This delicious vegan focaccia bread recipe was generously sponsored by our friends at Bono, makers of the delicious extra-virgin olive oil we used to make this bread. We used olives and fresh rosemary, but you can add in any focaccia toppings you’d like! Black pepper, cherry tomatoes, pesto, sun dried tomatoes, basil — the sky is the limit. Enjoy!
I’ve loved focaccia bread ever since I was a little girl. My mom used to take me to a local bakery that had shelves stocked full of all different varieties of fresh-baked bread. I’d always head straight for the pillowy rosemary-infused focaccia sprinkled with chunky sea salt.
Fast-forward a few decades to today, and now I make my own focaccia bread from scratch at home! It’s a surprisingly easy endeavor. Focaccia can be made with just six base ingredients (plus any fun add-ins you desire). It takes a while as you have to let your dough rise (or “prove”) for a few hours, but the method is simple. And my-oh-my will it be worth the wait when you smell the aroma of freshly baked focaccia wafting through your home!
In this recipe, I’m going to share my favorite way to make focaccia. I love making focaccia with olives and fresh rosemary (my personal favorite combo!) but you can absolutely mix it up however you’d like by adding tomatoes, caramelized onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, or any number of other ingredients. I’m including more ideas for you below.
If you love focaccia as much as I do, you’ll have lots of fun playing around with different varieties! You can even split the dough in two (or three or four) and make several different varieties in a single baking sesh.
Here are some of my favorite focaccia toppings:
You can also have fun decorating! See if you can create some holiday themed designs with your focaccia bread to make:
Focaccia gets much of its delicious flavor from olive oil, so it’s important to use a really high-quality extra virgin olive oil in this recipe.
Extra virgin olive oil is made from pure cold-pressed olives. Other types of olive oil are lower-grade, refined, and can even be a blend of other processed oils. If you did an olive oil taste test you’d notice that olive oils that aren’t labeled “extra-virgin” are often lacking or completely void of flavor.
I used this organic Sicilian extra virgin olive oil from Bono. Bono is a longstanding company that has been around since 1934 and runs the biggest oil mill in all of Sicily. Their olive oil is aromatic and rich in both color and flavor. If you’ve never had a high-quality Italian olive oil before, I highly recommend giving this a try!
This recipe makes a dough that can be shaped in a number of different ways.
Want one big uniform rectangular focaccia loaf? You can spread the dough into a large baking dish. I used one like this 7″ x 11″ Pyrex dish) which creates a thick focaccia (pictured above).
Alternately, you can shape the dough however you’d like on a large baking pan. You can make one giant loaf or split the dough into two, three, or four separate parts. Shape it to be round, oval, or oblong to look extra-rustic—the choice is yours!
I whipped up another batch of vegan focaccia today. I separated the dough into two parts and spread them into oblong ovals on an oiled baking pan. They came out looking rustic and beautiful (this is the bread featured in the cover photo of this article)!
Breadmaking is one of my favorite types of baking. If you give it a chance, I imagine it will quickly become one of yours too. The steps are simple, and it’s really fun seeing what some flour, yeast, and water can do when you help them work their magic.
Making bread can be a test of patience, for sure, and takes some forethought and planning. But as soon as you fill your home with the smell of baked bread, you’ll be hooked.
Might I recommend whipping up a batch the next time you want to make some happy memories with friends? After all, scent is the strongest sense tied to memory!
I’ve been binge-watching The Great British Bake Off on Netflix with my hubby. Have you seen it? It’s addicting. And now I have quite the vegan baking bug.
I’ve baked more goodies over the past 6 months than I ever have in my life. I now love the process of testing and perfecting recipes. And when they get really good, then I get to share them with you!
If you’re new to vegan baking, be sure to check out our plant-based egg substitutes guide! Studying this guide will make it easy for you to veganize all your favorite recipes.
Vegan focaccia bread recipe photos by Michelle Cehn. Many thanks to Bono olive oil for generously supporting our work here at World of Vegan! This article may contain affiliate links which support our work at World of Vegan—thank you!
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Thanks so very much for this recipe! I do have a question. Is the 6th ingredient (0.5C EVOO) for outer coating, post-kneading? Or is it added during step 2? Don’t want to add 0.5C of extra oil directly unless explicit. I see that I add 1/3C in step 11. Thanks again 🙂
The first 1/2 cup oil is for the bowl and pan, the second amount (1/3 cup) is for coating the top of it before baking. Hope you enjoy it!
One of the most fun breads to make! I love punching my fingers in the dough and adding a different mix of toppings each time I make it 🙂
This bread is super yummy, I will love to try this
I just made this for my family and they loved it!! Especially my teenage son…and he’s picky about bread. It was much easier than it looked and smelled like heaven while it was baking. Definitely going to make this again!
OMG. I was JUST talking to one of my patients about making bread! Can’t wait to make this and tell her all about it!
Olive oil and bread are a combination made in heaven! Seriously, one of life’s biggest pleasures. This focaccia is both in one and I absolutely love it!
We love delicious bread and high quality olive oil so this focaccia is a favorite. Rosemary, garlic and caramelized onions are our favorite add- ins. Delicious!
My hubby asks me to make this like EVERY DAY, I’m not kidding!! I need to make it again soon! So good.
Focaccia is one of my all time favorite foods and I’ve always been a bit intimidated of making it but this eases my nerves quite a bit. Over quarantine I’ve gotten really comfortable with making my own flatbread so this shouldn’t be too hard!