The recipe for homemade Soft Milk Focaccine, quick with dry or fresh brewer’s yeast. The milk focaccine are small soft focacce, ideal to enjoy at snack time, excellent for our children, but also nice to serve during a buffet or as a standing appetizer. These super soft milk focaccine are great on their own and even better filled with cold cuts and cheeses, making them perfect for dinner or a packed lunch at the beach.

Soft milk focaccine like those from the bakery, but homemade they are very simple to make and can be kneaded by hand, with a Thermomix or with a stand mixer, always giving excellent results. These focaccine, which my sister (who worked for many years at Come) calls “Esselunga focaccine“, are also my son Alessio’s favorite—he would eat them every day. Basically these extremely soft milk focaccine are a hit and since they can be frozen, you can make a good stock to use when needed. Before baking they can also be topped with rosemary, cherry tomatoes, olives, bits of ham, salami and much more.

Ready to discover how to make the super soft focaccine with milk? Let’s go into the kitchen, but first a reminder: if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very inexpensive
Rest time: 3 Hours
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: about 16
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients to make soft milk focaccine

3 1/3 cups type 0 flour (or manitoba)
1 1/4 cups milk (warm)
1 tsp active dry yeast (≈ 3.5 g (or 12 g fresh yeast))
2 3/4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 2/3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
to taste black pepper

Tools

Bowl
Baking tray
Oven
Pastry brush
Parchment paper
Cookie cutter
Rolling pin

How to make soft milk focaccine

To make the very soft milk focaccine you can knead by hand as I did, but using a stand mixer will make everything easier; you can also use a Thermomix.
Pour the flour into a bowl, add a little warm milk and dissolve the yeast in it,
Mix, add the sugar and a little more warm milk, mix again, pour in the oil and finally the rest of the milk with the salt. Combine everything with a spoon, knead in the bowl for a few minutes—using your hand if you prefer—cover with a cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.
After that time, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and work it until the dough gains structure and is no longer sticky. Do not use too much flour, only a light dusting, otherwise the focaccine will be tough.
Shape into a ball and place it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and keep in a warm place to rise until doubled in size; the time is indicative but it may take about 2 hours and 30 minutes. If it needs longer, wait for proper rising.
Turn the risen dough out onto the work surface and, without deflating it too much, roll it out to a sheet just under 1 cm thick — about 3/8 inch.
Cut the sheet into discs with a cutter, knead the scraps and let them rise before rolling them out again. Place the discs on a tray lined with parchment paper and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes so they can start rising again.
Prepare an emulsion by beating together with a fork water and oil, then add a generous sprinkle of black pepper.
Take the focaccine, which should be nicely puffed and risen, brush each piece with the emulsion and use your fingertips to make dimples.
Bake in a preheated convection oven at 392°F for 15 minutes or until the desired golden color is reached.
The oil-and-milk focaccine are ready; they are good warm or at room temperature, can be filled and are also excellent eaten plain. They keep for 2 days like any other bread when stored in a plastic bag. If you wish, you can freeze them in suitable bags and thaw as needed to eat them as you prefer.