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Yummy for breakfast, perfect for a share and tear meal, ideal to bake ahead of time and freeze—yes, that’s right, I’m talking about focaccia. It’s great bread. I savor the flavors of a powerfully full focaccia, because for me it’s all about the toppers.
What goes on and into the focaccia is everything in this bread. It’s the fillers that give you more nutrients and turn it into a dish and not just a piece of a crusty white loaf. See what I’m talking about with these couple dozen focaccia bread recipes.
Start with the traditional and classic focaccia, and learn about the regional Italian recipes from Genoa, where it all began with this textured and somewhat holy cake-like savory bread.
1. Starting With Regional Specialties: A Traditional Ligurian Focaccia Bread Recipe
The first recipe in this roundup for the 12th-century focaccia is the Ligurian focaccia bread. This recipe is the traditional gold standard for Italian focaccia bread. It is also referred to as a focaccia al olio.
You may also have heard the Ligurian focaccia being called a fugassa if someone from Genoa is talking about the bread. The name focaccia is a combination of “fire” and “a flatbread baked on coals.” The classic recipe does not call for any vegetable or herb, but you will need some malt for a more traditional sweet flavor.
2. A City Specialty: A Focaccia di Genova Bread Recipe
Since focaccia hails from the Italian region of Liguria and the capital city of Genoa, it is only fitting that I mention the focaccia bread recipes from Genova. However, it should be noted that in the city, the bakers do add stuff to their focaccia.
The focaccia alla genovese with onions optional is a lot greasier and less crunchy than the traditional plain Ligurian focaccia.
3. The New York Version: Classic Focaccia Bread by Bon Appetit
Now let’s see how the Americanization of focaccia changes the bread with Bon Appetit’s version of a classic focaccia bread recipe. They keep it simple, surprisingly, and do not go gourmet! A tip from the staff is to use a clean half sheet pan to make the bread.
Anything with sugar or grease will likely cause the dough to stick to the pan. You want the focaccia to break loose and rise up instead!
4. Now for Another Authentic Italian Focaccia Bread Recipe
It’s all about the dimpling—that’s the key to a great and authentic Italian focaccia bread, the dimples. These are the little divots that are pressed throughout a flat focaccia loaf. So how do they do that? The dimpling, I mean?
All you do is press your fingertips into the focaccia dough when it is in the pan and readily proofed after the second rise. This informative and photo-filled recipe gets to the heart of handling this interesting flatbread dough.
5. Travel to Neighboring Tuscany With a Tuscan Focaccia Bread Recipe
Tuscany is a region of Italy just east of Liguria and 60 miles from the city of Genoa. Tuscany and Liguria share the southern border with the Ligurian Sea. As these regions are also located in the same time zone, their focaccia bread recipes do have similar identities.
First of all, in Tuscany, they call this bread schiacciata and the recipe uses no malt, honey, or other sweetener. The Tuscan focaccia bread recipe, however, does use an entire half a cup of extra virgin olive oil plus two tablespoons.
6. A Hop Across the Pond: A Focaccia Bread Recipe from the UK
While not quite Italy, there is something to be said for the focaccia bread from the UK. Discover London focaccia by BBC Good Food calls for using strong bread flour and rosemary. Before baking, push tiny sprigs of the fresh herb into the dimples of this dough and let it bake for a unique finish and flavor.
This recipe also avoids using sweeteners, such as malt or honey, to flavor for a more savory bread.
7. Enter the Herbs With Fresh Herbed Focaccia Bread by Better Homes & Gardens
Now, let us venture into the greener side of focaccia with some flavorings and fillers including a herbed focaccia bread. This Better Homes & Gardens recipe uses a plethora of fresh herbs including Italian parsley, oregano, thyme, and basil. Also, there’s the addition of four cloves of garlic.
That’s going to really bump up the flavor profile on this focaccia! No use of malt or sugar, by the way, not even a little drizzle of honey to top it. There is also a minimal amount of olive oil—only three tablespoons.
This is a surprise considering olive oil is a key component, and a heavily handed amount of oil at that, in the traditional focaccia.
8. A Very Sweet Kind of Focaccia Bread With Honey by Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver has come out with a recipe that deftly includes honey as a sweetener. Honey goes into the dough as the yeasty mix rises overnight. Then the honey is used again in the end to drizzle over the freshly baked and sliced bread.
