I thought I’d share the recipe for this cheese filled focaccia that I made last spring, as it was both fun to make and delicious! You can omit the cheese if you want and just make a ‘regular’ focaccia as well – it’s completely up to you!
Some things I find best to decorate with, that are also delicious:
Bell peppers of all colors, red onions, herbs (both the leaves and the stems), olives, asparagus and cherry tomatoes.
Here I halved the recipe (that you can find at the bottom of the post) and mixed the water with some spinach to make it green – I then decorated it with yellow bell pepper, black olives, asparagus and sage.
CHEESE FILLED FOCACCIA
INGREDIENTS
DOUGH
- 25 g fresh yeast
- 400 ml water, lukewarm
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 480 g all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. flaky salt
- 2 tbsp. olive oil for the pan
FILLING & TOPPING
- 150 g grated cheese (I used Kaltbach Creamy)
- Small red onions
- Fresh herbs (I used sage & dill)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- Flaky salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Add a little bit of the water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Add the remaining water, 3 tbsp of olive oil, flour and salt and mix together to form a sticky dough. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and leave to rise for 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 250°C (480°F). Brush a 20 x 30 cm (8 x 12 inch) pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Pour half of the dough into the pan and press it towards the edges using floured hands or a spatula. Sprinkle with the grated cheese. Pour the remaining dough on top and cover the cheese with the dough as much as possible. Leave to rise for 45-60 minutes at room temperature.
- Place desired topping on top of the dough (if you are going to make focaccia art, I recommend that you start during the rising time). I used the stems from the dill as “flower” stems, halved the small onions and cut them in the shape of flowers. Drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with extra salt.
- Bake in the lower part of the oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
