Bake up a batch of thyme focaccia topped with gruyère cheese. This combination makes a delicious fall focaccia, perfect for a holiday side dish.
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This might just be my new favorite flavor combination for Italian focaccia! After going to culinary school in Italy, I became obsessed with making many different flavors of focaccia.
This recipe is packed with cheesy gruyère and fresh thyme. It's my ideal fall flavored focaccia bread!
Not only does this recipe use the classic Italian method to make focaccia. It also provides you with crispy, light, and fluffy bread. I promise, you're going to love this one!
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- How to make focaccia with step-by-step photos. There's no need to be scared about baking bread at home.
- Some secrets to authentic Italian focaccia bread that you won't learn in other recipes!
- How to store and reheat focaccia, so it always tastes fresh and delicious.
If you enjoy learning how to bake, don't forget to grab my free eBook with helpful secrets about baking better bread:
Ingredients You Need
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make Italian gruyère and thyme focaccia bread.
- Bread flour: It's important to use bread flour for this recipe. Bread flour has a higher protein content compared to all purpose flour, giving you a chewy bite on the focaccia.
- Instant dry yeast: Yeast is a necessary ingredient for bread making as it allows the dough to rise. Before baking, check that your yeast has not expired. If you only have active dry yeast on hand, you can substitute instant yeast for 2 ½ teaspoons of active dry yeast.
- Water: When mixing water with your yeast and flour, be sure the water is at room temperature. Water temperatures around 140°F (60°C) will kill the yeast because it's too hot.
- Granulated sugar: Sugar is an ingredient in bread that does a small but mighty job. The sugar caramelizes when baked, allowing the bread to take on a beautiful golden brown color.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil is a staple in Italian cooking. Be sure to use high-quality extra virgin olive oil for the best possible flavor in your focaccia. If you're interested in learning more, check out my guide to Italian olive oil.
- Fine sea salt: Salt plays a few important roles in this authentic focaccia recipe. First, it enhances the flavor of the other ingredients.
It also helps tighten the gluten net so the dough can become more resistant and elastic. You'll see this in action once you add the salt to the dough and the olive oil immediately starts to absorb. - Gruyère cheese: Don't use pre-shredded gruyère. Instead, cut it up into small bite-sized pieces.
- Thyme: If you don't have access to fresh thyme, dried will also work.
- Maldon sea salt flakes: You'll also need some flakey salt to sprinkle on top of the focaccia. I would not suggest using iodized table salt for this step. You'll need either flaky sea salt or Morton kosher salt.
How To Make This Recipe
1. Mix bread flour and instant dry yeast in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment on medium-low speed. With the mixer running, slowly add water in three batches. Allow the flour to completely absorb the water before adding the next batch.
2. Add sugar, then mix to combine. Slowly pour the extra virgin olive oil into the center of the dough in four batches. Mix on medium-low speed and allow the flour to absorb the oil before adding the next batch. The extra virgin olive oil takes a while to incorporate.
You can use a silicone spatula to flip the dough over periodically to help the dough hook catch and knead in the oil. Once you’ve added in your last batch of olive oil, add fine sea salt and mix thoroughly until all the oil has been absorbed.
3. Bump the mixer speed up to high and mix until you hear a popping sound and the dough wraps around the dough hook, about 1 - 2 minutes. The dough will be smooth but very sticky.
4. Roll the dough into a tight ball, then place it in an oiled bowl roughly three times the size of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until tripled in size.
5. Generously oil the bottom and sides of a 12 x 18 inch (30 x 45 cm) light colored sheet pan with extra virgin olive oil. Use gravity to allow the dough to naturally stretch until it reaches the edge of the sheet pan.
If you notice the dough pulling back to the center, allow it to rest in the sheet pan for an additional 10 minutes, then continue stretching.
6. Whisk water and extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl until combined.
Use your fingertips to make indentations on top of the focaccia dough. Evenly pour the water and oil mixture over the dimpled focaccia.
7. Top with gruyère cheese, thyme, and sea salt flakes.
Cover sheet pan with plastic wrap and allow it to proof in a warm (75°F - 80°F or 24°C - 27°C), draft-free place until tripled in size, about 60 minutes.
8. Carefully remove plastic wrap from the sheet pan without knocking any air out of the bread dough. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown and crispy on the top.
Place focaccia on a cooling rack and cover with a tea towel. Allow the focaccia to cool to room temperature before removing from the pan and slicing into individual pieces.
Expert Tips
- I don't recommend storing the focaccia bread at room temperature unless you plan on eating it that same day. Focaccia is an Italian bread that should always be reheated before it's served. Because of this, I'd suggest storing the focaccia in an airtight bag in the freezer until you're ready to serve. It stays better for longer in the freezer without going stale.
