Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Foccacia is one of those breads that I can eat year round. It's perfect as a meal and with any meal, especially soups and salads. Although this dish takes some time to complete, it's actually quite easy to make. I prepped the dough on a Wednesday afternoon and the next day, I woke up and placed it in the oven. The result was beautiful and super delicious! You really can't go wrong with this recipe. I know a lot of people shy away from making bread, but once you try it you'll never go back!
heirloom tomato and pesto focaccia
The recipe for heirloom tomato and pesto focaccia recipe starts just like most other breads - combining yeast, water, and sugar/honey (I used honey from Apex Bee Company). Add flour and the remaining ingredients to form the dough and allow the dough to rise for about 3 hours. I really like to allow the dough to rise a bit longer with focaccia because as opposed to a flat bread, I like my focaccia to have some "fluff" to it. After the dough rises, stretch the dough out onto a baking sheet and allow the shape to set by refrigerating the dough overnight.
The dough can actually set in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but overnight is sufficient. I will however note that the longer the dough sets in the refrigerator, the more flavor it develops! Okay, so then you make little dimples in the dough and let it come to room temperature and add the toppings! Bake for 25 minutes and boom, you've delicious focaccia!
Fun fact about heirloom tomatoes
Want to know something really cool about heirloom tomatoes? Their seeds are harvested from the best tomato crops from the previous season and are passed onto the next season for re-planting, making them an heirloom. How sweet is that? So technically, when you're eating heirloom tomatoes, who knows how many generations back that specific lineage goes. You're basically eating history. Anyway, enjoy this recipe! I hope that you love it because we certainly do!
Heirloom tomato and pesto foccacia
Ingredients
- 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 tbsp salt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 heirloom tomato
- 3 tbsps pesto
- ¼ cup black olives, sliced
- ½ mozzarella, sliced
- Freshly cracked pepper
- additional olive oil, for drizzling
Directions
- In a stand mixer with the dough hook, combine 1 cup of water and 1 tbsp of honey and whisk together. Add 2.5 tsps yeast and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, until mixture if foamy.
- Add additional cup of water, 1 tbsp salt, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 cup all purpose flour, and 3 cups bread flour and mix until dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the bowl. If dough is sticking to the bowl, add an additional tablespoon of flour until dough forms a cohesive mass.
- Cover dough with a clean towel and allow dough to rise in the oven with the oven light on. Dough should double in size, about 2-3 hours.
- Press air out of dough. Generously coat a baking sheet with olive oil and place dough onto the sheet. With your hands, gently pull the dough to fit the shape of the baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
- Uncover dough and gently poke the dough to make dimples. Do not poke the dough all of the way through. Drizzle with olive oil and allow dough to sit room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Slice heirloom tomatoes, olives, and mozzarella. Place gently onto dough. Spoon pesto onto dough with freshly cracked pepper.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Allow bread to cool fully and then eat!
Nutrition
This Heirloom Tomato and Pesto Focaccia recipe will surely be a hit at your dinner table!
This focaccia was delicious and surprisingly easy to make! Also, thanks for the heirloom tomato knowledge--I had no idea.
The pesto, tomatoes, and mozzerella made this focaccia simply amazing! I enjoyed every bite and honestly almost ate the entire focaccia in one sitting! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Lovely, clear explaination!! This looks especially delicious and I would love to enjoy some with some chicken curry!
Focaccia is one of my favourite Italian breads. This bread is not only tasty but also beautiful and I loved the aroma it left my kitchen with.
This dish came together perfectly! This is definitely going to be added to our meal rotations.
I made this for a brunch we hosted recently. It was a big hit! Super easy to put together, and the flavors were so amazing!
As a first time focaccia maker, I was SHOCKED with how well this recipe came out! Wow, just WOW! So good!
I do love the recipe too! The foccacia and pesto together were delicious!!
Ohhhh this was the bee's knees! We made this bread along with a salad and they went perfectly together. So much flavor. Also, we had some extra pesto and since I am obsessed with pesto, we just had some on the side to dip, or add more to top. Thanks for sharing! My family loved it.
I rarely make bread, but your recipe was so easy to follow My bread was amazing.