Roasted Tomato Focaccia Bread
A flavorful, chewy, and soft focaccia bread topped with oven-roasted tomatoes and fresh thyme.
This was the first summer in many years that I haven’t planted a garden. With our big move and new addition, I just didn’t want to spend the time or energy building a garden from scratch at our new house. It didn’t turn out to be that big of a deal, pretty much everything I’d want I could get from our local farmers market, and all without having to do any weeding.
However, I have really missed the overabundance of tomatoes my garden usually has right about now. This time last year I think I had a daily harvest of cherry tomatoes to feed the whole neighborhood.
And even though I have to pick up my tomatoes from the market and not my backyard, I’m making them while they’re in season.
This focaccia bread combines two of my favorite things— carbs and oven roasted tomatoes. The bread dough is pretty standard (and very similar to this rosemary parmesan focaccia from a few years back), but with a little fresh thyme mixed in. Then before baking, the surface is dimpled, brushed with olive oil and studded with fresh tomatoes. A sprinkling of more thyme and coarse salt finishes it off. In the oven the tomatoes dry out, concentrating their flavor and making them completely irresistible.
This roasted tomato focaccia bread is the perfect side dish, snack, and even the start to a really great sandwich. If you’ve got a surplus of garden tomatoes or just love them as much as I do, this is a recipe you’ve got to try before the season is up!
baking tip:Why does yeast dough need to rise?
Letting dough made with yeast “rise”, or rest, gives the yeast time to do its job. Yeast is a living organism which releases carbon dioxide gas as it feeds on the sugars in flour, a process called fermentation. That gas gets trapped in the gluten formed in the dough, causing the dough to expand.
The first rise after kneading (known as bulk fermentation) provides a lot of volume to the dough with large gas bubbles. The second rise after punching down and shaping (known as proofing) redistributes the yeast within the dough to give it more food, causing it to increase in volume even more, but with smaller bubbles that give the the baked bread or rolls a finer texture.
You can test if your dough has risen enough by gently pressing the dough with your finger. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready. If it quickly bounces back, give it more time.
Roasted Tomato Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup water (250 ml)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 - 2 ½ cups bread flour (240-300 grams)
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 packet Red Star Active-Dry Yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme , divided
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes , halved (150 grams)
- Additional olive oil , for brushing
- Coarse salt , for sprinkling
Instructions
- Heat the water and olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to steam. Remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes, or until temperature is 120-130°F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, combine 1 cup of the bread flour with the salt, sugar, yeast and half of the fresh thyme. Add the water mixture and mix until it forms a wet dough, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Add the remaining bread flour 1/4 cup at a time while mixing until dough clears the bowl and is tacky but doesn't stick to your fingers when touched. You may not need all 2 ½ cups flour.
- Knead for 5-7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place bowl in a greased bowl and turn to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Punch down dough and knead a few times to remove air bubbles. Shape dough into a rough 14-inch circle on a sheet pan, cover, and let rise for an additional 15 minutes. Use your fingers to dimple the dough, pressing your fingers all the way down.
- Brush with olive oil and gently press the tomatoes into the top of the dough. Sprinkle with remaining thyme and a heavy pinch of salt.
- Bake at 375°F until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Focaccia is best consumed the day it is made, but will keep well wrapped at room temperature for a few days.
Disclosure: This recipe was developed in partnership with Red Star Yeast. Thank you for supporting partnerships with brands I love and believe in, which make Completely Delicious possible. All opinions are 100% my own, as always.Â
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Made this for Sunday dinner! I dug a corned beef roast out of the chest freezer and my husb wanted bread to go with it, so, ta da! Just a half batch for the two of us, I made it in a cake pan and it was done baking in 15 minutes. DELICIOUS with the little roasted tomatoes and the coarse salt on top. And definitely don’t skip the herbs in the dough. I only have chives growing this year so that’s what I used, but I’ll have to locate some thyme and try it again. Thanks for the excellent, easy recipe.
I love focaccia, what a perfect bread!
You know I would gladly take a couple slices of this bad boy and wash it down with a glass or two of vino. Looks amazing! And how’s that baby doing?
So pretty. And perfect for using up the last of the beautiful little tomatoes in our garden!
Ah, lovely. I’m up to my eyeballs in teeny tiny tomatoes, even smaller than cherry tomatoes. Even smaller than eyeballs! I can’t remember what kind I planted, but they’d be perfect for this bread if I stab through the skins before baking. And it’s all of a sudden fall up here in Salt Lake, starting yesterday. Baking weather!
Homemade foccacia is so delicious! This looks absolutely scrumptious!