This Tomato and Basil Focaccia bread is simply delicious, and pretty easy to make. Give it a try, I promise you will never go back to the store bought kinds. 

Bake it in a dish like mine below, and you will have the most light and fluffy focaccia bread.  

Focaccia bread can be eaten alone or served alongside any Italian dish that you are to make.

This recipe is one of the more popular versions of focaccia bread, as it highlights the basil and cherry tomatoes so well. Nothing beats homemade bread, I hope you enjoy! 

HOW TO MAKE FOCACCIA BREAD

1. 1. Place the flour, salt into a large bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil.
   2. In another bowl prepare your yeast, empty your package into a bowl and slowly add in your warm water and give it a light stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast dissolves.
   3. Now add your yeast/water mixture to your bowl of four and mix together with a spatula till it comes all together. 
   4. When it gets to hard to mix with the spoon, add a bit of flour to your hands and place the dough on a clean surface and knead it for about 5-10 minutes. You can also use a dough mixer if you prefer, but I prefer this method. Basically you want to pull and put back a dozen or so times, and make it elastic in consistency as much as possible because you want to stretch the gluten in the dough.
   5. Once this is done, form into a light ball of dough and cover with a large bowl allowing it to rise underneath for 45 minutes. Drizzle the outside of the dough with more olive oil before covering!
   6. Now in the baking dish and add your Semolina to the bottom of the dish.
   7. Lifting your dough onto the baking dish, spread it along  the bottom of the dish to cover.  
      
   8. Make finger holes with your fingers all throughout the bread, just don’t pierce through to the bottom basil .
   9. Next place whole basil leaves and whole cherry tomatoes on top those leaves, stuffing the holes you created.
   10. Season with salt, and add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil all over the top of the bread. 
   11. Finish by drizzling over 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkling with a tiny sprinkling of sea salt.
   12. Cover with a clean tea damp towel and leave to prove again for a further 40 minutes.
   13. Lastly bake for around 20-25 minutes, you want it to be crispy on the outside soft on the inside.
   14. REMOVE from oven and drizzle once again with more olive oil (very important) now allot it to cool down for  at least 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: If your using dry herbs, soak them prior in olive oil and put them use them on the bread.

Also this goes amazingly well served with a plate of red wine vignette and olive oil, mixed together for serving.

If you want a thinner style focaccia, try using a baking pan rather than a dish.

So flavorful there really is nothing like fresh bread!

I’m thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, if you made this recipe i’d love to hear about it! Thank you and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!