Easy Olive Truffle Focaccia Bread

This past weekend, as I was waking up, I hear my wife, Brittany, asking our daughter, Lily, what she would like for breakfast. Rewind to last year when Lily first tried sourdough bread and she absolutely fell in love. Back to the story...she responded, "Sourdough!" 

We didn't have any sourdough bread in the house, so Brittany went down the list of things we do have (I'm sure no other parents ever have to do this), and eventually she proceeded and started making breakfast. This comprised of bacon, eggs (a cheese omelette to be exact), and grits.

As I was listening, I thought, can I make sourdough? It's something I have not done, but it's something I love. I started looking at recipes online, and to my dismay, I realized I didn't have any sourdough starter, nor was I ready to try my hand at making my own sourdough starter.

I knew I had instant yeast and active dry yeast, so making bread wasn't out of the question. The last bread I made was a French bread (with and without truffle), so I thought I'd try my had at something new, Focaccia! I had not made fresh focaccia bread, myself, but I sure do enjoy it, so I searched for recipes, and the one that stood out to me was done by Alexandra Stafford. You can see her original recipe here, Overnight, Refrigerator Focaccia = The Best Focaccia Bread Recipe.

I loved the fact that she included multiple ways, and it was her take on other recipes she had tried, basically what I do for every recipe I end up with. With that being said, I offered up a couple of options to Brittany and Lily, saying I could do a herb focaccia or a jalapeño, cheddar version. They choose herb. I studied the recipe and had at it. The only thing I changed was adding some fresh chopped rosemary, from our garden, directly into the dry ingredients before adding the water, and I added fresh rosemary leaves on top before baking.

Ultimately, I chose the quick route, and I let the dough rise for 2+ hours, after the dimpling process, I let the dough rise for about another half hour, until it really filled out the pan. In the meantime, which I already knew I was going to do, I started making a truffle focaccia. I wanted to use our Olives & Summer Truffle Spread, as I thought this would provide a great flavor throughout and be an easy way to add a gourmet feel and a touch of luxury to focaccia. With this loaf, I decided to try the overnight method. Long story short, both the Rosemary Focaccia and the Olive Truffle Focaccia came our great! Thanks Alexandra!

Easy Olive Truffle Focaccia Bread

Tony Huey

Servings

6-8 (9 x 13" pan)

Prep Time

2.5 hours

Cook Time

30 minutes

Cuisine

Italian

Category

Bread

As mentioned previously, I searched for focaccia recipes, and the one that stood out to me was done by Alexandra Stafford. You can see her original recipe here, Overnight, Refrigerator Focaccia = The Best Focaccia Bread Recipe.


If you've searched, "how to make focaccia bread" or ""focaccia bread" recipes, your are certainly in the right place! I adjusted the recipe of inspiration to have an olive and truffle flavor, by incorporating Truffletopia Olives and Truffle Spread into the recipe, which is a great addition no matter how you are serving the bread. Of course, like many of our recipes, you can make them without truffle, edit them, or add more truffle if desired.


Focaccia bread originated in Italy and is a flat leavened, oven-baked bread. In different regions, focaccia is made or consumed in different ways. In Genoa, they dip it in milk or cappuccino for breakfast. In Northwest Italy, they make a sweet version by sprinkling sugar on top and sometimes add raisins or honey.


In the United States, I've seen people cut the baking process a little short and use it as fluffy, airy pizza dough, by adding toppings and returning it to the oven for the rest of the bake. Others use it to accompany meals as a side or complement, i.e. with pastas, soups, and more. I have also seen it as a popular variation of sandwich bread, by cutting it into squares and then in half horizontally, and of course like many breads, it can be eaten as a snack (I cut it into long strips, like you'd cut other loaves of bread). This recipe allows you to do any and all of the above!


I enjoyed this focaccia bread with a hamburger as I'd use a bun, with an egg sandwich for breakfast, dipped in one of our White Truffle Olive Oils with crushed red pepper and Kalamata olives, with the truffle oil and fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and I ate a quarter of the loaf plain (Don't judge me! I promise it wont last long.) I actually even enjoyed some with a little Truffletopia Truffle Honey. Soooo good!


You can also try our White Truffle Sauce or Black Truffle Sauce in the recipe, for slight variations in flavor. Also, if you don't have a 9 x 13 inch pan, see the notes below, about using 8-9" pie plates instead. If you want to do an overnight version (I tried this as well), you can rest the dough in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours after initially making the dough. Then do a 3-4 hour rest before baking it. Simply replace the rest times you see below in the recipe.

Easy Olive Truffle Focaccia Bread

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (512 g) bread flour, you may replace with all-purpose flour

  • 2 teaspoons (10 g) fresh ground sea salt

  • 2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast, you can replace with active dry yeast

  • 1 teaspoon (4 g) fresh ground pepper

  • 2 cups (455 g) lukewarm water

  • 2 ½ tablespoons (40 g) Truffletopia Olives & Summer Truffle Spread

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil

  • extra ground salt for topping

  • Parmigiano Reggiano for topping

Directions

  1. Add flour, salt, pepper, and instant yeast in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add truffle sauce to lukewarm water, and mix thoroughly. Mix water into the dry ingredients until it forms into ball of dough. Rub the dough with a tablespoon of olive oil. Cover your bowl, using plastic wrap or bowl lid. Let the dough rest, at room temperature for 2 hours, to rise.

  2. Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper. If you do not have parchment paper you can grease the pan with butter or non-stick spray.

  3. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the center of the pan (use 1 tablespoon per pan, if you split the dough into two pans). I use a rubber spatula to release the dough from the sides of the bowl slowly spinning the bowl as I release it. If you are splitting the dough, now is the time to do that, making 2 dough balls. Add the dough ball to the pan and roll it in the olive oil. Gently spread the dough across the pan evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

  4. Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove plastic wrap from pan (slowly if the dough is touching it). Lightly rub the top with the last tablespoon of olive oil and press down with your fingers to create dimples in the dough. Sprinkle with salt evenly. You can use flake salt, or I used fresh ground Pink Himalayan Sea Salt.

  5. Place the pan(s) to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, sprinkle fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano on top. When it’s done cooking, remove it from the oven and transfer the focaccia bread to a cooling rack. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
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