Homemade focaccia bread comes together fast with only 5 simple ingredients. Choose your favorite flavor from herb & garlic to jalapeño cheddar and more!
When I first started baking my own bread, focaccia was one of my go-to bread recipes. The steps are easy to follow, and the recipe takes very little time to make – both important for a busy work-at-home mom with kids underfoot!
Even though I’m no longer a beginner bread baker, this homemade focaccia bread recipe is still one of my family’s favorite flatbreads. The airy, fluffy texture and cheesy flavor make it a perfect side for any dish on the meal plan!
WHAT IS FOCACCIA BREAD?
Focaccia is a type of flatbread, kind of like a thick, dense pizza. Similarly, like pizza, focaccia bread is often topped with olive oil, seasonings, and a sprinkle of cheese. After baking, it turns out soft and chewy inside, perfectly golden-brown outside, and slightly crisp around the edges.
You can mop up Tortilla Soup with a nice thick slice of garlic focaccia, or you can slice a large piece of rosemary focaccia in half and make a killer beef pesto panini. You have plenty of options for flavors and toppings to suit whatever you want!
It’s also VERY affordable and adaptable to the ingredients in your kitchen.
So good. So easy! Let’s get started.
ONE PAN FOCACCIA RECIPE INGREDIENTS
- Active dry yeast. I prefer using active dry yeast over instant yeast. As a result, I find it gives a better rise.
- Sugar. The yeast needs something to eat. Some focaccia recipes skip the sugar and do an overnight rise in the refrigerator instead for the yeast to develop. We’re taking the quick and easy route here!
- Warm water. You’ll want your water at 110F. This is the best temperature for yeast to bloom. Focaccia bread dough has a higher percentage of water to flour, which makes for light, pillowy bread.
- Flour. I use all-purpose flour or bread flour in this recipe for light and fluffy foccacia.
- Extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil is perfect for focaccia, both in the dough and spread on top. Butter also works to add rich flavor to the dough.
- Salt. Use kosher salt for the bread dough and flaky sea salt for sprinkling on top.
- Focaccia Toppings. Optional! Make your focaccia pretty with sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, fresh herbs, and fancy cheese (mozzarella and parmesan cheese are the best!)
Psst! Want to kick this up a notch? Try finishing this recipe with a pinch of finishing salt! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
HOW TO MAKE FOCACIA
Step 1: Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer and allow the yeast to bloom for approximately 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients to the yeast mixture – flour, oil, and salt – and knead by hand or with a mixer with a dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Step 3: Pour the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Place each piece into an oiled 9″x9″ glass pan. Then gently push and punch the round of dough so that it reaches each corner and edge of the pan. Repeat for the second pan.
Step 4: Cover the dough with a towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Near the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 400F.
Step 5: Drizzle olive oil over the top of each loaf and gently spread using clean fingers or a brush to cover the entire surface. At this time, dimple the dough with your fingertips and add sea salt and any other desired toppings. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and surface.
Step 6: Remove the pans from the oven. Remove the focacia bread from the pans and allow it to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Refrigerate or freeze leftover focaccia. Focaccia can dry out fairly quickly. Wrap it up tightly, store it in the refrigerator, and eat it within 2 days.
Wrapped in plastic wrap and a freezer-safe bag, focaccia can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. Thaw frozen focaccia overnight in the fridge to use. (Read all of my tips for freezing bread and other baked goods here!)
HOMEMADE FOCACCIA BREAD RECIPE TIPS
- Use a different size pan. If you don’t have two 9×9 glass pans, use a 9×13 pan or two 9-inch pie pans. A 13×18 rimmed baking sheet will create thin focaccia perfect for pizza dough or sandwiches!
- Double up your kitchen time. Use the same mixing bowl to make a second bread recipe while your focaccia is rising. The bowl is already ‘dirty’ and the kitchen is already warm!
- Make focaccia sandwiches. Slice thick focaccia in half to make the sandwich of thin slices or on the other hand, bake it on a larger baking sheet to make thin focaccia bread.
ROSEMARY FOCACCIA BREAD AND OTHER VARIATIONS
This focaccia recipe as written is delicious, but you can tailor the recipe to make your favorite flavor.
- Herb and Garlic – top with chopped fresh or roasted garlic and a generous sprinkle of dried herbs. Try Italian seasoning, basil, rosemary, or thyme.
- Olive and Cheddar – top each loaf with ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar works best). Add sliced olives on the top in a pattern of your choice. A few slices of red onion work with these flavors too!
- Rosemary and Parmesan – top each loaf with shredded Parmesan and a generous sprinkle of fresh rosemary.
