoestring, because she does a lot of gluten free breads. You’ll probably find some tricks there and she may even have a foccacia recipe. I hope that helps! :)
I made these and they came out delicious! The only thing I did different was to cut the dough into 8 pieces (instead of 12) and placed each one into a 4 inch spring form pan. They came out perfect size for sandwiches or burgers. Thanks for a great new way to make my favorite kind of bread!
I have seen Heaven, and it is these rolls. I’ve made them in the past, months ago, but this time was different. I really wanted olive bread, but I knew making a big loaf would be very dangerous (as in I’d devour it probably in a single sitting…warm and dipped in olive oil and balsamic, nothing better!). I remembered these rolls, and after a quick Google to ensure that adding olives to a no-knead recipe wouldn’t mess it up, I mixed about a cup of chopped olives and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning into the dry ingredients (using 1 cup whole wheat flour and the rest AP). HALLELUJAH. Perfect crust, so moist and tender on the inside, with the occasional olive to spice things up. Everyone, I urge you to try it. You will NOT regret it.
Dear god. These were AMAZING! So glad that I made them tonight to go with my homemade veggie burgers. The store rolls are full of crap ingredients and are expensive-these were so quick (prep time..not total time) and easy to make!
Hey Beth! I love your recipes. I’m looking for a bun recipe to use (town “bakery” simply heats up frozen dough filled with gross ingredients and it cost’s sooo much!). Do you think I could simply make these larger to accommodate sandwiches? Would I need to adjust my cooking time?
Yes, you definitely can. Just keep an eye on them in the oven and take them out when they’re golden brown. It’s basically the same as this ciabatta recipe, so you can do it in a big, flat loaf and cut it into squares for sandwiches.
Thanks!
I checked my yeast and it is active dry yeast. Then I scrolled down and saw that you said bread machine yeast is instant yeast. I want to try making these today. (I do have bread machine yeast that I haven’t opened yet…not sure why I had bought it, but I’m glad I did)
I don’t see anything written in any of the posts about the temperature of the water. Should it be warm or room temperature? I am sure this makes a difference to this recipe….if you could respond to this post that would be great. I just found your blog and I’m looking forward to trying your recipes!
It can just be plain old room temperature water. :)
I just discovered your site, and am so glad I did. To the people who are having trouble with the bread not rising, could it be your yeast has has reached its expiration date?
My room temperature is 32°C or 90F (I live in the Caribbean). Does that mean I have to reduce the amount of yeast or reduce the 18 hours? Thanks :)
Hmm, yes, maybe reduce it to 12 hours instead. I wouldn’t reduce the amount of yeast, though.
I make these once every couple months. They’re too dangerous to keep in the house for me but they’re great to take for the holidays :)
Sorry for insisting in this, Beth, but I read all the comments for this post and it just made me really want to make those rolls tomorrow morning. However, I just checked and I only have active dry yeast. :(
So let’s say I’m a very stubborn person, which advice would you give me?
Should I follow your steps, but mix the yeast with warm water before and then add them to the mixture? Should I do the proofing with the whole amount of water?
Why didn’t I find you yesterday? Hahaha
I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried it with active dry, so I can’t vouch for it, but I would try mixing it into the water instead of the dry ingredients. I would still let it proof for the whole amount of times since it’s such a small amount of yeast. Let me know if it works out!
I made these for the first time, tonight. They taste wonderful, but they didn’t rise, much; yours look so rounded, like little balls, but mine kind of spread out and looked a little flat and asymmetrical! Did I do something wrong?
You may need just a touch more flour next time.
These have been a staple of mine for a while, but on the most recent batch, I mixed in 1/2 tsp of oregano and 1/2 tsp of basil to the dry ingredients. My god. They are delicious.
I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong here – I’ve made these three times in the past month and each time they were delicious but very flat; they spread while they’re rising on the pan and end up being as big as my hand and too flat to cut in half to make a sandwich. The first time I used as little flour as possible, the second I mixed in enough flour that they were hardly sticky, and the third time I chilled the dough, but they always turn out the same. Is there a secret to the round, fluffy shape that I’m missing?
