Vegetable Focaccia (and How to Make Focaccia Art)

finished round of vegetable topped focaccia with spiral design.

Vegetable Focaccia (and How to Make Focaccia Art)

This springy focaccia, dimpled and infused with olive oil, is decorated with vegetables and coarse, crunchy salt. It is fast, due to a condensed rise time, so it can make a showy appearance on your dining table tonight as focaccia art with little effort and lots of fun. Make it big or small, fast or slow!

Prep Time35

Cook Time30

two rises2

Total Time3 5

Course: Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: vegetable focaccia

Servings: or 6 if dividing dough into 2 rounds

Calories: 251kcal

Author: Kathy Marshall

Equipment

1 cast iron skillet (10") for 2 round focaccias or sheet pan for l large focaccia (i.e. 11"x17")

Ingredients

focaccia ingredients

5 cups all purpose flour 625 grams, sub bread flour
2.25 cups water 540 grams
1/4 oz instant yeast (rapid rise) 1 individual packet, sub active dry see notes
2 tsp sea salt fine ground, not flake- sub 5 tsp diamond crystal salt or 1 tbsp Morton kosher salt- see notes
4-6 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp flaky sea salt or more, for the top of the focaccia

vegetable toppings (up to you, but below is what I used for round focaccias featured in this post)

4-6 shiitake mushrooms including stems
1 leek good sized, use as much of green as can
4 stalks asparagus for radial design - not practical for spiral design
1 box of cherry tomatoes find varying colors if possible (orange,yellow,red)
2 smaller (2-3") assorted heirloom tomatoes for interesting color, if available, sub regular red tomatoes
various fresh herbs optional- great flavor and add great aesthetic.

Instructions

Turn oven to "keep warm" or the setting that is around 160 F.

Make dough - 5 min. then 60 min. hands off for dough to rise.

Whisk 5 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 oz instant yeast (rapid rise), and 2 tsp sea salt in large bowl. Add 2.25 cups water and stir with wooden spoon or silicone spatula until there are no streaks of dry flour (do not stir vigorously, however). See photos of how the dough will have a "shaggy" appearance.
Use the spoon to hold the shaggy dough to the side and pour 2 tbsp of the (4-6 tbsp olive oilin bottom of bowl, set dough free, and then rotate it (flip over) so that it is coated with oil (prevents a skin but will also get incorporated into dough later).
Cover the bowl with a dish towel.
Turn the oven off, open it for a minute, then place bowl of dough in oven and close door. Leave dough for approximately 60 minutes. It should double (or almost double) in size. See notes

Pan the focaccia for 2nd rise - 5 min. then 30-60 min. hands off.

Choose one large sheet pan or 1 round 10-12" cast iron (or a square brownie pan or ceramic quiche/pie dish) and butter all surfaces lightly (this ensures the focaccia won't stick and it seems to be such a common practice, I think it adds flavor as well).
Add a tbsp of the (4-6 tbsp olive oil) to bottom of buttered pan and spread around with fingers.
Uncover risen dough. grab the far edge, lift it up and press into center. rotate bowl three more times, lifting edge and pressing in each time (so that all edges have been lifted and deflated into top center of dough mass).
Dump the dough onto the pan or divide and dump half into the smaller pan (keep other half for later or dump into second smaller pan, your choice).
Leave dough at room temperature to rise again for 30-60 minutes until doubled in size again (or almost).

Prep vegetables - 15 min.

While the dough rises, prep your vegetables by slicing each one and keeping them separate so they are easy to look through and choose which to use where. See post for special way to cut shiitakes for nice shape. See notes for alternative veg prep.

Preheat the oven to 450

Form and decorate focaccia - 10 min.

Once the dough is done rising, use fingers to press it out to fill the entire pan if it hasn't naturally already. Then use all of your fingers to play the piano over the surface of the dough to give it it's signature dimpled appearance. With my method, the dimpling isn't typically as dramatic as you may have seen on tik tok with some super bubbly, often sourdough focaccia doughs.
Decide on your design, and go to town laying the vegetables in a pattern across the dough, paying attention to the color arrangement as well. See post for details and design ideas/sketches you can follow if you want guidance. See notes.
Don't forget to snip various fresh herbs over the top, if you can for added flavor and looks.
Finish, by brushing olive oil gently over the surface of the veggies. This helps them to develop a nice golden and caramelized "patina" in the oven.
Sprinkle 1 tbsp flaky sea salt all over, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and place in middle rack of oven.

Bake focaccia - 30 min.

Bake for approximately 30 min. I know it may seem like a long time in a 450 degree oven, but between the water in the vegetables and the high hydration of the dough, it seems to always take that long for the dough to cook and get a lovely golden top.

Notes

Yeast: if you don't have instant yeast you can sub active yeast as follows: mix 1/4 oz packet with 2 tsp honey and the water, whisking until dissolved. Leave for ten minutes until foamy (if it does not foam, it is not active, is expired. You need the foam to know it is active).

Salt: I've learned that Diamond kosher salt has larger crystals so you would use more, then Morton, and sea salt has the finest grounds so you need to be careful to use the right amount depending on your salt.

Using warm oven for dough rise: yeast is killed at temps over 120 degrees, so you want to leave the door ajar briefly before putting your dough in to rise, ensuring the temp lowers to that before you close the door. I've used a thermometer to learn the behavior, and typically it is already down to 90-100 degrees by the time I close the door. Alternatively, turn just the light on in the oven to get a temp warmer than room temp but cooler than 120 degrees.

Decorating with vegetables: while I recommend crowding the veggies because they shrink back during baking, keep the slices on the thin size so they cook and caramelize well. At times, my family has each decorated their own, and if they put too too many veggies on top, it hinders the dough's ability to rise during baking, so don't add too many!

Storage/Reheating: store leftovers in refridgerator, and reheat in a warm oven to recover the crispiness of the first bake. Great to slice into horizontally and use for a sandwich!

Dough rising: When you poke the dough with your finger, after it has risen an indentation should remain a little bit (indicating you've pushed some air out).

Alternative vegetable prep: as shown at the bottom of the post, if you like really caramelized, softer vegetables, you can saute some that won't break down too much and decorate the dough with them.

Nutrition