Swap The Water In Your Focaccia With Marinara Sauce And Never Look Back

All carbs are delicious in our book, but precious few top the list like yeasty, hot, fresh baked bread dripping with olive oil or butter. If those words all speak to you, focaccia just might be your carby spirit animal. The Italian creation is a pillowy loaf that rises a couple of inches high, pockmarked with fingertip indentations and drizzled with olive oil and tons of salt. The loaves can be made in varying shapes — square, rectangular, circular — and according to all sorts of differing recipes — some are baked plain, while others are layered with fresh herbs or veggies arranged into landscape scenes, or studded with sliced tomatoes or cheese.

More puffy pizza crust than sliceable sandwich loaf, it's hard to level up the already-perfect, yeasty, cloud-light perfection, but leave it to the imaginative foodies of the internet to hack the ancient bread to the next level with innovative twists on the classic baked good, such as swapping out water for marinara sauce. Most traditional recipes call for only a few basic ingredients including water, high-gluten flour, and yeast. This plus the lack of need for any fussy steps, equipment, or baking skills to speak of make it the perfect entry point recipe for beginner bakers. To infuse additional robust flavor when you're craving something different, follow TikToker @countryroadssourdough and grab your favorite homemade or store-bought marinara sauce to add to a focaccia recipe in place of water.

Bakers know, the art of the perfect homemade loaf is indeed an art. Unlike other more forgivable recipes, all sorts of factors like ambient humidity levels, kneading mistakes, and where you choose to proof your bread can all dramatically change your final creation. The TikTok baker who put this idea on the map used a focaccia recipe incorporating sourdough starter for this hack, but other commenters noted it should work just as well with any recipe.

While this ingredient trade-in no doubt gives focaccia a major punch up in the flavor department, infusing the mild bread with a big boost of savory tomato flavor, changing up water for acidic marinara does come with a potential chemical downside. This increase in acidity can impact the gluten's ability to rise to quite its usual airy heights. As any baker knows, the interplay between ingredients such as yeast and flour is a delicate dance. Any time the pH balance is altered via leavening agents like baking soda or the inclusion of marinara sauce, the final loaf can be affected (whether it's an issue with the pH being too high or too low). 

This difference will likely be slight, and if a big hearty flavor and punchy taste are what you're chasing, the trade-off is likely well worth it. The resulting marinara-flavored loaf is practically begging to be dressed up with pizza toppings. Don't forget to make double and freeze the extra focaccia for later enjoyment.