It only takes a few minutes to load the ingredients for this Bread Machine Focaccia in your bread maker. Then you can spend a bit more time having fun with the toppings if you like.
It makes a finer crumb than the traditional focaccia so it is almost like a flatbread. I was fine with that because I just wanted to use it as a vehicle to scoop up this Tzatziki and Curried Grilled Tomato Spread!
My dough cycle takes about 90 minutes so I just put in my liquids, dry ingredients and topped with yeast and let it go. Then I spent a few minutes laying out the 'landscape' design on a cutting board. You could do it directly on the dough just before baking but since I had not done it before I wanted to be able to play with it a bit.
I transferred my final design with tweezers when I was ready to bake.
Chef's Tips for Bread Machine Focaccia
- This recipe makes two 10" focaccias or 1 rectangle about 9 X 12". The recipe calls to roll the dough. If you are doing 2 rounds you can shape it by prodding it with your fingers. The rectangle will need to be rolled but try to use light, quick rolls so you don't flatten out all the air. It may look flat when it goes in the oven but it will double in height easily while baking.
- If you are using two pans you will want to switch them out half way through the baking.
- As for the toppings - I used caramelized onions that I had on hand already. Raw onions will not cook completely through in the short bake time (which may be ok if you want it that way). Scoop the juice and seeds out of the grape tomatoes so they don't make the bread soggy. I sliced the red pepper very thinly so it would soften during the baking.
- Have fun with the design and the toppings you have on hand. I used chives for the flower stems. You could even use asparagus if you want but I would pre-roast it a bit. Think olives, green or black, halves or slices; coloured peppers of any kind.
- If you don't want to make a whole landscape, you can just brush the top with olive oil before putting the dough in the oven and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. You could add some Italian dried herbs to the olive oil if you want just a bit of flavour.
If you want a more rustic crumb then consider this Overnight No Knead Focaccia Bread.
Ingredients
Focaccia
- ½ cup water
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsps sugar
- 1 ½ tsps Quick rising yeast
Toppings
- chive stems
- black olives
- onion vertical slices (mine were already cooked)
- grape tomates seeded
- red pepper thin slices
- coarse sea salt not optional
- olive oil for brushing top not optional
Instructions
- Add ingredients to bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Mine is wet ingredients, dry ingredients and yeast on top. Set to dough cycle.
- When dough cycle is done remove dough. Flour your hands a bit or your work surface lightly. Halve the dough and shape each half into a smooth ball. Roll each out lightly to a 10" round. Place each round on a parchment paper covered pan.
- Use your fingers to poke holes randomly over the dough. Brush the top with olive oil. Arrange your toppings in flower shapes. Sprinkle overall lightly with coarse sea salt.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover the dough and let rise another 25 minutes.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes. If using two pans switch pans from top to bottom racks halfway through baking.
- When focaccia is done allow to cool on wire racks.
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