Easy Vegan Focaccia Bread with Tomatoes and Olives
This vegan focaccia bread is easy-to-make and studded with olives, capers, tomatoes, shallots and lots of herbs. Makes for a soft and pillowy bread that's surrounded by crispy edges and can be personalized with your favorite toppings. Serve with soups or pasta dishes, or use to make sandwiches!
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 346kcal
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet of instant yeast about 2 ¼ tsp
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
Italian topping
- 10 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 shallots sliced
- 10 kalamata olives pitted and sliced
- 2 tbsp capers
- 2 tbsp dried Italian herbs or use fresh herbs
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil (optional) or to taste, to spread over focaccia
Instructions
- Combine the flour, yeast and salt. Add the lukewarm water and maple syrup and stir until combined. Once you have a "shaggy" ball of dough, transfer over a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, even longer. The dough should be quite soft and become very smooth (even a little sticky, don't add too much extra flour!).
- FIRST RISE: Transfer the dough back to the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let it rest in a cozy and warm-ish area (not drafty either) for an hour, it should almost double in size.
- SECOND RISE: Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the ball of dough over (it will deflate, that's fine). Then, use your hands to spread the dough until it is about ½ inch thick evenly (or about 8 x 12 inch size wide). Then, cover back with the damp towel and let it rest for another hour (or more). It should almost double in thickness or at least get much puffier.
- During that time, pre-heat the oven to 400º et prepare the topping ingredients.
- Once the second rise is done, poke a few holes all the way through the thickness of the dough using your fingers.
- Garnish with sliced shallots, sliced cherry tomatoes, olives and capers. Then, drizzle with olive oil (if using) and sprinkle some dried Italian herbs and coarse sea salt.
- Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with a side of tomato/pizza sauce for dipping or serve with soups and pasta dishes. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Storage: this focaccia is best when just baked and still a little warm, but also makes for good leftovers. Keep in an air-tight container for up 3 days.
- You can also use a combination of 2 cups of all-purpose flour + 1 ¾ cups of whole wheat flour. It makes for a denser focaccia, but still very good.
- Use any toppings you like! Try artichokes, green olives, crushed garlic and red onion.
- Feel free to add extra rising time to help your dough get fluffy and thicker. Sometimes I'll also let the dough rest a little more just after adding my toppings to allow the focaccia to get puffier.
- I use a regular baking sheet to make focaccia, which gives me a thinner kind of bread, but you can use other baking dishes: pie plate (divide the dough in between 2 x 9 inches plate) or 9 x 13 inches rimmed baking dish. I even saw some focaccia made in a cast-iron pan! In any cases, cover your dish first with parchment paper (or grease with olive oil before adding the dough).
- Adjust cooking time depending on your oven and the thickness of your focaccia. If you use a baking dish that allows your dough to rise higher and spread out less, like a rimmed baking dish, then you might need to cook it for a few extra minutes.
- Nutrition: please note that the nutritional information is an estimate per serving provided for informational purposes only (calculated by software) and accuracy is not guaranteed. Consult with your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if you need precise nutrition calculations for health reasons.
Nutrition
Calories: 346kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 572mg | Potassium: 201mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 199IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 5mg