Make your own Focaccia Bread quickly and easily using frozen store bought pizza dough. Serve it warm from the oven with some good olive oil and balsamic as an appetizer or party snack.
You can certainly make this with homemade pizza dough. I do make my own pizza dough because I feel the store bought dough is a little too thick with a bit of a sweet taste. But it’s perfect for Focaccia! So for those of you who love homemade bread but have told me you wouldn’t ever make it, this one’s for you!
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A basic pizza dough is the perfect size for a quarter sheet pan, about 9 x 12 inches. If you don’t have one that small you could use a shallow baking dish. Or free style it on a larger sheet pan. The trick is to make sure the dough is completely thawed and warmed to room temperature before trying to stretch it out. It’s much easier to work with.
While you’re waiting for the dough to warm up, get your toppings ready. Caramelizing onion in lots of olive oil will mellow it out and sweeten it up. Take care not to let the onion get brown, just a nice golden colour. Add some thin slices of garlic when the onions are just about done. Again, you don’t want the garlic to brown either. The onion and garlic will get toasty on top of the bread while it bakes.
Fresh herbs are amazing on Easy Focaccia Bread. I like the combination of rosemary and thyme but feel free to use any herbs you like. Rinse and pick the leaves off the rosemary branches. To remove the tiny leaves from thyme, hold the sprig at the top with one hand and pull downwards with your other hand, the leaves will come off easily.
Once the dough is room temperature, stretch it out onto the pan. You can use a rolling pin or form it by stretching and pressing. It doesn’t have to look perfect. In fact, since Focaccia is a rustic bread it shouldn’t look too uniform. Most frozen pizza dough that I’ve worked with doesn’t really need flour to shape it. A little olive oil on your hands will help. And a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet means you can lift it right out of the pan when it’s done. If you don’t have parchment just use a little drizzle of olive oil and smear it on the pan.
Now the fun part. Make lots of indents in the dough with your fingers. Don’t be gentle, get right in there. The indents are there for 2 reasons. First, they help the bread stay evenly thick. But best of all, the oil and herbs pool in there for maximum tastiness! It sounds like a lot of olive oil but trust me, it’s the right amount.
Spread the warm caramelized onion and garlic mixture, including the oil from the pan over the top of the dough. Make more indents and make sure to really press the onions and garlic into the dough so it doesn’t just sit on top. Drizzle the rest of the oil evenly over top. Then scatter your fresh herbs and finish with a few grinds of course salt.
A little trick I learned from Jamie Oliver is to let the Focaccia sit for about 30 minutes before baking. It allows the dough to rest and rise a bit more, and also some of the olive oil will start to absorb into the dough. It’s hard to wait for this step because it already smells good with all that onion and garlic.
After 30 minutes, bake the Focaccia Bread in the centre of a preheated oven. In about 20 – 25 minutes the bread will be golden brown on top and the onions and garlic will be dark and caramelized. And your kitchen will smell amazing. But you have to wait again. This time not as long.
You can lift the focaccia from the pan after about 5 minutes. If you didn’t use parchment you might need to “help” it by running a knife around the edge if there are any places where it’s stuck.
Cut it into pieces and serve Easy Focaccia Bread with some good olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.
Focaccia Bread freezes well. Take it out of the freezer at least few hours before you want to serve it and reheat it in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
If you make Easy Focaccia Bread, consider leaving a comment or rating below. Here’s the recipe:
Easy Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
- 1 737 g frozen pizza dough
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 branches fresh rosemary
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil for sauteeing onions and drizzling
- course salt
Dipping Sauce
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- dried or fresh herbs
Instructions
- Allow pizza dough to completely thaw and warm to room temperature.
- Slice onion into strips and saute gently using half of the olive oil.
- Peel and thinly slice garlic and add to onions when they are golden and soft.
- Spread pizza dough evenly onto a parchment lined 9 x 12 inch sheet pan. Press fingers into dough all over to create indents. Spread onion and garlic mixture evenly over top and press into dough. Drizzle remaining olive oil over top and spread to edges.
- Pick leaves from rosemary and thyme and sprinkle over top of dough. Add ground course salt generously. Rest focaccia for 30 minutes.
- Bake at 400 degrees in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the herbs are crispy.
- Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.Serve with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping if desired.