Rosemary Garlic Focaccia | How To Make Italian Focaccia Bread

Rosemary Garlic Focaccia is a vegan, easy-to-make, flavorful, soft and fluffy flat oven-baked Italian bread recipe topped with fresh rosemary, garlic, and olive oil.

What is focaccia?

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread or thick pizza bread (pizza Bianca), where the dough is flavored with olive oil and topped with fresh herbs like rosemary.

What to eat with focaccia bread?

Focaccia bread can be served with a bowl of soup, salad, pasta, or can also be used as sandwich bread, side for any meal, or base for your pizza. It also tastes great with pesto and mashed potatoes.

I like to toast it and make a sandwich for a mid-day snack or light meal.

What are good toppings for focaccia?

My favorite toppings for focaccia include garlic and rosemary and sometimes parmesan cheese. You can add roasted onions, roasted tomatoes, pesto, olives, anchovies, red peppers, crushed black pepper, etc. Just before serving, finish it with a drizzle of olive oil.

Some of the popular varieties or flavor combination for focaccia includes

• Red onion and rosemary focaccia
• Sourdough focaccia
• Asparagus focaccia
• Sun-dried tomato and olive focaccia
• Pesto and mozzarella cheese
• Artichoke focaccia
• Caramelized mushroom and onion focaccia

And you can also be creative and bake decorative focaccia or focaccia bread art

• Spring focaccia bread where you top focaccia with spring veggies like bell peppers, jalapeno, chives, cherry tomatoes, and capers.
• Summer focaccia bread with summer veggies like squash, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs like rosemary, basil, and garlic.

My baking story

Focaccia is one of the first bread that I learned to bake and the first bread that I baked for my husband as a surprise. This was several years ago. He just complimented saying, you have mastered even baking and you are now a chef 🙂 🙂

I cannot explain how nervous I was right from activating the yeast, to kneading dough, turning on the oven, and baking. It may sound strange to you but for a girl like me who is totally new to this baking world, oven, etc., this was truly an achievement 🙂

He also had a surprise planned for me, a long road trip to Gatlinburg, TN, and then on to Myrtle Beach, SC which was one of the most thrilling and memorable trips we have had. And we took this bread on our journey. I still remember how we enjoyed every single bite of it.

Ingredients for best rosemary garlic focaccia

1 ⅓ cup warm Water
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast (1 packet)
3 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup Olive oil
5 to 7 Garlic cloves, finely chopped (adjust to taste)
1 to 2 tablespoon Rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Salt

How to make Vegan Rosemary Garlic Focaccia bread

Step I Prepare garlic and herb-infused olive oil for extra flavor

• In a small pan, add olive oil,  garlic, rosemary, and warm it up until the oil starts to bubble around the garlic, stirring it occasionally. You do not have to brown the garlic. This is done only to give extra flavor to the oil. Keep it aside and let it cool.
• In a kitchen aid bowl or a regular bowl, add water, sugar, and yeast. Cover it and keep it aside for 5 to 10 minutes so the yeast activates.

Step II Prepare focaccia dough

• Once the yeast activates, add half the amount of flour, salt and knead on medium speed for 2 mins or stir using a wooden spoon or spatula until flour has moistened. If you do not have a kitchen aid mixer, you can also knead by hand.
• Add the remaining amount of flour and half portion of flavored oil (⅓ cup), and knead on medium speed or by hand on a floured working surface for 8 to 10 minutes or until elastic and soft.
• Transfer this to a greased bowl. Cover and keep it in a warm place for 1 hour.

Step III Shape the dough

• Take a 9 x 13-inch pan, add 2 to 3 tablespoon of flavored oil, and spread this oil over the base and along the sides of the tray.
• Transfer the dough to this baking pan and start pressing with your hands till the dough fits the baking pan. Continue pressing till it fits the pan. Now using your fingers, make the impressions or dots all over the dough. That is, using your fingers just press down all the way through the dough.
• Apply the remaining flavored oil on the top. Let the dough rise for 30 to 40 mins in a warm place.

Step IV Bake focaccia

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Bake for 25 to 27 minutes or until the underside is golden brown in color and crisp.
• Transfer the focaccia to a cooling rack. Allow it to cool down completely.
• Rosemary Garlic Focaccia is now ready. Serve and enjoy.

Tips and FAQ:

If you like the mild flavor of garlic, reduce the amount of garlic in the recipe.
Use any herb of your choice or a combination of herbs.
I have used fresh rosemary. You can substitute it with 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary.
For best results, use good quality olive oil.

How to store leftover focaccia?

Focaccia can be kept at room temperature for 2 days in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for a week, and in the freezer (cut in pieces separated by parchment paper in resealable plastic bags) for up to 1 month.

Focaccia Sandwich

• Cut a piece of focaccia bread into two slices. Toast these two bread slices with olive oil or butter.
• Spread basil pesto or tomato pesto or schezwan sauce on both or 1 of the bread slices.
• Add tomatoes, onions, or any veggies of your choice with fresh herbs like basil, parsley, or cilantro on one slice.
• Sprinkle some cheese like parmesan if desired. Top with another bread slice.

Detailed recipe for Best & Easy Vegan Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread | Focaccia Sandwich

Recipe card

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