This is a great go-to sweet focaccia bread recipe if you are looking for something to pair with fish or fruit.
9. Leite’s Culinaria Presents Focaccia With Olives and Rosemary
Avoiding the honey or malt of the traditional focaccia is this focaccia with olives and rosemary. The recipe involves using halved or whole olives and fresh finely chopped rosemary. This differs from sticking the entire sprig into the pre-baked dough.
However, the finished product results in a more uniform rosemary flavor. I am wondering why some bakers refuse to sweeten the focaccia, when the traditional Italian focaccia uses malt or honey.
10. Epicurious Presents the March 2002 Issue: Rosemary Focaccia Bread Recipe
We are entering 2022 and this recipe was published in their March 2002 and August 2004 issues. So, I wanted to see what Epicurious was doing with their focaccia 20 years ago. They use unbleached all-purpose flour, a type of flour that is not referenced much these days.
It’s either whole wheat or white when I shop for baking flour. Also, they are not using the honey or malt again for a sweetening agent, and only use a single tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary. Is this enough to flavor an entire sheet pan of focaccia? You be the judge!
11. What is a Tomato Focaccia but a Barese? Recipe by a 97-Year-Old Nonna
If you are not aware, a nonna is an Italian grandmother and this is a recipe for focaccia barese by a 97-year-old nonna named Carmela. Along with the recipe is a wonderfully delightful story about focaccia and Italian grandmothers. The recipe features 15 cherry tomatoes specifically.
I do not know what would happen if you used, say, 14 cherry tomatoes. This may actually be what makes the barese part of the focaccia! It actually is—a barese is a focaccia filled with tomatoes.
12. See What the Milk Street Tomato Focaccia Bread Recipe Looks Like
Here is another focaccia that I swear is not actually a focaccia. They add tomatoes, which automatically makes this bread a focaccia a barese, so that’s the first issue. Also, it’s got olives and looks just like a large tomato sauce covered pizza.
Do they add cheese, too? It sort of seems like this is more of a pizza, but as long as it starts with a dimpled dough, I guess we are good to go!
13. Scaring Away the Vampires With Roasted Garlic Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Here the biggest addition we have going into the focaccia is roasted garlic. You need up to a quarter of a cup of roasted garlic sliced to put into this dough. Do this at home or buy ready to use roasted garlic to save time.
I will say I am happy to see that, while honey and malt are omitted, the recipe calls for using two teaspoons of sugar. The sugar or honey helps add a sweet flavor, but it is also important as a browning agent.
14. Toppers of All Toppers! A Tomato Herb Focaccia Recipe
A recipe for tomato herb focaccia borders on being another version of focaccia called focaccia barese, which I will come to later here in the roundup. The result is almost a pizza, in my opinion, and with the use of cheese, it could easily become a deep dish pie. However, they do not use cheese and instead require the use of six to eight Roma tomatoes.
They also use ice-cold water to form their yeast base, which is interesting since I always use 110 degrees F water for a yeast starter. They do recommend using a mother yeast or yeast starter, if you have one that you have as a go to.
15. Focaccia to the Next Level With a Focaccia Bread Art Recipe
Focaccia bread art is the most exciting way to use food as a canvas. Typically, I find recipes showing how to make focaccia bread art in landscape scenes or close up of flowers. For instance, this recipe features fresh vegetables and herbs in the illustration of a flower patch.
The use of onions sliced thinly and still in rings is made to look like butterflies or other winged insects. This is a great way to get younger kids excited about eating their vegetables and herbs, and to introduce the family to new flavors.
16. Continuing With the Art Theme: A Decorative Focaccia Bread Recipe
Also exciting is this decorative focaccia bread recipe. It uses pine nuts, Kalamata olives, mini bell peppers, roasted red peppers, pickled asparagus, and cherry tomatoes for the decorations. However, the design is up to you and the sky is the limit.
Once baked, this finished tray of bread and veg is ready to serve for a feast or party. This decorative focaccia bread looks best before it is in slices, of course, so prepare to take a serrated cutting knife if you are going to a potluck.
17. Going All In for Artistic Expression With Garden Focaccia Bread
The next recipe we have for a decorative focaccia is this garden focaccia bread recipe featured in the Racheal Ray Show. It was by Chef Ronnie Woo, who shows you how to make birds and more intricate shapes using the vegetables and herbs. For example, he makes a phoenix bird using red onion, lemon, scallions, and bell peppers.
