Pour the water into a bowl and add the (sugar – if you are baking right away), salt and yeast. Let the yeast foam up and then leave it alone for five minutes!
Pour the flour into the bowl and mix well.
At this point you can cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 2 hours, or even overnight. For you morning people, you can put this together, then throw it in the oven (Make sure the oven is OFF) to rise all day while you are at work.
Pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees. You want your oven nice and HOT.
Use an 8×8″ pan OR a metal pie pan. Just be sure it’s an 8″ pan. I’ve found the 9″ pans make the bread too thin. Coat the bottom (don’t be shy about this step) with olive oil and dump the bread dough into it. (Do not add any flour and don’t knead the dough – you will want to keep those lovely air bubbles!) Drizzle more olive oil over the top of the dough. Using your fingers (or let the kids do it!) spread the dough to the edges of the pan and poke holes into it. You want to see the bottom of the pan! This will give the olive oil a place to settle in and will let your crust be crisp, with that traditional Foccacia look, but still soft and yummy in the middle.
Now, top it with any ingredients you’d like.
Bake at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it. There should be enough oil in the pan so you can slide it out easily when it’s done.