Vegan focaccia or traditional focaccia bread has gained such popularity that it can be found almost anywhere in the world. However, not all of them taste like you are biting into heaven. We want our focaccia to distinguish from tasting like another basic bread.
There are few secrets that we will discuss here that will make your bread soft and fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. But if I was to keep this brief I would say, time, mashed potato and high quality olive oil are essential in is making an authentic focaccia.
However, focaccia is one of the easiest breads to make, believe it or not, anyone can pull this off if they follow the recipe.
What is different about this recipe?
- Mashed potatoes: One thing that I always do when making vegan focaccia, is adding mashed potatoes to my dough, in my opinion it will make the bread magical.
- High quality olive oil! this is also something that is non-negotiable. Average olive oil can ruin the experience, I assure you.
- Three dough proofs: time and patience as I said .. but please bare with me, it will all be worth it at the end.
Ingredients you need for vegan focaccia:
– 4 cups bread flour
– 3 tsp white sugar
– 2 tsp salt
– 2 tsp instant / rapid rise yeast
– 1 1/2 cups very warm water
– 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
– 1 cup boiled and mashed potato
Popular toppings for focaccia:
There are few popular toppings for focaccia such as, garlic and rosemary, black olive etc. But in this recipe I’ve used basil and rosemary and tomato and rosemary.
Instructions for focaccia dough:
- Make mashed potato: Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes and boil them until they become tender, mash them really well until they are fully lump free, set aside to cool.
- Mix the dry ingredients, place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and mix well with spatula.
- Make a hole in the centre, then slowly add the olive oil and warm water. Mix with spatula until the ingredients are mixed completely and there is not dry flour.
The first rise:
Cover bowl with cling wrap, then place it in a warm place for up to 1 hour until it doubles in size.
The second rise: Get another large bowl, drizzle with 2 teaspoons of olive oil then use your hands to smear it around the bowl. Shape into ball, cover with cling wrap and put the bowl in a warm place for one hour.
Now for the next step..
- Prepare a nonstick metal pan and pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil smear along the walls. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- In the pan stretch and pull the dough until the whole pan is covered, then cover the dough with cling wrap and again then put in a warm place for one hour until the dough rises again by 30%.
Now use your favourite toppings and drizzled more olive oil on the surface sprinkle with sea salt flakes and bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden and crispy and let it cool and rest for 10 minutes before cutting to serve and enjoy.
