Soft Rosemary Focaccia with truffle oil - perfect for making sandwiches, serving as a starter or a snack, and super easy to make.
There's nothing quite like homemade focaccia bread with rosemary, warm from the oven, is there? It's the smell. Herb focaccia is as delicious as it gets, but given my love of truffle, I felt it would be an ingenious idea to use truffle oil in this rosemary focaccia recipe, and any other truffle lovers should take note - it tasted amazing.
You can, of course, use regular olive oil in this fluffy focaccia recipe. I'll just take any opportunity I can to eat truffles.
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Why you will love this rosemary focaccia bread recipe
- Bursting with Flavor: The truffle oil and fresh rosemary sprigs in this focaccia set it apart from traditional focaccia recipes.
- Versatile and Crowd-Pleasing: this rosemary focaccia is the easiest bread that can be enjoyed on various occasions. Whether served as an appetizer, a side with a hearty Italian meal (like pasta e fagioli), or as a base for sandwiches, it is sure to please a crowd with its soft texture and delicious flavor.
- Professional-Quality Results: if you follow my recipe and use high-quality ingredients, you will achieve professional-quality results. The rosemary focaccia will come out perfectly golden, with a crispy exterior and a soft, airy interior, resembling the best Italian bread.
If you are a truffle lover too, don't miss this mushroom quiche I made with truffle cheese; it's a good one.
This focaccia dough doesn't take that long to prove, I left it in the airing cupboard, and it had doubled in size in just half an hour. So if you have a craving in mid-morning, this focaccia with rosemary and truffle oil can be freshly baked in time for lunch.
Ingredients
- Yeast: I used instant yeast, but you can also use active dry yeast.
- Flour: I used strong bread flour (also known as bread flour) as it has the highest protein content. It is available in most grocery stores, but if you don't have you can use all-purpose flour (or plain flour) instead.
- Good quality Olive & Truffle oil: The best truffle oil contains actual truffles (for example, Tuber melanosporum) and not just flavoring. Check the ingredients label.
- Salt: This can be coarse salt or flaky sea salt.
- Lukewarm water: The temperature of the water is important. Too cold and the yeast won't activate; too hot and the yeast will die. Don't accidentally kill your yeast!
- Rosemary: Fresh sprigs of rosemary
See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full quantities.
How to make Rosemary Focaccia
- Weigh out your flour and put it into a large mixing bowl. Add the instant yeast and mix thoroughly before adding the salt. Don't add the salt straight away, as it can kill the yeast.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the truffle oil to it, before slowly adding the water whilst stirring.
- When the dough comes together into one lump (so there is no flour at the bottom of the bowl as well as the sides of the bowl), turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until it is soft, smooth, and not sticky.
- Place the dough into a separate, clean, greased bowl and cover it with a tea towel before leaving it to rise in a warm place.
- After around 30 minutes, it should have doubled in size. Meanwhile, get a deep baking tray and smother it with olive oil.
- Now take it out of the bowl (it might stick to the edges, but that's fine, just scoop it all out) and put it into the well-oiled baking tray.
- Using your hands, press the dough into a flat shape right into the sides and corners of the tray. It will attempt to spring back, so be firm, and eventually, it will listen.
- Now pour over more truffle oil and scatter over sprigs of rosemary and more salt.
- Cover with a tea towel again to rise for the second time, and leave to prove for a further 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210 C / 410 F.
- Bake the focaccia in the oven for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown with a slight crunch and the center is fluffy and moist.
- Take it out of the oven and drizzle over more olive oil (or use a spray to get good distribution) and sprinkle over more salt before slicing it up and serving still warm from the oven. Yum.
Substitutions
Here are a few ways to change up this focaccia recipe
- Oil - don't like truffle? That's fair enough. Use normal olive oil instead.
- Herbs- try this with thyme or any other herbs you like!
- Other toppings - why not try something even fancier, like adding some caramelized onions, black olives, or roasted tomatoes on top?
Love the flavor of rosemary? Try my homemade rosemary salt or lamb rump roast with rosemary butter.
Troubleshooting
Baking can be unpredictable, and things can go wrong! The main problem bakers face is the dough not rising. If you're wondering why your dough hasn't risen, it could be one of these reasons!
- Your yeast may have been dead - check the use-by date or try a fresh packet.
- The water might have been too hot. I use water from the hot tap when it's about halfway to its highest temperature from the cold.
- It might need longer to prove or somewhere warmer. The ideal temperature for proving bread is 81°F (27°C).
Equipment
I use a deep-sided baking tray for this rosemary focaccia recipe, like this one.
Storage
Once baked, wrap this rosemary focaccia in foil to keep it fresh as long as possible.
You can also freeze it! Which works well if you want to make it in advance. When freezing it for a longer period of time, consider double wrapping it with plastic food wrap and then foil and then transferring it into an airtight container to avoid any chances of freezer burn.
Top tip
Don't use hot water from a boiled kettle; it always ends up being too hot even if you leave it to cool. I have killed many packets of yeast this way. Use tap water from the hot tap but use it just as begins to go warm.
FAQ
To maximize the flavor of rosemary, it's best to use fresh rosemary and chop or bruise them slightly before cooking. Adding rosemary early in the cooking process allows its flavor to infuse the dish.
To prevent rosemary from burning on focaccia, it's a good idea to place the rosemary leaves strategically on top of the dough. After shaping the dough and placing it on the baking sheet, press the rosemary leaves gently into the surface of the dough if possible for you. You can also drizzle a generous amount of olive oil over the rosemary, which acts as a protective layer during baking.
Drying out rosemary before cooking is not necessary for most recipes. In this recipe, I used fresh rosemary leaves. However, if you prefer a more intense rosemary flavor or want to use dried rosemary, you can dry it out beforehand.
Desserts to pair with Rosemary Focaccia
📖 Recipe
Rosemary focaccia with truffle oil
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 grams flour (strong bread flour)
- 7 grams yeast (fast action)
- 4 tablespoon truffle oil
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tbsp rosemary
- 400 ml water (warm)
- 1 tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Weigh out your flour and put it into a mixing bowl. Add the yeast and mix thoroughly, before adding the salt. Don't add the salt straight away as it can kill the yeast.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add two tablespoons of the truffle oil to it, before slowly adding the water whilst stirring.
- When the dough comes together into one lump turn it out onto a floured surface.
- Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until it is soft, smooth and not sticky.
- Place the dough into a separate, clean bowl and cover it with a tea towel before leaving it to rise in a warm place.
- After around 30 minutes it should have doubled in size. Meanwhile, get a deep baking tray and smother it with olive oil.
- Now take it out of the bowl (it might stick to the edges but that's fine, just scoop it all out) and put it into the well-oiled baking tray.
- Using your hands, press the dough into a flat shape right into the sides and corners of the tray. It will attempt to spring back, so be firm and eventually, it will listen.
- Now pour over more truffle oil and smooth over the entire surface. Scatter over sprigs of rosemary and more salt.
- Cover with a tea towel again and leave to prove for a further 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210 C / 410 F.
- Bake the focaccia in the oven for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown with a slight crunch and the centre is fluffy and moist.
- Take it out of the oven and drizzle over more olive or truffle oil (or use a spray to get good distribution) and sprinkle over more salt, before slicing it up and serving still warm from the oven. Yum.
Beth says
This was delicious and the perfect way to use the truffle oil I got given as a gift. Thanks for the recipe!