I love cooking with lemons. They’re probably my favorite ingredient to use – perfect for savory cooking and desserts. I also love bread, and have been craving focaccia for a while now. A pillowy, yet crunchy bread freckled with salt and soaked in olive oil. This is my grilled lemon focaccia recipe, which combines a simple, no-knead dough with caramelized lemon slices. 

Italian Bread History

When I got home from Italy last fall, I immediately missed Italian panini. The bread is called schiacciata in Florence, which is flatter than focaccia recipe. It’s made with flour, water, and olive oil. No leavening, and no salt. We learned early on in Italy that Florence and Pisa have an old rivalry which is the reason bakers in Florence don’t put salt in their bread. Pisa controls the western port of Tuscany, therefore the salt production. You would expect salt-less bread to be bland, but I grew to love the bread in Florence. Dousing it in olive oil helped. 

Our favorite lunch spot, I’Girone De’Ghiotti, is a small panini spot in Florence frequented by locals, college students, and tourists. It’s a small, cramped room up a staircase, usually packed with people waiting for their sandwich ticket. The menu has over 20 combinations of panini fillings to pick from. We ate their dozens of times probably, and the #17 became my favorite. The Beatrice. It has an artichoke spread, roasted zucchini and eggplant slices, and olive oil. 

My Favorite Panini Shop

They keep the schiacciata on a shelf that you can see when you walk in. They cook it in large sheets, probably 3 to 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall. The signature bread is crusty, bubbly, and somehow still soft on the inside. Every 10 panini or so they hike another loaf down from their bread shelf and slice it open. They heat it before filling it in a small toaster, the kind your grandmother would have in her kitchen that she never uses. Then, they fill your sandwich in an assembly line. 

They call your number and you shuffle across the crumb-covered floors, pushing through shoulder to shoulder people to grab your food. It’s wrapped in thick paper and soaked in olive oil spots. You can sit in a tiny alcove up a set of tight stairs. Or you can eat on the street, like most people do. One time we sat upstairs and the power went out, so the owner stood on top of the water case to flip the breaker switch with a broom handle. 

Creating a Lemon Focaccia Recipe

I would never hope to recreate the magic of the schiacciata in Florence, but this lemon focaccia is an attempt to celebrate the bread of Italy, usually seen as a side dish. I wanted to use yeast and salt, so this is a focaccia, not schiacciata. The goal was to bake bread with a crispy top and a soft interior. So, I adapted my pizza dough recipe by adding more water and a touch of olive oil. My favorite local shop has a host of flavored olive oils. They have a tuscan herb oil which is so good, and my favorite, a lemon-infused olive oil. Perfect to accompany my tangy lemon focaccia topping. 

In addition to bread, I love savory Italian dishes with grilled lemons. Grilling lemons starts to caramelize the natural sugars inside and enhances the sour, pungent flavor. I love cooking chicken in a grilled lemon cream sauce, or grilling lemon slices to toss through a salty, cheesy pasta. This lemon focaccia recipe is deeply sour and lemony, so it’s perfect alongside fresh parmesan and a biblical flood of olive oil. And it’s perfect for panini making.

Grilling Lemons

The focaccia recipe starts with a simple pizza or bread dough, which just uses flour, water, yeast, and salt. The addition of olive oil makes the bread more tender and flavorful. I start by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl with a chopstick, which keeps most of the sticky flour bits off my hands. Then, with minimal mixing, and no kneading, you have a thin bread dough that would be almost impossible to roll out and knead without more flour. Because of the sugar, the yeast immediately begins to bubble the dough and release gas, which causes the dough to rise. Cover the dough with a damp towel and leave at room temperature for a couple hours for this process. Then, grease a cast-iron pan and dump the dough directly in.

Before putting the bread dough in the pan, I used it to caramelize lemon slices, with a touch of butter, olive oil, and sugar. Crank the heat up all the way and flip the lemon slices when they become amber, not black or dark brown. Then, remove them from the pan and reserve for your focaccia. I let it cool and mixed the remaining oil and butter with smears of fresh butter when greasing the pan, which flavored the bottom of the bread. 

