Tomato Basil Focaccia — a comforting, spongy Italian bread baked with fresh tomatoes, olives, aromatic basil, garlic, herbs, and melted cheese. A simple recipe with restaurant quality results, this focaccia is a delicious treat, waiting for you to indulge!
The actual dough is a quite simple mixture of flour, semolina, bloomed yeast, and olive oil that makes for the most spongy, delicate dough you’ve ever eaten! There’s a very strong elastic quality in the dough that just makes it spring back with every touch or bite. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth slice of heaven! This simple recipe is a perfect way for you to test your baking skills with easy techniques and minimal ingredients!
The focaccia is topped with a classic combo of cherry tomatoes, homegrown basil, crumbled parmesan cheese, olives and aromatic garlic. The moment you pop this in the oven, your house will smell like the rolling hills of Tuscany!
Enjoy it as an evening snack with a glass of Merlot or Pinot Grigio or slice in half and enjoy as a sandwich with your favorite greens and sliced vegetables!
STEP BY STEP VIDEO:
Tomato Basil Focaccia — a comforting, spongy Italian bread baked with fresh tomatoes, olives, aromatic basil, garlic, herbs, and melted cheese. A simple recipe with restaurant quality results, this focaccia is a delicious treat, waiting for you to indulge!
- 3 cup all purpose flour , plus extra for dusting
- ½ cup semolina , plus extra for dusting
- 2½ tsp active dry yeast
- 2 tsp sugar , or honey
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil , plus extra for greasing
- 1¼ cups lukewarm water , add 2-3 tbsp more as needed
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 10-12 leaves basil
- 6-7 cherry tomatoes , halved
- 4-5 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- ¼ cup cheese , crumbled
- 1 tsp italian seasoning
- 5 olives , sliced
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Proof the yeast: In a small bowl, mix the yeast, lukewarm water, and sugar. Allow the yeast to bloom for 5-6 minutes or until you see the yeast becoming frothy. Once bloomed, add in the olive oil.
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Prepare the dough: In a large bowl mix the flour, semolina and salt. Then gradually pour in the yeast and olive oil mixture and start mixing with a spoon until the mixture comes together. When the mixture gets hard for the spoon to mix, then start kneading the dough with your hands in a circular motion, helping the yeast mixture evenly incorporate into the dough. Certain flours may require more water, so add more water, if needed, slowly 1 tbsp at a time. I used 1½ cups water. Keep doing this till the mixture comes together as a sticky dough.
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Knead the dough: Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and knead the dough vigorously for 10 minutes. Just keep rolling, pushing and folding the dough over and over till you have a soft, smooth, and spongy dough. Add a little flour in between if the dough starts to stick to your hands, but don’t dry the dough out by adding too much. This will help the gluten develop and make the dough more elastic.
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First dough rise: Grease a bowl with some olive oil and then shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let rest in a warm place for 45 minutes or until double in size.
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Shape the dough: Stretch the proofed dough into the shape of your baking dish. Flour your work surface to ensure it doesn’t stick while you’re shaping it.
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Prepare the dish: Grease your 13" x 9" baking dish with olive oil and sprinkle some semolina. Then, add in your dough, using your fingers to guide it towards the edges so it fills up the whole pan. Now, pour the topping olive oil over the dough.
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Make dips and wells: Use your fingers to gently press into the dough like a piano to make lots of rough dips and wells.
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Add the toppings: Add chopped garlic followed by basil, cherry tomatoes, cheese and olives. Sprinkle italian seasoning on top.
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Second dough rise: Now cover the dish again with a damp towel to retain humidity. Let it rest in a warm place and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
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While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 425oF/220oC.
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Bake: Gently press the toppings into the dough to ensure that are nicely embedded into the dough. Now, bake the focaccia for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. As soon as you take it out from the oven, brush with olive oil for extra shine and let it cool for 10-15 minutes on a mesh rack.
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Serve warm and enjoy as a snack or slice it in between and enjoy as a sandwich with your favorite filling!
Recipe Video
- Ensure that the focaccia is fully cooled before storing in an airtight container, otherwise it will become soggy. It’s good for 2 days outside the fridge and then it needs to be refrigerated after. It should last about a week.
- Feel free to change up the toppings and seasoning however you’d like!
- You can use any whole grain wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. Just make sure to adjust the water accordingly.
- My focaccia bread was 2" thick when I used a 13" x 9" baking dish, since I wanted to slice and use the bread in a sandwich. If you want it thinner, you can either use a larger baking dish or reduce the quantity in half. The recipe has an adjustable serving size slider which will automatically adjust the ingredient quantity.
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Wow! Delicious!
Wow delicious!
Thanks a lot!!
So good!
I love it!
will try to make this soon thanks
Thanks. You will definitely enjoy it. Let me know how it turns out for you!!
I found you by searching noknead multiseed bbread recipe n fully love it wow so easy to make n no confusion anyone can mk .thank you Sach nice recipe sharing.
Thanks I’m glad you liked. I’m starting a segments for breads recipes very soon. What kind of breads recipes do you want me to do ??
Sourdough ones
Sure, will send you one. – made it last week only.
Thank you so much! So glad you liked the recipes! 😊