Vegan Grape Tomato & Broccoli Focaccia
Focaccia - a traditional Italian bread. Put a little bit of elbow grease in the night before you bake it, throw it in the fridge overnight, and toss it in the oven the next morning with your favourite toppings. In our case, we use grape and cherry tomatoes, as well as broccoli, and chili oil. Totally vegan, totally delicious.
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Introduction
Similar to pizza, focaccia is great because you can use whichever toppings you’d like. While this recipe uses tomatoes, broccoli, oregano, and chili oil, you could try:
Caramelized Onion and Pear
Garlic & Rosemary
Pesto
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Roasted Red Peppers
Mushrooms
Olives & Artichokes
There are a ton of great options, so mix and match. Find your favourites. Focaccia is so easy to make that you can do it loads of times without breaking a sweat, and you’ll never get tired of eating it - you can take my word for that.
This recipe is definitely easier if you have a stand mixer, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have one. The trick is to simply double the time it takes for the stand mixer to “knead” something if you’re doing it by hand. For example, if it takes a hand mixer 5 minutes to complete a part of the recipe, throw on a couple of songs, set a timer, and go to town for a bit.
As it turns out, the classic cartoon dramatization of a pie in the window holds true for focaccia straight out of the oven. As whiffs of fresh baked bread slowly, the secret to this recipe is to take as much as you can while it lasts, because it will be gone before you know it. Otherwise, a lock and key is highly recommended, but you can always substitute some sort of distraction, which will buy you some time. Hold tight to your portion, find a good hiding spot, and keep an eye out.
The real secret to this dish is to work your dough well, and measure accurately. The old expression holds true - cooking is an art, baking is a science. Follow the instructions to a tee, add your ingredients with confidence, and reap the rewards of your hard work the next day.
Check out the Spruce it Up section for ideas on how to take this recipe to the next level.
Before we Get Started
Prep Time: 15 Hours
Only 30 mins active prep time, the other 14.5 hours are resting!
Cook Time: 23 Minutes
Total Time: 15 Hours, 23 Minutes
Yield: 24 Slices
Ingredients
1/2 head of Broccoli
Cherry Tomatoes
Grape Tomatoes
4.5 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. White Sugar
2 1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
If you have individual packets, use 1 packet.
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Plus another 2 tbsp. for the chili oil. (A total of 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. oil for the whole recipe).
1 2/3 cups Warm Water
Not boiling, just warm.
2 tsp. Kosher Salt
Fine salt works as well, but use kosher if you have it.
1 clove garlic.
1 tsp. Red Chili Flakes
1 tsp. Oregano
Method
This recipe is an adaptation of the focaccia recipe from:
The Best, Easiest Focaccia Bread Recipe @ Alexandracooks.com
Put your warm water and sugar into a bowl, as well as your yeast, and mix together until combined. Cover it with a towel, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
When you take the towel off, it should be slightly foaming on the surface.
Pour the combination into your mixing bowl, and set it under the mixing stand. On low speed, add your olive oil and salt, and 1 cup of flour. Mix for about 30 seconds.
Mixing it for a little with only a small amount of flour prevents clumping.
After the 30 seconds, add the remaining 3.5 cups of flour, and continue to mix over low speed for 2.5 minutes.
Flour an area of your counter top, and put a bit of flour on your hands. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, and knead for an additional 4-5 minutes.
To check if your dough is ready to be put in the fridge, give it a light poke with your finger. It should spring back slowly. If it doesn’t, knead for another couple of minutes.
If your dough is sticking, add a bit more flour to your counter top and hands.
Grab a bowl, and drizzle a tiny bit of oil inside. Use your hands to spread the oil around the bowl, and put the dough inside. Move the dough about to ensure that all of the sides are coated with oil. Wrap the bowl with cling film, and then put it in a dry, warm-ish area for 2.5 hours.
The oil stops the dough from sticking to the bowl.
A great place to put your dough while it’s rising is in the microwave.
Don’t turn it on, of course.
Oil a baking tray to grease it up, just like we did with the bowl. After the 2.5 hours is up, grab your dough, and punch it.
For real, do your best Mike Tyson and give it a good punch. It gets all of the air bubbles out.
Put your dough onto your greased baking tray, and spread it out to the corners as well as you can. Put a kitchen towel over top of it for another five minutes. Then, remove the towel, and push it further to the corners again.
Placing a towel over it a second time allows the gluten to settle, making the dough easier to spread.
Wrap the tray tightly with cling film, and put in the fridge overnight.
Aim for 12-24 hours, but you can let it rest for as little as an hour if you’re in a hurry.
After letting it rest in the fridge overnight, pull it out and preheat the oven to 450°F.
While your oven is preheating, chop up your broccoli into small pieces, and halve your grape and cherry tomatoes.
Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a small bowl. Finely dice a clove of garlic, and add to the bowl, along with your oregano and red chili flakes. Mix together well, and pour over the dough. Using your hands or a pastry brush, try to cover as much of the dough as you can with the oil.
Press your fingers lightly into and all over the dough, then place your toppings on top. Give them a bit of a push into the dough to secure them in place.
Pressing your fingers into the dough is called “dimpling”, and gives the focaccia its iconic look.
Once the oven is preheated, put your dough into the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy.
Spruce it Up
Try out different toppings on your focaccia. Alternatively, go for a classic focaccia, and just used an oil and herb topping over top. Rosemary and thyme work great.
For a particularly lavish sandwich, slice a piece of your focaccia in half (lengthwise) and use each piece as your top and bottom piece of bread. Fill with your favourite toppings.
Use a circular, cast iron pan to achieve a different shape of loaf.