Easy Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Vegan Focaccia
If you’ve never had focaccia before, then today should definitely be the day you finally have it! This bread is full of flavor because I infuse it with garlic cloves roasted in olive oil. Then, I sprinkle the top with fresh rosemary leaves and flakey sea salt for additional flavor. My vegan focaccia is incredibly delicious, soft, airy, and slightly chewy. It may even come as a surprise at how easy it is to prepare, too!
What is Focaccia?
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked bread that originates from Italy. It has a fairly similar texture to that of pizza dough. It’s easy to top focaccia with various ingredients depending on your preference. This also makes the perfect bread substitute for making sandwiches. I often serve it as an appetizer or a side dish at the dinner table, though.
Customizable
When I think of focaccia, I immediately think of olive oil because you can’t have focaccia without olive oil; it is a simple yet vital ingredient. Then, my brain goes straight to fresh herbs, like rosemary. Lastly, I love roasted garlic, so I chose to add a bunch of it to this dough. So, although there are endless flavor options for focaccia, I wanted to stick with a more sophisticated route of roasted garlic, rosemary, and flakey sea salt.
The texture of this vegan focaccia is perfectly soft and fluffy with a bit of chew. The bottom and outer edges get this beautiful, slightly crunchy, and crispy texture from the olive oil. I think you’ll love it! It’s one of the first bread I ever made because of how easy yet impressive it truly is.
Easy to Prepare
Despite this recipe having a lengthier amount of (detailed) steps, I promise it is easy to prepare. I believe even a bread beginner could make this recipe, as it’s genuinely not rocket science. Allow me to walk you through the process speedily.
First, I roast whole garlic cloves and then mash them into a chunky puree. Next, I stir active dry yeast, sugar, and warm water inside a standing mixer to begin the dough. Once it creates a frothy consistency, I add all-purpose flour, kosher salt, garlic puree, and garlic oil. The mixer quickly kneads the dough, and then I allow it to double in size.
After one hour, I press the dough onto an oiled sheet pan and let it rest for thirty more minutes. With my fingertips, I create indents all over the dough. This method is essentially creating little pockets for the toppings. I top this focaccia with more garlic oil, fresh rosemary leaves, and flakey sea salt.
Lastly, I bake the focaccia for around fifteen minutes and top it off with even MORE garlic oil. The result is a super flavorful, fluffy, airy, slightly chewy vegan focaccia that you will want to make again and again!
If you’re still slightly intimidated by this bread recipe, give my 4-Ingredient Easy Homemade Bread for Beginners recipe a try. It requires less than a minute of kneading, making it a perfect recipe for a beginner baker. Then, once you feel more comfortable, come back and try this focaccia!
If you give this vegan focaccia recipe a try, don’t forget to post a picture to Instagram, tag me @chefsummerstorm, and #gardengrub so I can see your recreation!
Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Vegan Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup olive oil, extra virgin , plus more for greasing
- 1/2 cup fresh garlic cloves, peeled
- One 7 gram (1/4 ounce) pack active dry yeast, I use the brand Red Star
- 1 tsp organic cane sugar
- 1 cup water, warmed to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 to 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, use only the leaves, not the stems
- 1 tsp flakey sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the garlic cloves and olive oil into a tiny roasting pan. The pan should be small enough where the garlic cloves are completely submerged under the olive oil.
- Tightly wrap the top of the roasting pan with a piece of plastic wrap and then a piece of tin foil. Set this on the middle oven rack and roast it for 1 hour.
- Once the roasted garlic has cooled down somewhat, remove it from the olive oil and place it into a small bowl. Mash the garlic with a fork to turn it into a slightly chunky puree. Do NOT dump out the garlic olive oil. Set both aside.
- Now, add the yeast, sugar, and warm water into a standing mixer bowl. Quickly stir and then allow resting for 10 minutes. The mix should be very frothy after resting.
- To the yeast mixture, add in the roasted garlic puree, 1/4 cup of the garlic oil, flour, and kosher salt. Knead this with the dough hook attachment at the lowest speed. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and underneath the mixture of the bowl, as needed.
- Once everything has combined, set a timer for 5 minutes and continue kneading over the lowest speed.
- Lightly grease a large mixing bowl with some olive oil. Scrape the dough into the bowl and toss it around to coat it in the oil. Smooth a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the dough and then wrap the top of the bowl in plastic as well. Set this in a dark warm place to rest for 1 hour.
- Grease a 9"x13" non-stick sheet pan with 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil.
- Dump the dough onto the greased pan and press it evenly across, from corner to corner.
- Rest a sheet of plastic wrap over the dough and let it rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take your hands and generously press all of your fingers over the entire dough, creating dimples everywhere. Don't be shy with this step! Press your fingertips down to touch the bottom of the pan. However, do not make any actual see-through holes.
- Now, evenly drizzle over another 1/4 cup of the garlic oil. Then, evenly sprinkle over the rosemary leaves and flakey sea salt.
- Set the baking sheet on the middle oven rack and then bake the focaccia for 15-18 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through. The focaccia should be a light-medium golden brown in the end.
- Drizzle the last bit of the garlic oil all over the focaccia.
- Cut it twice vertically and three times horizontally to give you 12 pieces of focaccia.
Tiparooskis
Welcome to the tip section of the vegan focaccia recipe! Here I provide my top tips to help you perfect the recipe. Sometimes, I also give substitute suggestions that I think you may find helpful.
- This focaccia is best eaten immediately! The quality and texture are at its peak when still warm, straight from the oven. It still tastes good the next day or two, just not nearly as good when it’s fresh. If eating the next day, I recommend warming it back in the oven to freshen it up.
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