- I would not recommend substituting bread flour for all purpose flour. It will not yield a focaccia bread as fluffy, crispy, or delicious.
- For a warm, draft-free environment that's perfect for proofing the focaccia, turn your oven on a low-temperature, warm setting and place the focaccia dough on top of the oven (not inside).
Recipe FAQs
Your final baked focaccia bread should be about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) thick.
This dough takes multiple hours to rise. It took almost 3 - 5 hours to rise when I tested the recipe.
The temperature of your house as well as the temperature outdoors can affect the rise time. In general, the colder your environment, the longer it takes for the dough to rise.
If you've waited 5 - 8 hours for the dough to rise and it still hasn't tripled in size, your yeast is likely dead. I would suggest purchasing new yeast and re-making the recipe.
Focaccia is a very light and airy bread. During the baking process, be careful with the dough so you retain as much air as possible.
Especially during the proofing stage (the rise before the bread goes into the oven to bake), be careful not to re-indent the bread with your fingers, as this will push all of the air out of the dough and make it dense.
Additionally, check that your yeast has not expired. Expired yeast could also lead to dense focaccia bread because it wasn't able to properly rise.
I like to allow my dough to rise during the bulk fermentation stage near a sunny window.
For the proofing stage, I place it on top of my oven. Turn your oven on to a low temperature (170°F - 200°F or 76°C - 93°C). This will allow the top of the oven to heat up just enough, around 75°F - 80°F (24°C - 27°C), and create the perfect environment.
Be sure not to place the bread inside the oven at this stage.
Store focaccia bread in an airtight bag in the freezer until you're ready to serve. The freezer keeps the bread fresh longer than allowing it to sit out on a counter at room temperature.
To serve and reheat, heat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place focaccia slices on top. Then, bake for 18 -20 minutes until the focaccia is warmed through and crunchy on the outside.
More Focaccia Recipes
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Gruyère & Thyme Italian Focaccia
Equipment
- metal half sheet pan (12 x 18 x 1 inch)
- tea towel
Ingredients
Focaccia Dough
- 6 ¼ cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water (105°F - 115°F or 40°C - 46°C)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
Focaccia Topping
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for greasing the sheet pan
- ¼ cup room temperature water
- 7 ounces gruyère cheese sliced into small cubes
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons Maldon sea salt flakes
Instructions
For Focaccia Dough
- Mix bread flour and instant dry yeast in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment on medium low speed. With the mixer running, slowly add water in three batches. Allow the flour to completely absorb the water before adding the next batch.
- Add sugar; mix thoroughly.
- Slowly pour extra virgin olive oil in the center of the dough in four batches. Mix on medium low speed and allow the flour to absorb the oil before adding the next batch. The extra virgin olive oil takes a while to incorporate. Use a silicone spatula to flip the dough over periodically to help the dough hook catch and knead in the oil. Once you’ve added in your last batch of olive oil, add fine sea salt and mix thoroughly until all the oil has absorbed.
- Bump the mixer speed up to high and mix until you hear a popping sound and the dough wraps around the dough hook, about 1 - 2 minutes. The dough will be smooth but very sticky.
- Roll the dough into a tight ball, then place in an oiled bowl roughly three times the size of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until tripled in size. Rise time will vary depending on the temperature of your environment.
For Focaccia Topping
- Generously oil the bottom and sides of a 12 x 18 inch (30 x 45 cm) light colored sheet pan with extra virgin olive oil. Use gravity to allow the dough to naturally stretch until it reaches the edge of the sheet pan. If you notice the dough pulling back to center, allow it to rest in the sheet pan for an additional 10 minutes, then continue stretching.
- Whisk ¼ cup (50 grams) water and ¼ cup (50 grams) extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl until combined.
- Use your fingertips to make indentations on top of the focaccia dough. Evenly pour the water and oil mixture on top of the dimpled focaccia. Top with gruyère cheese, thyme, and sea salt flakes.
- Cover sheet pan with plastic wrap and allow to proof in a warm (75°F - 80°F or 24°C - 27°C), draft-free place until tripled in size, about 60 minutes.
- Place oven rack in an upper middle slot. Heat oven to 430°F (220°C).
- Carefully remove plastic wrap from sheet pan without knocking any air out of the bread dough. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown and crispy on the top. Place focaccia on a cooling rack and cover with a tea towel. Allow focaccia to cool to room temperature before removing from the pan and slicing into individual pieces.
- To serve, heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place focaccia slices on top. Bake for 18 -20 minutes until warmed through and crunchy on the outside.
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