This festive Christmas Focaccia bread is made with fresh rosemary, cherry tomatoes, and an easy focaccia dough. It's ready in under 3 hours and will impress your guests this holiday season with this Christmas tree design on your focaccia!
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Focaccia is an easy bread to make if you are just starting in bread making. The stand mixer does the hard work for you by kneading the dough, and the yeast creates the bubbly dough to give the focaccia it's light and airy texture.
If you are new to focaccia art too, this will be a way to get your foot in the door. This Christmas tree is so easy to make, and you really can't mess it up! This Christmas tree design can be made onto sourdough focaccia too!
When it's that time of year to host lots of family and friends, there's nothing better than homemade focaccia piled high in a bread basket!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. All purpose flour or bread flour is best.
- Kosher salt. Do not use table salt. Kosher salt is preferred.
- Lukewarm water. Not too hot or you will kill the yeast, and too cold will take too long for the dough to rise.
- Active Dry Yeast. One package or two teaspoons.
- Olive Oil. Extra virgin olive oil is best because we will use a lot of it, ⅓ cup olive oil actually! Olive oil gives focaccia it's crispy crust and adds to the flavor of the focaccia.
- Kosher salt. Flaky sea salt will work too. Do not use table salt. You want a thick, flakey salt that will give the focaccia texture.
- Fresh Rosemary. You will need 6-8 sprigs, depending on how bit you would like your tree.
- Cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes will be the ornaments on the tree.
Active Yeast vs. Instant Dry Yeast
In this recipe, we are using Active Dry Yeast. That means it needs to be "bloomed" or woken up. All you have to do is sprinkle the yeast over some lukewarm liquid and allow it to get foamy. When it does, you are ready to use the yeast!
If it doesn't get foamy, throw out the yeast and start again. That means the yeast is old or expired and won't allow the dough to rise properly.
If you only have instant yeast, you can use that too. No need to "bloom the yeast. Just add it to the liquid along with the flour, water, and salt.
How To Make Christmas Focaccia
Fill a liquid measuring cup with 1 ¾ cup of warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the flour, three tablespoons of olive oil, water and yeast mixture, and the salt. Turn the stand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. When the dough pulls away from the bowl, the dough is done.
Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the bottom of the dish. Add the bread dough to the dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes. The dough should double in size and look light and bubbly.
Pro Tip! The cooking spray will make sure the dough does not stick to the pan. The olive oil gives the focaccia it's classic flavor. Don't forget the sides of the pan too!
After 60 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the dough has fully risen, press fingertips into the bread dough. This will stretch out the dough as well as give the dough that classic focaccia dimples. Drizzle the top of the dough with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Decorating the Christmas Tree!
Arrange the fresh sprigs of rosemary into a Christmas tree pattern on the surface of the dough. Add the cherry tomatoes around the Christmas tree to make them look like ornaments. Use a cut mini pepper for the base of the tree.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown.
Use a pizza cutter or a serrated knife to cut through this Christmas focaccia. Then serve the focaccia with a large spatula.
Variations
- You don't have to make a Christmas tree on this festive focaccia bread. You can use sun-dried tomato pesto and even caramelized onions as a topping for focaccia.
- Double the recipe if you have a lot of people you will be serving. Use a baking sheet or cookie sheet and decorate the top of the dough as you would like.
- Add red onions, different color cherry tomatoes, sprinkle the focaccia with parmesan cheese, or your favorite fresh herbs to this homemade focaccia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix them together. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes until the dough comes together and is a little sticky.
Yes! Focaccia dough is very similar to pizza dough. To make this with pizza dough, simply add the pizza dough to the baking dish and design the Christmas tree right on the pizza dough.
Place leftovers in an airtight container once it has come to room temperature. Enjoy the focaccia within 3 days of baking. You can eat this focaccia at room temperature or lightly toasted.
Yes! You can make the dough up to 24 hours in advance. Once it has risen, refrigerate the dough. When you are ready to bake it, arrange the Christmas tree on the focaccia dough and bake,
More Easy Recipes
- Instant Pot Bread
- Rustic Kefir Bread
- 3 Ingredient Dinner Rolls
- Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
- Instant Pot Dinner Rolls
- Sourdough Dinner Rolls
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📖 Recipe
Festive Christmas Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup Water Warm, but not hot
- 1 tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 ½ cups Flour All purpose or Bread Flour
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil Divided
- 6-8 sprigs Fresh Rosemary For Decoration
- ½ cup Cherry tomatoes For Decoration
- 1 Mini Pepper For the base of the tree
Instructions
- Fill a liquid measuring cup with 1 ¾ cup of warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the flour, three tablespoons of olive oil, water and yeast mixture, and the salt. Turn the stand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. When the dough pulls away from the bowl, the dough is done.
- Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the bottom of the dish. Add the bread dough to the dish.
- Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes. The dough should double in size and look light and bubbly.
- After 60 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the dough has fully risen, press fingertips into the bread dough. This will stretch out the dough as well as give the dough that classic focaccia dimples. Drizzle the top of the dough with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Arrange the fresh sprigs of rosemary into a Christmas tree pattern on the surface of the dough. Add the cherry tomatoes around the Christmas tree to make them look like ornaments. Use a cut mini pepper for the base of the tree.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown.
- Allow the focaccia to cool slightly before cutting into it.
Video
Notes
- The cooking spray in the baking dish will make sure the dough does not stick to the pan. The olive oil gives the focaccia it's classic flavor. Don't forget the sides of the pan too!
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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