This delicious Italian tomato feta focaccia will make everyone happy! Crisp outside and soft inside - be prepared to get asked for the recipe 🙂 Make it for the same day or as a no-knead focaccia overnight. It’s an easy one-bowl recipe.

Homemade focaccia bread is even easier to make than pizza. The dough comes together in minutes and is almost impossible to screw up. This focaccia is perfect to bring as a side dish to a BBQ, to potlucks, picnics, or as lunch to-go. I also love it for dinner with a big side salad.

Piece of Tomato Focaccia — Look how fluffy!

Focaccia toppings

The dough for this focaccia is very versatile – top with anything you like or leave it plain. Just make sure the surface is drizzled with olive oil. You could also add dried or fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme, herb seasonings, cheese, olives, onion, potatoes, … I often divide the focaccia and do two different toppings or leave one half plain to use as sandwich bread.

Vegan focaccia

The focaccia dough happens to be vegan, making it a great choice for any occasion! To veganize this tomato and feta focaccia, use vegan feta or omit it. No worries, the focaccia tastes great if you decide to top it with tomatoes only.

There are countless vegan toppings (salt flakes, herbs, sundried tomatoes, onion & potato, olives, artichokes, or leave it plain). Pick your favorite!

Tomato focaccia — Top oiled focaccia dough with tomatoes.

Vegan tomato focaccia — During the brief second rise the dough gets a bit puffy.

Feta and tomato focaccia — Add some cubed or crumbled feta (or omit for vegan).

Feta tomato focaccia — Bake until golden.

Focaccia with tomatoes and feta — Topping the focaccia with fresh basil is always a great idea!

Same day or overnight

To work with your schedule, you can make this focaccia the same day that you want to eat it (count about 2.5 hours from start to finish) or as a no-knead overnight version. Simply prep it the night before and bake it the next morning or evening.

Same day: Simply follow the instructions in the recipe below. After kneading the dough for 5 minutes, the first rise will take about an hour (slightly longer at cool room temperature).
Then you need to transfer the dough to the pan and do a second rise, which usually takes 20 minutes (longer is totally fine too!). During this time you will prep the tomatoes and feta and preheat the oven.
Overnight + bake in the morning: For an overnight rise at room temperature (how handy is this?!) the dough should rise slowly and therefore only needs a tiny amount of yeast. Instead of adding 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast only add ¼ teaspoon to the dough. Mix the ingredients with a spoon or spatula to form a shaggy dough – no need to knead at all 🙂
Tightly cover the mixing bowl with a lid, a wet tea towel, or cling wrap. The lid and towel are the most eco-friendly options. The tea towel should be wet (drenched) and not only moist because it should keep wet overnight. After the 8-15 hour overnight-rise, transfer the bubbly dough to the oiled pan the next morning, add toppings, do a short second rise, and bake.
Overnight + bake in the evening: If you want to make the overnight version but your schedule doesn’t allow you to bake it in the morning after the overnight rise: Put the dough, still tightly covered, in the fridge in the morning and bake later in the evening.

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If you make this Tomato Feta Focaccia, be sure to leave a comment or/and give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear how the recipe turns out in your kitchen.

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Tomato Feta Focaccia (same day or overnight)

This delicious Italian tomato feta focaccia will make everyone happy! Crisp outside and soft and fluffy inside - be prepared to get asked for the recipe 🙂 Make it for the same day or as a no-knead focaccia overnight (see notes). It’s an easy one-bowl recipe.

Author: carbgirl.com

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Rising times1 20

Total Time2

Yield: 12 slices (9x13 inch pan, 23x33cm)

Ingredients

Focaccia bread:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons (270 ml) warm water
1 ¼ teaspoons fine salt
2 ¼ teaspoons (7 g) instant yeast (only ¼ teaspoon for overnight-version, see note)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups (400 g) bread flour (you can substitute all-purpose flour)

Topping:

10 oz (285 g) cherry tomatoes (see note)
5 oz 140 g feta, crumbled or block (for vegan omit or use vegan feta)

For serving:

fresh basil

Instructions

Put the water and salt in a large mixing bowl, then stir to dissolve the salt. Sprinkle yeast on top. Add olive oil.
Gradually mix in flour using a cooking spoon or spatula until well combined. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Oil your hands and knead directly in the bowl for 5 minutes. Warning: If not using a stand mixer, the dough will stick to your hands in the beginning but should get easier to handle after about 3-4 minutes into kneading. If not keep going, the focaccia will be great!
Drizzle the dough with a teaspoon or two of olive oil, turn the dough over in the bowl to coat (makes the dough easier to remove from the bowl later). Tightly cover the bowl with a lid cling wrap) and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Coat a 9x13 inch (23x33cm) nonstick baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. If using parchment paper, still grease the parchment paper with oil as you’d do it with the nonstick pan. Evenly distribute the oil (bottom and sides) with your fingers.
Turn the risen dough out into the pan using a spatula. Grease your hands and stretch dough into a rough rectangle. If it resists, leave to sit for 5 minutes to relax. Stretch the dough toward the edges of the pan with oiled hands.
Drizzle the dough with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Spread oil over the entire surface with your fingers. Dimple the dough all over by pressing your fingers to the bottom of the pan. Set the pan aside - no need to cover, the oil protects it from drying out.
Rinse and dry tomatoes. If using small cocktail or grape tomatoes, cut them in half. If using larger tomatoes like midi-tomatoes, quarter them. Cut feta from a block into small cubes – crumbled feta is good to go.
Place tomatoes (cut side up) and feta on the dough.
Preheat oven to 450°F/230°C conventional top/bottom heat (400°F/200°C fan). While preheating, the focaccia should get a little puffy.
Transfer to the oven and bake until the focaccia is golden on top and the cheese is golden brown or very slightly charred, about 25-30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for before cutting with a bread knife. The cuts are cleanest when the focaccia is completely cooled down. The focaccia of course tastes great when still warm but be prepared that slicing warm focaccia can damage the crumb. This means the cuts are not as clean as they could be, and the crumb could be a bit gummy (less of the nice big and stable holes).
Serve with fresh basil. Store leftovers wrapped in the fridge.

Notes

Tomatoes:

Use small cherry or grape tomatoes. Medium, apricot-sized, tomatoes (used for the focaccia in the photos) are a good choice too. Use as many tomatoes as you prefer.

Overnight focaccia:

Overnight + bake in the morning: For an overnight rise at room temperature only add ¼ teaspoon instant yeast to the dough. Mix the ingredients with a spoon or spatula to form a shaggy dough – no need to knead at all 🙂 Tightly cover the mixing bowl with a lid, a wet tea towel, or cling wrap. The lid and towel are the most eco-friendly options. The tea towel should be wet (drenched) and not only moist because it should keep wet overnight. After the 8-15 hour overnight-rise, scrape the bubbly dough to the oiled pan with a spatula the next morning, and proceed with step 5.

Overnight + bake in the evening: If you want to make the overnight version but your schedule doesn’t allow you to bake it in the morning after the overnight rise: Put the dough, still tightly covered, in the fridge in the morning and bake later in the evening.