- Jalapeño Cheddar – before baking, top each loaf with slices of 1-2 fresh jalapeño peppers and ¼ cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
- Black & Blue – add 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper into the dough and before baking, sprinkle the top of the bread with blue cheese and lots of freshly ground pepper.
- Tomato – top each focaccia loaf with slices of tomatoes. Use a variety of tomatoes, like cherry tomatoes or heirlooms, and arrange in a pretty pattern.
- Pesto – spread the top of the focacia dough with pesto before baking. This homemade Carrot Top Pesto is really good!
WHAT TO SERVE WITH FOCCACIA
- Herb and garlic focaccia with Zuppa Toscana Soup
- Olive and cheddar focaccia with Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup
- Pepper and blue cheese focaccia with Instant Pot Brisket or a nice steak!
- Tomato focaccia with a fresh summer salad
Focaccia makes a delicious side dish for pretty much any meal, so bake up a batch with your favorite flavor combo tonight!
HOW TO ADD PROTEIN TO FOCACCIA BREAD
I’ve written about adding extra protein to smoothies. I’ve written about high-protein snacks like Energy Bites, Chocolate Hummus, and Trail Mix.
Yet, when I was asked the question recently about how to add extra protein to bread, I was stumped!
However, it didn’t take long for me to realize there are a few ways to add extra protein to homemade bread recipes.
- Add vital wheat gluten. You can add up to 2 Tablespoons of vital wheat gluten to a recipe without it being affected, giving you an extra 14g of protein in the batch.
- Use whole wheat flour, which naturally has more protein than white flour. It may change the texture of the focaccia slightly.
- Add egg whites. An egg white has 5g of protein. You can add up to two egg whites per loaf of bread.
- Add a scoop of collagen. I have not tried this myself since I prefer to drink my collagen in a smoothie, but considering it is a dry ingredient, it should blend in super well with a bread recipe. (This is my favorite collagen.)
FOCACCIA BREAD FAQS
How is focaccia different from bread?
Focaccia is a type of bread that’s made in a shallow baking dish rather than a loaf pan. It’s made from similar ingredients as a sandwich bread with herbs added on top.
What is foccacia bread art?
Focaccia bread art turns your toppings into a work of art! I’ve seen beautiful landscapes, flower scenes, and stunning patterns placed on top of focaccia dough. Simply arrange fresh herbs, vegetables, and leafy greens on top of the bread before baking.
Can I use different types of flour for foccaccia?
Bread flour or all-purpose flour will work the best, but you could easily make this with whole wheat or einkorn flour. Just be prepared for the density to change slightly.
How to make gluten-free focaccia?
You can use a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill. The dough won’t rise quite like wheat dough since there is no gluten in the flour, but focaccia bread bakes up fairly thin anyway.
Can I make sourdough focaccia?
Yes! The steps for making sourdough focaccia are inverted – make the dough, let it rise, and then pour/shape it into the pan and add toppings. You’ll need a mature sourdough starter to get a proper rise.
MORE EASY BREAD RECIPES
- Rosemary Olive Oil Flatbread
- No Yeast Bread
- No Knead Artisan Bread
- 90-Minute Man Bread
- Easy Dinner Biscuits
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Homemade focaccia bread comes together fast with only 5 simple ingredients. Choose your favorite flavor from herb & garlic to jalapeño cheddar and more!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large bowl or in a stand mixer and allow it to bloom, for approximately 10 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients and knead by hand or with a mixer until the dough is smooth and elastic about 10 minutes.
- Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal pieces. Place each piece into an oiled 9″x9″ glass pan. Gently push and punch the round of dough so that it reaches each corner and edge of the pan. Repeat for the second pan.
- Cover the dough with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Near the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 400F.
- Drizzle olive oil over the top of each loaf and gently spread using clean fingers or a brush to cover the entire surface. Dimple the dough with your fingertips and add sea salt and any other desired toppings. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and surface.
- Remove pans from the oven; remove bread from the pans, and allow to cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Refrigerate or freeze leftover focaccia. Focaccia can dry out fairly quickly. Wrap it up tightly and store it in the refrigerator and eat within 2 days. Wrapped in plastic wrap and a freezer-safe bag, it can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. Thaw frozen focaccia overnight in the fridge to use.
Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking.
I made an improvised version of this today. We had it some with soup and it was fabulous. I improvised by swapping some of the flour with sourdough discard I just fed and it didn’t need to rise quite as long. I topped it with plenty of garlic salt and enjoyed it so much, my husband and I kept snacking while I cleaned up our dishes. It tastes so much like Pizza Hut’s deep dish crust, I’ll probably use a version of this for my next pizza dough. Thank you for putting this together for us!