Hmm, I was going to suggest adding more flour, but you’ve tried that. The only other thing I can think of is to work the dough a bit as you’re shaping them into balls. Don’t roll them in your hands to make them round, but pull the dough over itself and pinch it together on the bottom. Do that a few times over until you have a semi-tight ball. I hope that makes sense!
All entries to this point rave over these rolls and I want to, too! They were delicious! Amazingly simple recipe (as long as I plan ahead) and so much flavor. Thank you! Question: I see that you’ve frozen them after baking and cooling, but I’m wondering if the dough can be frozen, then remove, (thaw?), and bake later?
Hmm, I know you can with regular bread dough, but I haven’t tried it with this slow-rise no-knead dough.
I LOVED these! I made them this morning and I’ve already eaten 3! Will definitely be trying the no knead bread as well.
aloha beth
just made these rolls, and they are wonderful. they are a bit flatter than the ones shown here, so perfect for sandwiches.
no spray oil in the house, so i just smeared some oil on the foil–worked great. also, no italian herbs, so i used herbs de provence–delish! and i used a cup of whole wheat flour to replace a cup of white–again, very nice flavor, texture, color.
these will be a standard in my weekly baking now! thanks so much.
i’ve upped the whole wheat to half the flour, and they make very tasty, but flatter, rolls, like ww hamburger buns. seems the ww flour keeps them from rising up, but they’re still light, soft, and disappearing!
also, last time i smeared olive oil on the foil and just used my oily hands to shape the rolls–worked great, no extra flour needed. i still swabbed a bit more oil on the tops, to help secure the herbs.
great recipe! thanks again.
425degree……………..??????? is how mutch degree of Celsium,je supose……….LOL!!!
Tricia – No, I’m sure you’re right, it probably just needs a little more salt. It’s amazing what a pinch of salt can do to really make other flavors pop. The amount listed above was right for me, but everyone is different, so you might need a little more :)
These were delicious, but they came out a little bland for me, as if I needed more salt. Besides the obvious, is there anything else I may have done wrong to have them taste like that? I used oregano and parmasean on the top, which was a great combination!
Anon – Hmm, it’s hard to say without having watched you do it, since there are so many places wehre something could have happened, but my first guess would be that you didn’t use instant yeast? If you accidentally used “active dry” yeast, the recipe won’t work because that type of yeast has to be proofed in warm water before adding to a recipe. Instant yeast (also known as bread machine yeast) can be added dry to a recipe and it will magically spring to life when you finally add water to the dough. If you want to read more about the different types of yeasts, there is a link to an article about it in the ingredient list.
I hope that’s what the issue was!
Ok I love your recipes, but for some reason with this one I ended up with hockey puks. Any thoughts? I thought I followed the recipe exactly? Hmmm. Not a complete loss since I’m turning my hockey puks into your apple bread pudding:-)
Olive oil is one of the many ways we know God loves us. I highly recommend. :) And I can’t want to try this! I’m seriously baking-challenged, so I’m hoping this works. Seems straightforward.
Yep, you can brush on any oil that you’d like!
My family does not use olive oil (I know, we’re weird) and I was wondering if the seasoning would stick without it? Maybe a quick mist with cooking spray?
oh my god, beth, these rolls are amazing! I made them last week and since then I can’t stop thinking about them so I will have to make them again tomorrow :) they taste exactly like the little rolls they serve in my favorite italian restaurant (and that’s a huge compliment)!
also: I love your blog, I’ve recommended it to all of my best friends and we can’t wait for your cookbook! I wish you all the best and a great 2013!
Belle – Yep, bread flour would work fine for these :)
Would anyone happen to know if I could use bread flour for these rolls? I picked up a bag and I’m trying to finish it off.
I used all bread flour, came out amazing. slightly flatter than Beth’s but scrumptious.
All I can say is Yum! These were amazing! I used active dry yeast because it’s what I had on hand, and the only thing I did differently was that I mixed the yeast with the water before adding it to the flour. I will definitely be making these again!
