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Home » Recipes » Comfort Food

August 6, 2023

Tomato Feta Focaccia (same day or overnight)

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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.

Sliced tomato feta focaccia

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.
Italian tomato cheese focaccia

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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.

Recipe tomato feta focaccia
Print Recipe
4.88 from 25 reviews

Click stars to rate now!

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 minutes mins
Cook Time25 minutes mins
Rising times1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Total Time2 hours hrs
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.

Reader Interactions

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    Recipe Rating




  1. Annika says

    August 07, 2023 at 9:48 am

    5 stars
    Hi Anna,
    As soon as I saw the focaccia in your newsletter, I knew I had to make it. I made the same-day-version. The dough was pretty tacky so I thought I didn’t measure correctly. But in the end, everything turned out fine and the focaccia was delicious!! I took it to a picnic and it was the first dish that was gone. Thanks so much for the grat. recipe.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      August 07, 2023 at 5:17 pm

      Great to hear that the focaccia worked out so well and that it disappeard so quickly 🙂 This is always the best sign! Thanks so much for leaving a comment an for letting me know!

      Reply
  2. sandra says

    August 16, 2023 at 12:55 pm

    5 stars
    Hi,
    I stumbled upon your blog on the search for a tomato focaccia. I made the overnight recipe because I have never made an overnight rise before. This was genius! It was bubbling away after about 10hours on the kitchen counter. The focaccia came out really soft and fluffy. I will definitely make it again.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      August 17, 2023 at 4:10 pm

      So happy to hear that the focaccia turned out great, Sandra. I was also nervous before I tried my first overnight-rise. In hindsight: there is nothing to be nervous about and I love to use overnight recipes. They are so handy!

      Reply
  3. Saha says

    August 21, 2023 at 7:10 am

    Hi, could you use fresh mozzarella in place of the feta? I simply don‘t like feta, it‘s too salty for me.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      August 22, 2023 at 9:44 am

      Hi Saha, Yes you can use fresh mozzarella. Simply chop into small cubes and use like the feta in the recipe. I hope that you'll try the focaccia.

      Reply
  4. Lori says

    August 28, 2023 at 4:18 pm

    This was amazing! Best focaccia I‘ve made myself so far.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      August 30, 2023 at 9:50 am

      So happy to hear that the focaccia turned out so well, Lori. Thanks so much for your comment!

      Reply
  5. Dani says

    September 14, 2023 at 7:40 am

    5 stars
    Already made your caprese salad and the focaccia. Both tasted wonderful. My kids helped distributing the ingredients on top. We had fun cooking and everyone enjoyed the focaccia, even my picky kids.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      September 14, 2023 at 12:51 pm

      So happy that the entire family enjoyed the focaccia! I bet topping it was fun. Thanks so much for your comment and rating!

      Reply
  6. Bernd says

    September 18, 2023 at 8:42 am

    5 stars
    Hi,

    I made the same day version plus added some olives. Oh my!!! Served it with a glass of dry Riesling. It was unbelievably delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe, I will make the focaccia asap again.
    Bernd

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      September 18, 2023 at 2:38 pm

      So happy to hear that Bernd! It's perfect to enjoy with a dry white wine. I call it dinner 😉

      Reply
  7. J. says

    July 20, 2024 at 6:01 pm

    Incredibly easy to make and came out perfectly. I‘m called the focaccia master at home now lol.

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      July 22, 2024 at 1:48 pm

      Hahaha. What an incredible compliment coming from the focaccia master :D. Thanks so much for trying the recipe and - apparently - nailing it!

      Reply
  8. Alessandra says

    December 30, 2024 at 11:24 am

    4 stars
    The focaccia came out super fluffy. I used sweet, tiny cherry tomatoes. Will make it again thank you from Adelaide!

    Reply
    • Carbgirl says

      January 16, 2025 at 12:45 pm

      So happy to hear that the focaccia turned out well, Alessandra! I love tiny cherry tomatoes 🙂

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Anna, self-proclaimed carb expert. This site is all about pasta, pizza, and cozy comfort food. The recipes are quick, easy, tasty, and (mostly) healthy-ish.

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