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Soft and pillow, crispy edged roasted tomato and olive focaccia bread is the perfect addition to any soup, or dinner plate. 

Learning to bake bread can be intimidating, but rest assured this focaccia is simple, and packed of flavor. You will never need to buy it again. I’m not sure what I like most about it, if it’s the fluffy interior, the crispy practically fried edges and crust or the ability to customize the flavors with anything my carb loving heart desires! 

Last Christmas Ben bought me a copy of Paul Hollywood’s Bake cookbook. We had been deep into a binge of Great British Baking Show and one of my favorite things to do is bake bread. Well, he bought me a copy of Bread Daddy’s book and I started marking the recipes and flagging all of my must-trys. I am not getting a vacation to Italy any time soon, so bread is my vehicle of choice.

Focaccia Bread, What Is It?

Now I’ve made this super delicious roasted garlic sourdough focaccia recipe before, but wanting to test it along side Paul Hollywood’s made sense. He’s the carbv master after all, with that icy blue stare. There are a few things different between American written cookbooks, and United Kingdom written books, I did my best to follow his instructions but some clarity is needed and little nuances of directions left to chance. 

But what is it? It is a flat leavened dough that is baked in an oven. You can also make pizza out of it! Rome is famous for pizza bianca. It can be served as a side, or used as sandwich bread. It is through and through an Italian bread, and can be round, rectangular, or square shaped. Most people know it for it’s lovely dimpled texture, chewy texture, and crispy edges due to the oil it is baked with and then drizzled with. 

Ingredients for the Best Focaccia Bread

The ingredients for this focaccia recipe are simple, like with most breads it’s base ingredients are flour, water, salt, and yeast. This also includes olive oil and herbs, too. 

Dough

• Bread Flour – you can use all purpose flour, but the texture may change with the increase protein content
• Kosher Salt
• Instant Yeast
• Olive Oil
• Water

Toppings

• Kalamata Olives
• Red Onion – or shallots
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Garlic Cloves
• Dried Oregano
• Olive Oil
• Flaky Sea Salt

How to Make Roasted Tomato and Olive Focaccia Bread

The thing about a perfectly dimpled and fluffy focaccia bread is time. Even though it’s a simple dough, a few techniques will help you achieve perfect results.

In a large bowl, or a stand mixer bowl, mix together all of the bread ingredients – from bread flour, salt, instant yeast (or active dry yeast), olive oil and water. This will create a rough dough and begin the formation of the gluten and protein that give the bread structure.

If you are mixing this by hand, do a pull and fold in the bowl until the dough becomes slightly elastic. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees each time you pull and fold the dough back in on itself. Do this for about 2 minutes.

Next you can either turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface, or using the bowl of a stand mixer, you can knead the dough for 5-7 minutes, 2 minutes on low and then the remaining time on medium low speed with a dough hook, until a smooth and fully elastic ball forms.

Proofing Your Focaccia Bread

Place the dough back into a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature, or in a proofing oven, for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

When it is ready and proofed, heavily oil a 9×13″ baking dish, I use this lasagna pan, and pour the dough into the pan. Using your fingers, press the dough out until it reaches all edges and corners of the pan. Cover it again and allow it to rise for another hour or hour and a half.

Alternatively you can make this on a baking sheet, or baking tray, which will create a thinner bread. Adjust the baking times as necessary.

To decorate the focaccia dough, slice the shallots or red onions, and cherry tomatoes, and halved kalamata olives, and press them all evenly throughout the dough. Sprinkle the top of the dough with dried oregano or pizza seasoning, and the flaky sea salt.

Bake your bread in a pre-heated 450 degree oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes, or until it is a deep golden brown on top. When it comes out of the oven, immediately drizzle it with additional extra virgin olive oil and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.

This homemade focaccia bread will make you see stars.

Focaccia Variations

Focaccia art has been a total hit on the likes of Pinterest. It makes a gorgeous canvas for making edible pictures using vegetables and various herbs, finishing with a drizzle of extra-vigin olive oil. Making picture perfect dishes is easy with this! 

 If you’re not into creating edible art, you can just mix in variations of herbs of fluffy bread. Or you can also use it as a pizza dough.

Popular Flavor Variations

• Roasted Garlic Focaccia 
• Roasted Tomato Basil
• Rosemary Focaccia bread
• Grape and Fresh Rosemary
• Fig and Balsamic Glaze
• Peach and Prosciutto and Parmesan Cheese
• Caramelized Onions and Mushroom
• Za’atar Onion and Pomegranate
• Castelvetrano Olives and Thyme with Garlic

What To Serve with Focaccia

Sausage Kale and Gnocchi Soup
​Roasted Broccoli and Sausage with Polenta

Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon

Butternut Squash and Spinach Tortellini Soup

Pressed Italian Focaccia Sandwich

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour?

Yes, but the structure when baked may not be identical. Bread flour has a higher protein content, creating additional structure, and bubbles in the end product. It’s not a deal breaker, but bread flour is more ideal.

Do I need to add sugar or honey to my yeast to activate it?

You don’t have to, because modern yeast is bred to be activated in water. But it will speed up the process. If you want more for additional sweetness in the bread add more, but honey is liquid and will change the consistency of the dough slighlty. This is already a high hydration dough, so tread lightly. 

Can I proof this dough overnight in the fridge? 

Yes, the cold will slow the proofing process of the bread, and it will also develop more flavor inside the bread. Place the dough into your 13-inch pan, covering it and allowing it to slowly rise and give it a slow fermentation, before it’s final proof and dimpling with your fingertips with a couple extra tablespoons of olive oil.

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