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I tried it: King Arthur's new boxed mix makes restaurant-quality bread in 1 hour
Most of that time, it's just resting, with minimal prepping. Consider this focaccia kit your secret ingredient for dinners and entertaining.
Baking can be cost-efficient, rewarding and even therapeutic! It can also be laborious and time-consuming to achieve the results you want (hey, there's a reason bakeries are so popular). That's particularly true of homemade bread, which often requires finicky ingredients (the starters!), intensive prep work (the kneading!) and long resting periods. Even the simplest recipes can warrant a trip to the grocery store and up to 30 hours of resting time.
Enter King Arthur Baking Company Focaccia Mix Kit, which I discovered after months of dragging my feet on the homemade bread front. It has become my favorite hack for delicious, homemade(ish) focaccia. All you need is hot water, olive oil, a few tools and a 9 x 13 in. pan (I've found you can also use a 9 x 13 in. pan in a pinch).
This low-prep, pretty-much-makes-itself bread mix will make you feel like a professional baker and is ready in 60 minutes. I've baked this focaccia for dinners and parties — and I've even given it as gifts. Because it's so straightforward and fun, it's also a shoo-in for date nights and family activities with the kids!
Ready to roll: You only need two common ingredients, olive oil and hot water, for this bread, so you can skip the trip to the grocery store.
How it's made
The focaccia kit comes with three main ingredients — a dough mix, a yeast packet and a rosemary seasoning blend. You stir the dough mix and yeast together, then add hot water and olive oil to form a sticky dough and let it rest. (Unlike with other dough recipes, I haven't found the stirring to be too rigorous.)
You then transfer the dough to the pan, making sure it's coated in olive oil. After allowing the dough to rise for just 30 minutes, drizzle it with more oil (I'm typically generous in this department), dimple it with your fingers and pop it in the oven. When the focaccia is golden brown, sprinkle it with the rosemary seasoning. I like to give it a light brush of olive oil for an elevated look and taste.
Why it's great
Aside from coming with almost everything you need, King Arthur's Focaccia Mix Kit is just so quick and easy. And the focaccia it yields is extremely tasty.
I've made it a bunch of times now, and in each go, I've been able to whip up crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside focaccia in just 20 minutes of baking (if you account for resting the dough, it's about an hour).
I've experimented with different toppings, adding them before I put the focaccia in the oven, with cherry tomatoes and Castelvetrano olives among my biggest hits. While the focaccia mix kit is my No. 1 go-to for its ease and versatility, I've also tried — and thoroughly enjoyed — King Arthur's Pretzel Bites, Flatbread and Pull-Apart Garlic Bread Mix Kits.
Baking hack: Stock up on focaccia kits for tailgates, holidays and beyond.
The tools I used
Pyrex glass measuring cups are a staple when it comes to baking and cooking, and for good reason: The red markers along the sides are easy to read and the long handles make for secure transferring. I used the larger cup to measure and pour the olive oil and hot water for the focaccia, then grabbed a tablespoon for mixing.
I bought these melamine bowls on a whim (at the time, Crate & Barrel sold a red variation), mostly for prepping and serving salads, chips and dips. They're lightweight for carrying and deep enough to hold big quantities, including bread mixes. Bonus for traveling: They come with lids!
I started using Caraway's baking pans a year or so ago and have found myself relying on them more and more. They're made with a nontoxic, nonstick ceramic coating that stands up to high heat. Cakes, brownies and breads lift right out of them, and they're a cinch to clean. I also love how the pans feature straight, clean edges (versus other 9 x 13 in. dishes that slope inward along the sides) so that, when cut, every piece looks crisp and consistent.
For more affordable, non-stick ceramic options, Sur La Table's Kitchen Essentials Collection is the one to beat. This sleek 9 x 13 in. baking pan is oven-safe up to 450°F and available in additional sizes for different loaf sizes and needs.
These containers beat out other plastic food storage containers in my testing for their practicality (they're stain-, leak- and odor-proof), versatility (they're refrigerator-, freezer-, dishwasher- and microwave-friendly) and clarity (clean lines and clear sides mean less guesswork). Scoop them up in shatter-proof plastic or oven-safe glass in a range of sizes — both stack nicely for easy storage.
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