Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix with a fork. Make a well in the center. Pour 1¼ cups of the water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the well. Incorporate the flour with a wooden spoon to start to form the dough. The trick here is to add more water a tablespoon or so at a time until you have a thick, wet dough almost like a heavy batter. It should be shiny, wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with a sheet pan and let it rise 2 hours, or until doubled.

Put a heaping teaspoon of olive oil into a 9- by 9-inch nonstick cake pan and rub it around the bottom and sides. Pour the dough into the prepared pan and use a bread scraper to scrape the dough out of the bowl. It will look stringy and airy coming out of the bowl. Drizzle the dough with 1–2 tablespoons of olive oil. Put all 10 fingers in some of the olive oil and begin to press and stretch the dough to fit evenly into the pan. The oil will keep it from sticking to your hands or the pan. Dimple the dough with your fingers by pressing them down to where you can almost feel the bottom of the pan. Leave it uncovered inside the unheated oven to protect it from a draft until double— about 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 400°F. Put the focaccia into the oven and reduce the temperature to 375. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until it’s golden brown