The Italian Bread You Can Effortlessly Make In Your Air Fryer Using Frozen Dinner Rolls

If you're partial to keeping frozen dinner rolls in the freezer for when you need bread in a pinch, listen up. Those little freezer staples can do a lot more than just what's written on the pack. If you treat them properly, you can turn them into a crowd-favorite Italian focaccia, making your basic weekday pasta night into something much more intentional.

To create focaccia magic, place six to eight frozen rolls (or as many as can fit) in the basket of your air fryer with a little space between each other and spritz them with olive oil so they don't dry out. With the air fryer drawer closed (but not turned on just yet), it'll create a nice warm environment for them to proof inside and they'll rise out to touch each other. It essentially encourages them to expand into one another which is what mimics the irregular dimpled structure that focaccia has. They will fully rise in about four hours, after which it's a straightforward process — you just need to dimple the surface with your fingers, pushing the individual rolls even closer together to form a more singular layer of dough. Then cook at 350 Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes — you will know your focaccia is finished when it's looking golden, crisp, and a little oily. 

The air fryer is a great device for this hack because of the way air fryers get food so crispy. Air fryers use convection-style heat which is how the finished focaccia will come out with that essential crisp exterior and soft interior. Together, this all makes it feel much more like the focaccia you'd recognize from a bakery. And if you don't have an air fryer then an oven could yield similar results, particularly a convection oven which will do much of the same job whereas a traditional oven may just need a slightly higher temperature and longer bake time. Just don't expect the frozen roll version to hold together like a typical sheet of focaccia — it'll be more like a tear-and-share setup where everyone can grab individual pieces of the focaccia from a serving board.

This hack is pretty customizable as well. In addition to olive oil and some flaky sea salt, add any of your other favorite toppings to amp up focaccia. Think creatively, along the lines of cherry tomatoes, parmesan, and rosemary when serving with Italian pasta, olives and feta to eat alongside a Mediterranean-style spread of hummus and grilled protein, or a roasted garlic version to dunk into a tomato soup. This is a great little hack that will give you something that isn't a typical focaccia, but between the texture and flavour, it'll be close enough. And with absolutely no measuring or kneading involved, it's a sì from us.