The Best (Easy!) Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia Recipe

4.86 from 7 votes

The Best (Easy!) Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia Recipe

Let me tell you, this Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia recipe is a delight! It’s satisfyingly chewy, terrifically tender, studded with salty-umami fruit, and flecked with crunchy bits of sea salt for a true explosion of flavor. Best of all, this simple recipe is easy enough for even a self-proclaimed bread-making novice!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Proofing/Resting Time1 4

Total Time1 4 50

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: Slices

Calories: 284kcal

Author: Emily Laurae

Equipment

Ingredients

Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Focaccia

2 ¼ teaspoons Active dry yeast
2 ½ cups Lukewarm water
2 teaspoons Honey
5 cups Bread flour
1 ½ tablespoons Kosher salt
¼ cup Extra-virgin olive oil divided
2 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil to coat the baking pan
2 Tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil to add to the top of focaccia pre bake
½ cup Sun dried tomatoes roughly chopped
½ cup Castelvetrano olives pitted & roughly chopped

Final post-bake toppings

Sundried tomato oil or extra virgin olive oil for brushing on top of the focaccia - post bake
Pinch Flaky sea salt
3 tablespoons Freshly grated parmesan

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In your mixing bowl, add yeast, honey and warm water, whisking well until combined.
2 ¼ teaspoons Active dry yeast, 2 ½ cups Lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons Honey
Next, after 5-7 minutes once you start to see activity and bubbles rising to the surface of the mixture, add your bread flour and salt.
5 cups Bread flour, 1 ½ tablespoons Kosher salt
With a silicone spatula, mix your dough in a scooping motion, until it's all combined and mixed together and all clumps are removed.
In a separate big bowl, add in about ¼th cup olive oil, add in your dough, and gently turn your dough to coat in oil. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
¼ cup Extra-virgin olive oil
Grease a 9x13 baking pan a few tablespoons of olive oil. Then, gently pour your risen dough into the baking pan. Place in a rather warm area (ideally 80 degrees) of your home and allow it to rise for 4 hours uncovered.
2 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil
Once your dough has fully risen and has really spread to all sides of your pan, drizzle with the remaining olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and wet your fingers with water. Take your fingers and dimple the dough gently - creating little holes all across your dough making sure not to puncture all the way through! Then, top with olives, placed evenly on top of the focaccia.
2 Tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil
At this point, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place your focaccia dough in the oven and bake for 20 minutes - then scatter the sun dried tomatoes on top and bake for an additional 6-10 minutes. Adding the sun dried tomatoes later in the baking process prevents them from getting too crispy/burnt too quickly! If your focaccia dough is browning quite quickly, you can always add foil to the top of your pan to prevent further browning.
½ cup Castelvetrano olives, ½ cup Sun dried tomatoes
Remove the focaccia from the oven and gently remove it from the pan with tongs or a large spatula and placing it on a cooling rack. If the bread sits in the baking pan for too long, the bottom of the focaccia will start to soften due to condensation so make sure to allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack so that its crispy crust remains crispy!
Brush with sun dried tomato oil, top with flaky sea salt and freshly grated parmesan, and cut into squares with a bread knife once cooled
Sundried tomato oil or extra virgin olive oil, Pinch Flaky sea salt, 3 tablespoons Freshly grated parmesan

Video

Notes

Recipe adapted from Bonappetit & Claire Saffitz

FAQs

How do I know if the dough has fully risen? Knowing when your dough has properly risen is the biggest hurdle to ensuring a perfect loaf of bread. Luckily, this is a pretty easy step! Using a knuckle, poke your dough like you’re trying to get its attention. If it springs back super fast, it needs more time to rise. If it slowly pops back into place, it’s perfect. If it doesn’t pop back at all, the dough is over-proofed.
How should I serve focaccia? What should I serve it with? I’m a huge fan of serving up a slice of focaccia and enjoying it by itself, but it will also serve you well as sandwich bread, as a side to your favorite meal, or thinly sliced and toasted as crostini.
Can I make this recipe vegan? Absolutely! The honey in this recipe acts as a food for the yeast. Feel free to swap in agave nectar, maple syrup, or even table sugar in its place.
Should I use bagged sun dried tomatoes or the kind in a jar with olive oil? I personally am a fan of the sun dried tomatoes that come in a jar packed with olive oil. They are not only more tender and delicious, but they come with a bonus: tomato scented oil!
Can I use a different kind of olive? Castelvetrano olives are my favorite snacking olive because they are super mild and almost buttery. With an acid green hue, they also look stunning next to the tomatoes. If you opt for a different type of olive, you may want to pare down the amount that you use. Varieties like kalamata or manzanilla are generally much saltier, so be sure to use a gentle hand with them.

Nutrition