Jeanne – They’re definitely smaller than a hamburger bun… mine were maybe 2/3 that size? I hope that helps!!
How big are these rolls? The picture on the baking tray looks hamburger bun sized, but then compared to the butter dish in the last picture, they now look small. Since they sound so delicious, I’m trying to figure out if my guest will want to eat one or two or five (!) rolls.
Worked great! Husband thought it was the best I have made yet :) Thanks!
I’ve always made bread with my mixer, but I just moved into a dorm and so it stayed at home.. and I’m lazy. this was fab. And people wonder why I hate spending money on sandwich buns!
I’m making my second batch of these right now! The first ones came out so wonderful and I impressed a bunch of people with these. This time I’m using rosemary and thyme and I hope they turn out just as good!
I think I did a few things wrong, so mine are probably going to turn out more like flatbreads than like rolls, but this was a really fun and easy recipe nonetheless! I also didn’t have Italian seasoning so I used za’atar spices instead, which means they should be perfect for hummus!!
I made this recipe twice and couldn’t figure out why the second rise wasn’t happening too well, and just realized I’m using dry active yeast. Even though they still came out delicious, I can’t wait to try them again!
Amanda – I regularly freeze my rolls after baking. They’re still really good but they loose their crisp crust. Just make sure to let the cool completely before freezing. I just freeze them in a gallon sized zip top bag.
Any ideas on freezing these before or after baking? I want to make them for a party but I don’t want to have to do too much work that day.
Awesome! I’m so glad they still semi-turned out :) This recipe has become a staple for me. SO good and SO easy.
Hi again! I was the one that added too much yeast, here with an update. I’m usually a decent cook but making this was a series of unfortunate events for me. First the yeast, then I let it rise a few hours too long, and then I baked the rolls a few minutes too long. All things considered, these turned out nicely and taste pretty good. This recipe was very forgiving! I will make these again and hopefully won’t have any more mishaps.
Anon – Instant yeast is definitely best here. The major difference between active dry and instant is that instant does not need to be mixed with water prior to adding to a recipe. If you use active dry, I would suggest mixing the yeast with the water instead of mixing it with the flour. I hope that makes sense!
Can i use dry active yeast?
Anon – Yes, 1/4 tsp is plenty :) Because it sits so long, that little bit of yeast has plenty of time to grow and multiply. In regular bread recipes the yeast only has about two hours to grow so you have to add more. I hope your rolls turn out great!
Will 1/4 tsp of instant yeast really be enough? I just mixed this but used the whole 1/4 oz package… then I re-read the directions and I’m worried it’s not going to turn out at all. I guess I’ll find out in the morning if I have a huge mess. I’ll post an update if these even make it to the baking stage.
you can substitute this with whole wheat flour, but to obtain the same soft integrity of the rolls you need to be sure to use whole wheat PASTRY flour rather than just straight flour. whole wheat pastry flour acts like all purpose for most recipes and did this time for me. i also have a lot of experience with almond flour and if you were to use almond flour you would have to, for this recipe, replace only 1 cup of the flour with almond flour and the rest (3 cups) would have to be either all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour. :)
Has anyone tried using almond flour? I don’t usually eat bread, but these look amazing – I try to keep things as gluten free as possible…..
I used 50% white whole wheat flour and 50% unbleached all-purposed. Worked just fine.
I wonder how these would bake up on the grill?? Anyone tried this?
I think this is probably the best bread I have ever made. I would probably add a bit more salt (personal preference….terrible for me I know) but otherwise this will be my go to sunday recipe.
Heather, I’m glad you saw that! I think that was actually a mistake! Usually when an ingredient says “divided” after it, that just means that you’ll use some of the total volume listed in one step, and the rest in another step, but you’ll have to read the directions to find out how much to use and when (in other words, don’t just split it in half). Anyway, for this recipe you use all four cups in the first step so I’m not sure why I typed (divided) after it. I’m about to go fix it, thanks for noticing!
