Place the water into a large bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and yeast. Let stand 5 minutes or until yeast is dissolved. Stir in the salt. Gradually add flour, stirring until dough forms.
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 10 to 12 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in large oiled bowl, cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size; about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Place oven rack in lowest rack position and heat to 450°F. Grease a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan.
Gently punch down dough to deflate. Place in pan; using palm of hand press dough to cover bottom of the pan. Cover; let rise about 20 minutes or until risen by half. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle generously with coarse salt.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with thyme.
Notes
If using a stand mixer with a dough hook, simply dump all of the bread ingredients into the mixer and let it do all of the mixing and kneading.
If you're using a bread machine, layer the ingredients in the bread pan according to the manufacturer's instructions and let it do the kneading and the first rise. Then take it out of the machine and prep it for the 2nd rise.