Blessings,
Lisa
Hi, I tried making this as a focaccia pizza (as referenced in your Best Pizza Dough post). I topped it with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and mushrooms. The dough didn’t taste like focaccia; just really thick, slightly crunchy bread. What might have happened? Here are the variations I made: subbed 1 cup whole wheat flour for 1 cup white flour, left dough out in the cookie sheet pan for almost five hours before cooking as I was interrupted. Would either of these differences have mattered?
Hi Kendall! Yes, both of those substitutions will matter, especially the rise time. 🙂
Thank you for replying.
I was able to get 2 recipes pinned by just tapping the picture. And then….doesn’t work any more. I’m on a cell phone, so hovering isn’t possible. Tapping causes the picture to go to the photo only page and lightly touching screen does the same thing. Holding the picture causes a menu screen to pop up. Don’t know what I did differently to get those two recipes to show the pin button.
Oh, well. Just the same, the recipes you post still look very delicious.
Curious as to why you have a link to pinterest (and I follow you), but then don’t have a pin button of any sort so that we can pin your posts. Seems like it defeats the purpose of following you.
I only have internet access through my cell phone and the pinterest app they have always crashes my phone, so it’s useless for pinning on sites where there is no pin button.
Would love to have the ability to pin your recipes.Will you add a pin button and then I can pin you directly?
Thanks!
Hi Darlene! If you hover over pictures, a “pin it” button should appear so you can share the posts. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m new to the baking scene and was wondering if I could make the dough in a bread machine on the dough setting, and then bake it per the recipe’s instructions? Also, how long should I bake it and at what temperature, if I put the dough in a 9×13 glass pan instead of two 9×9 pans? Thanks for your help!
Hi Tiffany! If your machine doesn’t have the rise, then yes you can do that. The bread only has one rise in this recipe, and it needs to be in the pan. To bake for one 9×13, the bake time should be roughly the same, maybe adding just a few minutes more? But it wasn’t a significant difference when I tested a larger batch. 🙂
Is it better to let the dough rise in the ice box over night ?
Hi John! I’ve never tried that before, but I’m sure it could work. Don’t be surprised though if the rise is pretty significant, since there’s only one rise in the entire recipe. 🙂
I just made this for the first time and used half AP and half white wheat flour. It wasn’t looking promising, so I decided to make another one with all AP flour. Well, they both came out delicious! As a matter of fact, my husband preferred the one with white wheat flour! 🙂
Great news Melissa, on both the loaves coming out nice, and your husband preferring the wheat flour! We really like the combination of partial whole wheat too. Have you tried spelt or kamut before? Delicious grains!
No, I haven’t but I want to! I don’t have a flour mill, and the pre-ground spelt and kamut seem pricey. Any suggestions on where to purchase it for a decent price?
I’d try Whole Foods bulk section. You can get just a pound or two and see if you like them, and see how fast you go through them. It’s much slower since it’s usually in combination with other flours. 🙂
Can you freeze this? Would you freeze it before or after baking? It looks yummy!
Yes, you can Amy! I would freeze after baking. I’ve frozen muffin batter, but not dough.
Thanks!
What about using white wheat flour to avoid using refined white flour? Do you think I would need to add more water?
Jennifer,
I’ve substituted white whole wheat flour for nearly all of the bread recipes for half of the flour listed and haven’t run into any problems yet. If you use all whole wheat flour, try sifting the flour first and possibly adding one tablespoon of vital wheat gluten (only if you have it). Another option would be to use butter instead of the oil (butter helps with the rise too) and let it rise a bit longer. White whole wheat isn’t as fickle as regular whole wheat, so there’s a really good chance it’ll come out great without any other changes. Please let us know how it turns out if you try it. I’m anxious to see how it would turn out, but I can only eat so much bread at a time, lol! ~Tiffany
Pinning and I absolutely cannot wait to give this a try – especially the jalepeno and cheese version 🙂
Thanks!
Your Focaccia sounds so delicious and it looks wonderful! I love the variations as well. And it is great to free up your mixing bowl 🙂
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
pinned it!! cannot wait to try this.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do Bethany 🙂
Oh my, this looks so comforting!
I would love to have you share this and/or any other recipe of yours at Wednesday Extravaganza – my Link Party with a special something. There is a pretty nice Giveaway going on this week too!
Can’t wait to see you there!
Thanks for the invite!
Visiting from On the Menu Monday. Love these variations–especially the jalapeno cheddar.
Thanks for visiting Michelle – that’s my favorite too!
Looks delicious. Extra points for being able to let the dough rise in your pan.
Thanks Mary Katherine. 🙂