This gluten-free focaccia recipe hits all the high notes of freshly baked bread without the extensive time commitment. Leavened with baking powder instead of yeast, this simple rosemary focaccia is fluffy, fragrant and ready in under an hour.
Not surprisingly, I’ve been cooking up a storm lately. We’ve been sheltering at home for over a month now in San Francisco and experimenting with new recipes has helped pass the time.
This week I’ve found ‘social distancing’ particularly difficult. I miss our friends and while our weekly Zoom happy hour is something to look forward, I wish I could give them a hug and share a meal in-person. I keep telling myself that it will happen again, just not right now.
In the meantime, we are trying to embrace our new normal and filling our free hours with card games, online workouts, webinars, books, virtual happy hours and plenty of new creations in the kitchen.
Like many others, I’ve been seeking comfort – and few things are more comforting than baking bread. Prior to COVID-19, I’d never baked gluten-free bread. Baking bread always seemed like a task that should be left to those with more patience and pastry expertise. However, over the last weeks or so, I’ve baked about half a dozen loaves.
This gluten-free rosemary and olive oil focaccia is the result of a whole lot of experimentation with yeast-free bread recipes. I can’t find yeast anywhere at the moment, so I had to rely on other leavening agents to impart fluffiness.
Gluten-Free Focaccia
Made with gluten-free flour, low-fat milk, eggs, and olive oil, this is definitely not a traditional focaccia recipe, but I’m really pleased with the end result. My gluten-eating husband has been noshing on big hunks of this focaccia with lashings of jam all week.
Moreover, this is a no-knead recipe, that does not require proofing and is ready in under an hour. Sure, I have more time at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve miraculously become more patient and the same may be true for you too.
Are Carbs Bad For You?
Before I sign-off, I wanted to say something about carbs. I’ve often heard friends lamenting about bread and pasta as the source of their weight-loss woes and labeling them as ‘naughty foods’. But it’s not that black and white and there’s a place for carbs even if you’re on a lower-carb eating plan.
Like other aspects of nutrition, carb quality matters. High-quality carbohydrates such as fruit, starchy veggies, and whole grains, are packed with important nutrients such as fiber, vitamin A, B-vitamins, vitamin C, potassium and more. Moreover, population studies suggest that higher whole-grain and fiber intake assists with weight management, blood sugar control, blood pressure regulation, cholesterol control, and digestive health [1]. (Learn more about whole grains here).
Finally, carbohydrate is an especially important consideration if you participate in moderate-high intensity exercise. Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel for the brain and working muscles, and not getting enough carbohydrate can impair sports performance and compromise recovery after a hard workout or a race [2].
How much carbohydrate do you need? Well, that’s a tough question that depends on a variety of factors including age, weight, goals, activity level, pre-existing conditions and more. The point is that carbs aren’t altogether bad and carb quality makes a difference.
A Note On Gluten-Free Flour
Speaking of quality carbs, I used Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Flour for this bread recipe. I’m a big fan of this product because the first ingredient is garbanzo bean flour, and beans are full of fiber! Furthermore, it contains sorghum flour and fava bean flour – two other high fiber flour options.
Not all gluten-free flours are created equal. Many list lower fiber options like potato starch, tapioca starch and sweet rice flour as the first ingredient. While that’s fine for some recipes, I prefer to use something with more fiber/whole grain content for staples like bread. Most of us fall short of the fiber recommendations and miss out on important health benefits. A good rule of thumb is to look for flour with at least 3g of fiber per serving and a whole grain/high fiber flour such as garbanzo bean, brown rice or sorghum listed as the first ingredient.
Gluten-Free, No-Yeast Rosemary and Olive Oil Focaccia
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
- Category: Baked goods
Description
This gluten-free focaccia recipe hits all the high notes of freshly baked bread without the extensive time commitment. Leavened with baking powder instead of yeast, this gluten-free rosemary and olive oil focaccia is fluffy, fragrant and ready in under an hour.
Ingredients
- 2.25 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1.5 cups low-fat milk
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 eggs separated into white and yolks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line a 8 x 8 inch (20cm x 20cm) baking dish with parchment paper.
- Roughly chop the rosemary.
- Crack the eggs and separate into whites and yolks.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tsp of fresh rosemary in a large mixing bowl. Stir until well-mixed.
- Take out a separate large mixing bowl and add the egg yolks, milk, and olive oil. Beat the wet ingredients with an electric mixer on low-speed until bubbly. Alternatively, you can beat the wet ingredients by hand with a whisk.
- Add the egg yolk-milk-olive oil mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until smooth.
- Pour the egg whites into a medium mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low-medium speed (or a whisk) to form medium peaks (the egg white mixture should hold it’s shape but doesn’t need to be stiff).
- Gently fold the egg whites into the focaccia batter until just combined. Be careful not to over mix – the air in the egg whites help make the bread fluffy without yeast.
- Pour the focaccia batter into the lined baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining chopped rosemary. Insert the baking dish into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 187.53 kcal
- Sugar: 3.26 g
- Sodium: 221.44 mg
- Fat: 7.36 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.33 g
- Trans Fat: 0.01 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.51 g
- Fiber: 3.29 g
- Protein: 6.44 g
- Cholesterol: 55.35 mg
References:
[1] Reynolds A, Mann J, Cummings J, Winter N, Mete E, Te Morenga L. Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses [published correction appears in Lancet. 2019 Feb 2;393(10170):406]. Lancet. 2019;393(10170):434–445. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31809-9
[2] Kerksick CM, Arent S, Schoenfeld BJ, et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:33. Published 2017 Aug 29. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4
