Focaccia Recipe with Roasted Red Peppers - Cookin' Canuck (2024)

FAQs

Why is my focaccia not crispy? ›

Focaccia Variations

The higher the temperature, the sooner the outside will brown and form a crust. From my experimentation, I noticed higher temperatures with a thinner dough lead to crispier focaccia. On the other hand, lower temperatures with thicker doughs yield a softer crumb.

Benefits for your figure and your health

Rather, focaccia provides complex carbohydrates that slowly give the body energy and help better regulate blood sugar levels,” Schirò explains. If it's made with whole wheat flour then it's got an extra edge. “It provides a greater amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber.

This breakfast focaccia bread has a no-knead dough baked with eggs, bacon & cheese for a flavour-packed brekky or brunch!

Focaccia is perfect to serve alongside soups, pastas, or used as bread for a sandwich. It can be cut into a variety of shapes like squares, long slices, or triangles. Honestly though, this recipe can be enjoyed on it's own, or dipped into a olive oil and balsamic.

Flour - I used a mixture of bread flour and All-purpose flour (high grade or strong and plain if you're not in the US). Bread flour is slightly higher in protein than All-purpose, so gives the focaccia just a little more chew. I love the mix of both, but just AP flour works just fine too!

You can definitely overproof focaccia, but it is difficult. There is so much oil in the dough, and very little sugar, so the yeast is "sleepy" or slow due to both of those elements and less likely to overproof.

So why does it tend to be more expensive to purchase? Friends who have worked in the restaurant industry had some thoughts: Focaccia requires a lot of olive oil, which is pricey (though some other breads call for butter and eggs, which pencil out to more in my own Kirkland-brand-olive-oil kitchen).

Sourdough is more nutritious, easier to digest, and has a lower glycemic index. Sourdough also contains less gluten than other bread.

But though pizza can stand in for a meal, focaccia is more of a snack, or at most an appetizer. In Italy, it's a popular walking-around food. Also, though cold pizza may have a certain raffish charm, focaccia really needs to be eaten when it's hot to be at its best.

Focaccia is best served immediately, or within 12 hours of baking. After 12 hours the salt will start to dissolve and absorb into the dough, and the bread will start to dry out and become oily. You can still eat it, it's not harmful, but it won't look as good as it did on that first day.

What can I add to my focaccia? ›

Herbs and garlic are popular toppings, but you can add anything like olives, tomatoes, sesame seeds, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, pesto, caramelized onions, and more. Pizza is a meal, but focaccia can be part of a meal, an appetizer, a soup dipper, a sauce soaker-upper, and even the crust of a sandwich or panini.

Focaccia al rosmarino

It may be served as an antipasto, table bread, or snack. Whole or sliced fresh rosemary leaves may be used, as can dried rosemary. It may be garnished with sprigs of fresh rosemary, after baking, and sprinkled with salt.

Focaccia is this magical bread that is good by itself, with sandwiches or dipped into the traditional oil and vinegar. This time I've paired it with my garlic butter for an indulgent snack that's summer picnic ready (or perfect for the Thanksgiving table).

Avoid particularly wet things

Big and wet tomatoes will cook up releasing a ton of juice making for soggy pappy areas in your focaccia. Think about what you are adding on the top and if they release a lot of water if they were to be roasted, after all, that is pretty much what's happening on top of a focaccia.

If your crust is becoming soft too quickly and not staying crispy you simply need to bake the bread longer. The best way to do this is to lower the temperature of your oven slightly and bake a few more minutes to achieve the same color you would have at the higher temperature.

Bake on a pizza stone or steel.

The best way to brown and crisp your bread's bottom crust – as well as enhance its rise – is to bake it on a preheated pizza stone or baking steel. The stone or steel, super-hot from your oven's heat, delivers a jolt of that heat to the loaf, causing it to rise quickly.