Homemade focaccia bread recipe is a delicious alternative to dinner rolls for your holiday meals or any dinner. Topped with garlic, rosemary and olives from our sponsor, Mezzetta, this bread is easy to get on the dinner table.

Dinner rolls are a staple at holiday dinners. This year I decided to change things up and instead of serving dinner rolls, make a homemade focaccia bread recipe. I love working with yeast bread recipes and focaccia recipes are fun to make.

This bread recipe does need time to rise, but requires very little hands on attention. Focaccia is a great side to serve with any meal but the green olives and red pimentos make this focaccia festive for the holidays.

Olives are a staple in my pantry. I always have at least one jar, usually kalamatas, ready to go. There are so many other options available, though, when it comes to olives. Mezzetta has a great variety of olives perfect for setting out for parties or just snacking. I didn’t think I liked green olives until I broke up open the jar of Artisan Blend from Mezzetta and couldn’t stop eating.

Homemade Focaccia Bread Recipe with Olives and Garlic

I first made this focaccia recipe years ago. I don’t even remember where I found the original recipe, but I do remember we loved the bread. One the things we loved the most about it was the topping. The bread is covered in an olive oil, green olive, garlic and rosemary mixture that is to die for. For the focaccia bread, I wanted pimento stuffed green olives to add the green and red colors to the top of the bread.

Focaccia dough is a basic bread dough recipe. You could probably substitute a pizza dough, but the resulting bread wouldn’t be quite as thick. Once the dough is made, cover it on olive oil and allow it to rise until doubled in size.

While the bread is rising, prepare the topping mixture. I didn’t think this was enough to top the bread, but it gave a lot of flavor. The garlic matched with the saltiness of the olives is just perfect.

After the dough has doubled in size, it is spread out in to a baking pan. I split the dough in half and bake it in two small square pans, but it can also be baked in larger cake pan. After another short rise and a little poking, the topping is added to the dough and it’s baked. It’ll be hard to let it cool but it holds up best if it cools before cutting it.

Yield: 1 loaf

Homemade Focaccia Bread Recipe with Olives and Garlic

Name: Homemade Focaccia Bread Recipe with Olives and Garlic
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 2 cups warm water (not hot - just lukewarm!); 2 teaspoons dry yeast; 2 teaspoons salt; 4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour; A handful of pimento stuffed green olives, roughly chopped; 3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided; 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced; 1/2 teaspoon dry rosemary

Make a homemade focaccia bread with olives and garlic.

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

2 cups warm water (not hot - just lukewarm!)
2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour
A handful of pimento stuffed green olives, roughly chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dry rosemary

Instructions

Put 2 cups of warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Sprinkle with yeast and salt and gently stir.
Add 2 cups of flour and stir on low until the flour has been incorporated into the water. Continue to stir in yeast a half cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should form a ball and be slightly tacky, but not wet and sticky. I used 3 1/2 cups of flour, but it may take more.
Form dough into a ball and drizzle with a few teaspoons of olive oil. Flip the ball to coat the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set the bowl aside to allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
While the dough is rising prepare the olive and garlic topping. In a small bowl combine 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, olives, and rosemary. Set aside.
Grease the bottom of two 8 x 8 or one 9 x 13 baking pans. Set aside until the dough is ready.
Once the dough is doubled in size, remove it from the bowl. Split the dough in half to make two 8 x 8 pans or just one 9 x 13.
Put the dough in the prepared pans. Gently push it to the sides of the baking dish. Cover as much of the bottom of the pan as you can but don't worry if it's a little short. Cover the baking pan and allow the dough to rise for another 30 minutes or until well risen.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
Once the dough has risen in the pans, use a floured finger and gently push several deep indentations into the dough. Spread the olive oil and olive mixture over the top of the dough.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bread is pale gold and crisp on the outside. Remove from the oven and drizzle another 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil over the top of the hot bread.
Allow to cool and settle. When still warm, but not hot, slice and serve. It's also delicious when allowed to cool completely.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1036Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 485mgCarbohydrates: 200gFiber: 7gSugar: 1gProtein: 33g

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