The finished product is quite the showstopper! It would also be a great submission for a county or state fair bread baking competition.
18. Back to Basics With Bon Appetit’s No Knead Focaccia Bread
Now we are switching lanes for some focaccia that is very much not at all the decorative kind. OK, so surprise, surprise! You really don’t even have to knead the dough when making focaccia bread.
That makes this a perfect overnight work-free recipe. Simply stir the ingredients together, starting with two teaspoons of honey, and let the air do the magic. They add two to four cloves of garlic for added flavor, but these could easily be omitted for a basic no-knead focaccia bread recipe.
19. Should You Require a Bread Machine: A Focaccia Bread Recipe With a Bread Machine
This is a recipe for focaccia that lends its kneading to the mechanisms of a bread machine. If you have a bread machine and want to do a kneaded focaccia, then it’s really quite easy. The biggest differences are just a lack of honey and the use of lukewarm water where some recipes call for cold water.
All that is needed, so to speak, is pouring the ingredients into the bread machine and pushing the start button. When the dough has kneaded, add the dough to a bread pan and dimple it well before baking. Now, I never had a bread machine in my life, so I can’t tell you if you are supposed to bake the bread in the bread machine, but I thought that’s the way it works.
20. A Quicker Focaccia Bread Recipe by Taste of Home
Taste of Home comes along with their version of a quick focaccia bread that is done—and I do mean baked—within 30 minutes. That’s very fast compared to the overnight no-knead focaccia. I will say I am surprised the recipe uses frozen bread dough.
This is a very fast recipe indeed, and it’s semi-homemade. Using olives stuffed with pimentos and Colby-Monterey Jack and Parmesan cheeses also increases the flavor component tremendously. Along with being quick to the table, it’s full of ingredients to make this focaccia a family meal.
21. Using Cast Iron for Simple Focaccia in a Skillet
This is pretty much a no-knead focaccia recipe, which puts it on par with being simple enough a baby could do it. In their sleep, sucking on a bottle. OK, maybe that’s a little iffy, but this dough is super easy to make.
After letting the no-knead dough rest and rise for three hours, you heat up a cast iron skillet greased well with butter and olive oil. The dough plops right in the hot skillet and goes right back in the oven for a baked round focaccia. It might not be shaped like a sheet pan, but this focaccia is easier than baking an apple pie.
22. Now for Bread Varieties: A Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread Recipe
The Gluten-Free Focaccia recipe by King Arthur Baking Company takes two hours and 20 minutes from start to finish. It also uses the company’s own gluten-free all-purpose flour, which is highly recommended here for the best end results. You also need buttermilk or nonfat dry milk powder, which I actually have in my pantry.
Both, in fact, and I recommend you do the same! Buttermilk powder is a secret ingredient in my “camping creamer,” which I make to take on camping trips.
23. All Ingredient Guidelines a Go: A Dietary Keto Focaccia Bread Recipe
The focaccia bread recipe calls for using mozzarella cheese, white wine vinegar, almond flour, egg, and Erthritol. Not one of these ingredients is on the typical focaccia list, so prepare yourself. Then again, if you are keto, you already have these most likely in stock.
24. How Do You Spell That Again: A Spelt Focaccia Bread Recipe
The spelt focaccia is an interesting spin to take on this otherwise pretty standard bread. The use of spelt flour is considered to be more digestible for individuals who are wheat or gluten sensitive. While this is not a gluten-free focaccia recipe, the ancient grain of spelt is reported to have more nutrients than typical whole wheat flour.
25. But What About Veganized: A Vegan Focaccia Bread Recipe
Basically, for the vegan version of focaccia bread, I remember to omit the honey. It’s otherwise an already vegan bread recipe. The toppers should also be vegan, as this recipe suggests, and can include vegetables and herbs.
Avoiding dairy cheese is a must for this focaccia bread recipe.
26. Finally, for the Thin Crust Fans: Focaccia Di Recco
And to end this recipe roundup, I have a very interesting version of a focaccia that is not quite the thick focaccia of all these other traditional focaccia recipes. This is a thin bread focaccia that is more like a crisp cracker by that celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis. It’s also filled with Taleggio, brie, or camembert cheese.
Focaccia di Recco is a great type of focaccia to try and to include in a focaccia platter or bread board.