The best quick fluffy garden focaccia bread recipe with an airy light and soft center + crispy edges. Easy thick style Italian focaccia from scratch! (No knead + vegan recipe)
Add the mashed potatoes and using your hand give everything a good mix .
1 cup mashed potatoes
Pour in the the water and combine until a shaggy sticky dough forms. Drizzle a little olive oil around the sides of the bowl to prevent sticking.
1.25 cups warm water
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or parchment paper and a tea towel then place in a draft free area between 75 - 78”F degrees for a couple of hours until almost doubled in size. (A cold oven is a great place for this). (If you like you can also place it in the fridge overnight for a slow rise to develop more flavor then bring to room temperature for 1 or 2 hours before baking).
Prepare a 9 inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly oil the sides of the dish then place it on a baking sheet.
Dump the focaccia dough into the spring form pan. Use your hand and with oiled fingers press the top of the dough to deflate it and create dimples (don’t push all the way through the bottom). The dough will be sticky, just roll with it! Drizzle with olive oil. Cover again and allow it to rise a second time for about 45 minutes to one hour; again timing is forgiving, I just want the dough to spring back and get super FLUFFY.
Preheat your oven to 400”F
Top the focaccia with the caramelized onions then cover nicely with thin slices of heirloom tomatoes in different colors. Finish with a light drizzle of olive oil and a good sprinkling of sea salt flakes. (Make sure that the onions are mostly covered by the tomatoes to prevent them from burning).
Sprinkle the top with a good pinch of sea salt flakes and place in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden on top.
sea salt flakes
Transfer the bread to a cooling rack for a good 15 minutes. Run a butter knife alongside the spring form pan to release any dough that might have stuck to the sides. Open the spring form pan and remove. (The sides of the focaccia should look beautifully golden with a perfect crispness while the center is fluffy and moist).
Cut into wedges using a serrated bread knife and serve garnished with fresh basil.
fresh basil
Caramelized Onion Topping
Make ahead or during the dough rising process. Start with 3 or 4 large and sweet Vidalia onions. Peel and slice into thin slices. It might seem like a lot but once wilted they will turn into a handful. Trust the process - More is better!
4 Vidalia onions
Preheat your largest heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Add a light drizzle of olive oil or a splash of water then add the sliced onions. Season with a pinch of sea salt and give everything a good toss around.
Cook the onions low and slow for a good hour until completely collapsed and caramelized with a golden amber hue. Take good care not to allow the onions to burn, stir often and adjust the heat if needed, but resist the temptation to add any extra oil or sweeteners of any sort. Patience is all there is to making perfect caramelized onions.
Potato Topping
Scrub and rinse a golden potato and using a mandoline slicer (with a hand guard) thinly slice the potato on the thinnest paper thin setting, so thin you can read the morning paper through it. Place the slices in a bowl and cover with cold water.
gold potato
Transfer the potato slices to a lint free tea towel and dry as much of the moisture as possible but don’t stress too much about it.
Place the slices of potatoes on top of the focaccia dough overlapping each other. Optional to sprinkle with some fresh rosemary leaves, freshly cracked black pepper (a pinch of red chili flakes if you fancy some heat) and drizzle generously with olive oil. Finish with a good pinch of sea salt flakes and place in the preheated oven 35 minutes until golden brown on top.
Focaccia Rolls Variation
Mix the dough according to recipe and split it into 10 pieces. Fold each piece onto itself and place it inside a parchment paper muffin cup on top of a large baking sheet or inside a muffin pan. Cover and allow to rise for a couple of hours until almost doubled in size.
Oil your fingers and press the top of each roll to create dimples. Cover again and allow to rise a second time while the oven is heating up, a good 30 to 45 minutes.
Drizzle each focaccia roll with some olive oil then top top with some caramelized onions and cover with a slice of heirloom tomato. Bake @400 for 20 to 25 min.
Notes
When do I add the toppings? - It's important to wait until after the second rise, dimple the dough first then and only then you can add the toppings just before baking. This way they won't get soft or weight down the dough.
About the Yeast - Using instant yeast makes it a quick rise and everything happens faster. However, if desired the dough can certainly be refrigerated for overnight proofing for extra flavor, although it really isn't necessary at all. If all that's available is an active dry yeast then use that, just consider that things will take longer to get going and rise, so it's a much slower process especially in a cold climate. This type of yeast works best for a slow overnight rise.