By now, we all know I’m obsessed with Claire Saffitz, but I do have one teeny tiny bone to pick with her. She is constantly saying in her videos that you need a stand mixer to make her recipes, and then sometimes she’ll reluctantly say with a sigh that you *could* use a hand mixer but the results won’t be the same.

I wholeheartedly disagree, as we also all know I don’t have stand mixer and that’s never stopped me from making anything from babka to a wedding cake and everything in between.

But I wondered if I finally had to accept defeat when it came time to make this focaccia. Normally when recipes call for kneading things in a stand mixer with a dough hook, I just take the dough onto the counter and knead by hand. As Danielle always says, our great-grandmothers were kneading bread dough by hand and they did just fine. But from watching Claire’s video, I could see this dough was super soft and stretchy. I decided to just use a big mixing bowl and spoon and put some arm muscle into it. Spoiler alert: worked like a charm.

This recipe isn’t complicated, but like any recipe with yeast, there are a lot of steps and multiple rises. I watched the video a few times while I was making it to be sure I didn’t miss anything. It breaks down to:

1. Mix dough, knead briefly (or stir vigorously*) let rest (5 minutes)
2. Continue kneading (or stirring vigorously*), Rise 1 (1 1/2 – 2 hours)
3. Fold and rotate dough, add to half sheet pan, partially stretch out, let rest (10-15 minutes)
4. Continue stretching out dough, Rise 2 (40-55 minutes)
5. Poke dimples in dough, add toppings
6. Bake

I can’t express enough how well this focaccia turned out. If I was nervous I didn’t knead/mix it enough, I shouldn’t have. It was light and chewy on the inside with big air pockets, and super golden and crunchy on the outside. The only change I made was to leave off the sliced garlic on the top, because I saw on another recipe review that theirs burned a bit.

Every time I make homemade bread I’m amazed at the results, and I don’t need a damn dough hook to get them!

*If you also want to make this and you don’t have a stand mixer, when Claire says to use the dough hook, just take a strong spoon (like a big wooden or silicone spoon) and stir the dough as much as you can, working it around the bowl, for the time she indicates. I was worried I might not have kneaded it enough but it was absolutely fine

You can find the ingredient listing + directions in Claire’s video here!

More Planet Byn x Dessert Person posts here!

Note: I can’t find Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt anywhere, so just use regular salt and cut the measurement in half for these recipes.