Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread comes together quickly and easily and is the perfect addition to any meal.  Lightly flavored with Italian seasoning and olive oil, the bread amazing flavor.

I love this basic recipe for focaccia bread.  It is the perfect canvas for all kinds of amazing flavor combinations. But sometimes you just want a basic and delicious bread that will let whatever you serve with it or on it shine.  Such is the case with this focaccia bread.  Sometimes I just add it as a side dish to a meal.  It’s perfect with pasta with meat sauce.  It works great for mopping up extra sauce or I love to use it for dipping into hummus or balsamic vinegar.

What is Focaccia Bread?

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread  and is similar in style and texture to pizza dough. It is a perfect side dish for many meals and also makes a wonderful sandwich bread.

How To Make Focaccia Bread?

• Focaccia bread is a yeast dough.  After allowing the dough to rise until double in size, generously oil the bottom of a baking sheet with olive oil. The olive oil will give the bread good flavor so don’t be stingy.  I use a  quarter sheet baking sheet that measures 9 x 13″.  You can also use a glass 9 x 13 baking dish as well.  Fill baking sheet  or pan with dough.
• If you prefer to make the bread round just shape it and place on a large oiled baking sheet. (Should be about 1 inch thick)  It tastes wonderful whatever shape it is!
• Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise again for about 30 minutes.
• Press your fingertip into the dough, creating an indentation.

• Brush with remaining olive oil.  Allow the olive oil to fill into those indentations in the dough.
• It is a beautiful blank canvas!  I like to keep it pretty simple a lot of the time and brush it with olive oil and a sprinkle of my favorite French salt.
• Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool, if you can wait that long.

What to Put on Focaccia Bread?

The possibilities are endless:

• favorite herbs or seasoning (basil, oregano, thyme)  If I am using dried herbs I add these while mixing up the dough.  If I am using fresh herbs, I will add them on top of the dough with the olive oil before baking.
• roasted garlic
• cheese (parmesan, mozzarella, provolone etc.)
• veggies ( onion, chopped or sliced tomato, roasted red pepper slices, chopped mushrooms, sliced shallots, thin-sliced zucchini or yellow squash, spinach)
• pesto

Add your toppings after you have brushed the bread with olive oil and before baking.  One of my favorite combos is cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and Parmesan cheese.

To serve the focaccia bread you can cut it into square or just tear a piece off!

Check out my favorite pasta dishes to serve with focaccia bread:

• Baked Ziti
• Penne Rustica
• Lemon Chicken Pasta

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Easy Focaccia Bread Recipe

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread comes together quickly and easily and is the perfect addition to any meal.  Lightly flavored with Italian seasoning and olive oil gives the bread amazing flavor.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Bread

Keyword focaccia, focaccia bread

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Rising time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 16 servings

Author Leigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 5 Tbsp olive oil divided
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• Coarse Salt sprinkling on top

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Add yeast and sugar to warm water.  Stir to combine and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes until bubbly.
• Add yeast mixture to flour, salt and 2 Tbsp olive oil in mixer bowl.  Mix with dough hook.  Add additional flour if needed to get a soft dough that is not too sticky to handle.
• Coat a bowl with oil and place dough in bowl.  Cover with a towel and allow to rise for an hour in a warm place or until doubled in size
• Brush baking sheet with 1 Tbsp oil.  Punch down dough and remove from bowl.  Knead on a floured surface for a minute.  
• Place dough onto oiled baking sheet and press to fill sheet.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.
• Press fingertips into dough, creating indentations.  Brush top with remaining oil.
• Sprinkle with coarse salt and any other desired toppings.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool bread on a rack for 10 minutes and remove from pan.  Cool completely and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 114kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 31mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg

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