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Asiago Cheese Focaccia Bread is an Italian bread topped with fresh herbs that can be used in a focaccia sandwich, pizza, or served with marinara or with a soup or salad.
Cheese Focaccia Bread is crisp yet light and is perfect for soaking up your favorite sauce or soup.
I learned about Asiago Cheese Focaccia Bread when I was a child watching my older sister make it. She was an avid bread maker and Cheese Focaccia bread was my favorite! So I definitely paid attention when she made it.
I pestered her so much about making it, that she finally taught me step-by-step how to make it. I’ve been making it ever since.
Table of Contents
- What Is Focaccia?
- How Do You Pronounce Focaccia?
- What Do I Need To Make Cheese Focaccia Bread?
- How To Make Cheese Focaccia Bread
- How Long Do I Bake Cheese Focaccia Bread
- Recipe Tips For Making The Best Focaccia
- How To Store Focaccia
- Can I Freeze Focaccia
- What Can I Make Using Cheese Focaccia
- What To Serve With Focaccia
- More Recipes You’ll Love
- Recipe
- Reviews
What Is Focaccia?
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked light Italian bread that is like a thick pizza crust but is usually served by itself, or sometimes used as a pizza crust or as sandwich bread.
How Do You Pronounce Focaccia?
Focaccia is pronounced like “Foe-Cah-chya.” To hear it pronounced, listen here.
What Do I Need To Make Cheese Focaccia Bread?
Equipment
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Ingredients
Below, I discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions if you don’t have a specific ingredient. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of each ingredient, scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.
- Rapid Rise Instant Active Dry Yeast – You will need 1 packet or 2-1/4 teaspoons.
- Raw Sugar
- Warm Water – For this recipe, the temperature of the water is very important because of the active dry yeast. According to Food52, the water temperature should be between 105 and 115 degrees F. The water should feel hot but not too hot that you would have to remove your hand from the water. I recommend using a cooking thermometer to double check the temperature.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Sea Salt
- All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour
- Asiago Cheese or Parmesan cheese – I love the flavor of Asiago cheese. However, if you don’t have any, parmesan cheese would be a good substitute.
- Fresh Herbs – This is used to sprinkle on the bread after baking.
How To Make Cheese Focaccia Bread
Below is a high level description of how to make Focaccia. For more instructions, scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card.
- Mix the yeast with Luke warm water and sugar and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. When it’s ready it should appear to be foamy, and bubbling.
- Next, add flour, ½ a cup of olive oil, and salt to the yeast mix. Using a hand mixer, blend ingredients completely.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface.
- Begin kneading dough with hands. Do this 1-2 times.
- You can sprinkle with flour if it starts to get sticky at all.
- Then add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the empty mixing bowl. Swirl it around until it coats the inside of the bowl. Place dough back in the bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Keep bowl in a warm place. Allow to sit for about 1 hour and until it has doubled in size.
- Divide the rest of the olive oil between two 9 inch cake pans.
- Add 1 cup of Asiago Cheese to the dough. Knead dough again.
- Divide dough in half, placing one half in each cake pan. Press dough with knuckles to fit pan. Then flip dough over coating it in olive oil on both sides. Repeat for each pan.
- Cover both pans with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap again and set aside.
- Let dough double again in size, sitting for about one more hour.
How Long Do I Bake Cheese Focaccia Bread
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Remove plastic from pans. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Drizzle olive oil on top and bake for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add remaining Asiago cheese on top of both bread loaves.
- Return to oven and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
- Optional: Sprinkle top with fresh herbs and extra Asiago cheese or parmesan cheese.
Recipe Tips For Making The Best Focaccia
- If at any point dough gets too sticky just add a sprinkle of flour and keep going.
- To knead dough without a mess, cover your tabletop or counter with plastic wrap or parchment paper first!
- You can also use a large rectangular sheet pan instead of the two 9 inch cake pans. Follow all of the directions the same as you would above. When you get ready to place the dough in the pan, coat the pan in olive oil and place the entire dough portion in the sheet pan pressing and kneading, to shape it until it fits to pan & is flatter (1-2 inches thick). Bake for about 5-7 minutes before adding cheese on top and return to oven for an additional 5-8 minutes. When bread is golden brown on top it’s ready!
How To Store Focaccia
- You can store Focaccia bread at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Can I Freeze Focaccia
- Yes. You can freeze Focaccia bread. Slice the Focaccia bread and wrap it in plastic wrap and then foil and store it in the freezer for up to a month.
What Can I Make Using Cheese Focaccia
- Focaccia Sandwich – Make a Turkey Mozzarella Focaccia Sandwich or a Caprese Focaccia Sandwich.
- Focaccia Pizza – Add some pizza sauce and your favorite toppings to make your favorite pizza!
What To Serve With Focaccia
- Instant Pot Marinara Sauce – This is great to serve with Focaccia as a dipping sauce, or save some to use to make focaccia pizza later.
- Leftover Ham and Potato Soup – I love to use Cheese Focaccia bread with this soup to soak up all that creamy goodness with the bread.
More Recipes You’ll Love
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package Rapid Rise Instant Active Dry Yeast
- 1.5 teaspoons raw sugar
- 1-3/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (divided)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups asiago cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary and herbs
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the yeast packet, luke warm water, and sugar. Mix well. Let it sit in a warm place for about 10-15 minutes. When it’s ready it should appear to be foamy, and bubbling.
- Next, add flour, ½ a cup of olive oil, and salt to the yeast mix. Using a hand mixer, blend ingredients completely.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Begin kneading dough with hands. Do this 1-2 times. You can sprinkle with flour if it starts to get sticky at all.
- Then add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the empty mixing bowl. Swirl it around until it coats the inside of the bowl.
- Place dough back in the bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Keep bowl in a warm place. Allow to sit for about 1 hour and until it has doubled in size.
- Divide the rest of the olive oil between two 9 inch cake pans.
- Add 1 cup of Asiago Cheese to the dough. Knead dough again. Divide dough in half, placing one half in each cake pan. Press dough with knuckles to fit pan.
- Then flip dough over coating it in olive oil on both sides. Repeat for each pan.
- Cover both pans with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap again and set aside. Let dough double again in size, sitting for about one more hour.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Remove plastic from pans. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Drizzle olive oil on top and bake for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add remaining Asiago cheese on top of both bread loaves.
- Return to oven and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
- Optional: Sprinkle top with fresh rosemary or other herbs and extra Asiago cheese or parmesan cheese.
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