Baking the Lemon Focaccia in Cast Iron

Once the dough rose and moved to the cast-iron pan, I placed the lemon slices on top of the dough to infuse their flavor during the second proof. If the flavor is too pungent and intense for you, I recommend chopping the lemon slices up and dispersing the pieces throughout the dough. You can also sprinkle on a little more sugar to counteract the acidity. The dough is proofed a second time, and then it’s dimple time. The best part of making focaccia. Either wet your hands or rub your fingers in olive oil, then gently poke your claws into the dough, creating dimples and bubbles for baking. Then, the dough is covered in another drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt. 

The Perfect Panini Bread

Off to the oven. It bakes for only 35 – 45 minutes and is done when it springs back very slightly. The bread will be a deep golden yellow and amber color and the lemon slices will be dark. Once removed from the pan, the bread will sound hollow when you knock on the bottom. You’ll have a thick, pillowy, yet crunchy Italian bread infused with intense lemon flavor, olive oil, and sea salt. As I said, this focaccia recipe is perfect for dipping in olive oil, or for making panini. Just slice open the bread hamburger bun style and load it up with your favorite meats, cheeses, and vegetables. 

We cooked out panini on our outdoor griddle, during a patch of sunshine. The Kentucky Derby was on TV, and my dad and I had just finished a long day of cutting and moving trees. So, biting into the familiar comfort of a panini was deeply satisfying. I loaded mine with artichoke, cheese, olive, and salami, which just might be my new favorite combo. The bread is no schiacciata from Florence, but it’s delicious, tangy, and full of carbs. 

If you like this recipe and my paintings, you can check out 100’s of my recipe cards and art prints on Etsy. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. Thanks so much for reading!

Print Pin

Grilled Lemon No-Knead Focaccia

An easy focaccia recipe with caramelized, tart lemons and parmesan

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword bread recipes, focaccia, focaccia recipes

Prep Time 3 hours hours

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 3 cups tipo 00 flour
• 1 2/3 cups water room temp
• 3 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2-3 whole lemons washed
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• Parmesan for grating
• Fresh chopped rosemary
• Olive oil for dipping

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine flour, water, 1 tsp sugar, yeast, 1/3 cup olive oil, and salt. Mix with a chopstick or fork until combined.
• Cover bowl with a damp towel and leave in a warm place to proof for 1.5 hours.
• In the meantime, slice lemons and heat a large cast iron skillet over medium/high.
• In your pan, melt 4 tbsp unsalted butter with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook your lemon slices 3-5 minutes on each side, or until lightly caramelized. Reserve lemons for topping. Cook with the other 2 tbsp sugar if you don't want your lemons to be super sour.
• Allow your cast iron skillet to cool, then grease with more butter on the bottom and sides.
• Once dough has proofed, transfer to cast iron skillet. Top with lemons and cover with damp towel, proofing in a warm place for another 1.5 hours.
• Once the dough has proofed, preheat oven to 425°F.
• Wet or oil your fingers and dimple the dough to create a bubbly focaccia. Drizzle the top with more olive oil and sprinkle on sea salt and rosemary to your liking.
• Cook focaccia for 30 – 40 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crispy. The dough should very slightly spring back when touched.
• Cool and remove from cast iron pan. Top with fresh grated parmesan and serve with olive oil and salt.

Notes

• Test if your yeast is active before making the dough in a separate small bowl. Just mix a sprinkle of yeast into warm water with a pinch of sugar. If it foams and activates, you’re good to go.
• To make panini – slice the focaccia in half and then in individual sandwiches (to customize). If making one flavor, leave the bread in two large halves. Then, fill with cheese, vegetables, and meats, anything you like. I like to use an artichoke or cheese spread with olives, mozzarella, and salami. 
• If you eat the focaccia on its own, use it to soak up a bunch of high-quality olive oil. Enjoy!