I am not an experienced baker at all… So quick question. What does it mean 4 cups flour divided? Is it just split in two?
Anon – It’s made by Chef Paul Prudhomme and it’s Italian seasoning for “pizza and pasta”
oh girl! these are to die for! thanks for your wonderful site, looking forward to your recipe finds in my email, i too i’m in love!! ;-)
What kind of Italian seasoning do you use? The seasonings on the pictures look different than the Italian season I use. Thanks!
these look awesome! i’ve tried to make french bread but both times it turned out really dense :( not light and fluffy like i wanted! now i am thinking it has something to do with the yeast (i didn’t know there were soo many different kinds of yeast and that it mattered). need to try these guys out!
Amber – I think technically you can make them after two hours (most no-knead bread recipes involve a 2 hour room temperature rise), but the 18 hours develops the flavor :)
Great post! These focaccia rolls look delicious! What would happen if you just couldn’t wait for them to complete the fermenting process? I want to make these and put them in the oven right now! :)
Oh. My. God. I made these today, and they are amaaaazing. And SO easy to make. It was my first attempt to bake any type of bread, and they came out perfectly. Actually, I think I could have added a little more olive oil and Italian seasoning. I can’t wait to make sandwiches with these this week! Thanks for the super awesome recipe!
Maurine – I think you’re right! Total typo x 2! I think it was more like 25 minutes, which is still longer than I expected them to take… but I think that’s because the dough is so wet. Thanks for catching that!
Gorgeous. I love these rolls! Please link up to Foodie Friday
okay…I’m scared, I make a lot of bread, but have never tried a no-rise bread, and I just want to double-check that 40 minutes at 425 is correct…that seems like a LONG time for rolls! Usually it would be maybe 10 minutes at 375 for typical ones.
Phon – not naive at all! I definitely should have mentioned that. You can just use regular room temperature water. :)
These look fab! I’m not an experienced baker so please excuse the naïveté of this question: what temperature water should I use? Cold or room temp? Thx!
that sounds amazing and SO easy! I know what I’m doing this weekend!!
I’m definitely going to try these out. I’ve been attempting a lot of buns for burgers and am interested to see if Focaccia rolls would work.
These look awesome. I love a bread roll. Hope to try these soon!
Thanks! Can’t wait to try it!
MicheleP – Yep, at room temperature. I’ve also seen recipes that call for fermentation in the fridge, but I bet there is better flavor development at room temperature.
Beth – I’m sure you could, but if it goes too long, the yeast will eat up all of the carbohydrates and there won’t be any left for the second rise. I would suggest putting it in the refrigerator to slow fermentation if you want to elave it longer than 18 hours.
Looks delicious!!
Can you let it sit longer than 18 hours?
Beth – Should the ‘ferment’ stage be at room temp or in the fridge?
Just wanted to let you know I stumbled upon your blog and I’m in love! I’m making two of your recipes for dinner tonight (coconut rice and thai peanut sauce). I just can’t stop bookmarking and bookmarking! Great work.
Taylor Ann – I’ve made this recipe with 1/4 ww and it works well. The more ww you substitute, the more dense it will get. Since this recipe isn’t kneaded, I don’t think it will hold up well to large amounts of ww without adding extra gluten (I’ve never tried adding gluten, but I’ve heard of people doing so).
Mel – Yep, after freezing. Let them cool completely first. I just microwave them to warm them up again. They’re not crispy on the outside like they are just out of the oven, but they’re still divine!
Beth, do you freeze them after baking, right? And then pop it back in the oven to heat it, or how do you do it? Cheers :)
Ps: I also LOVE your blog and recommend it to my friends in Brazil and Germany.
I’ve already done this with the other focaccia recipe of yours. I make up 8-10 sandwiches and I’m set for the week. Great recipe, your site really great, I recommend it to everyone I meet
I can’t wait to try this! Thanks!
Any thoughts on making these with whole wheat flour? Think it would work okay still?
You might want to try a little more water until it’s just sticky. Whole wheat is like a sponge