An easy and delicious aged cheddar and apple focaccia. This one is perfect for entertaining, as it pairs beautifully with wine and is easy to grab and enjoy.
This aged cheddar and apple focaccia is one of my favourite holiday offerings. It’s absolutely delicious, easy to make and goes beautifully with a glass of wine for entertaining. I think you will be amazed at how quickly it comes together. You can enjoy this lovely focaccia warm from the oven in a little over an hour!
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Cheese – Use a really great aged white cheddar cheese for this one, if you can. I love a 5-year old aged white cheddar. As there isn’t a ton of cheese on this focaccia, you really want the cheese to have a lot of flavour!
Apples – A red-skinned apple will give the prettiest results. Beyond that, any apple will work here.
Thyme – Fresh thyme leaves and sprigs are a nice addition to this one, though you can use dried thyme if that’s all you have on hand. Just use several pinches over the top.
Recipe tips!
- You can make this focaccia in a bowl with a spoon or in a stand mixer with a kneading hook. Either way, only add enough flour to just bring the dough together. Dough may be a bit sticky-looking still, but you can add a bit more on the work surface, as needed. Dough should be moist, but should not stick to your hands.
- I used a mandolin to slice my apples super thin. I recommend that you have one. If not, grab your sharpest knife and cut apple slices as thinly as you can. Just cut thin slices from opposite sides of the apple and stop when you reach the core. This way you’ll get equally-sized slices.
- If you like, you can drizzle a bit of nice honey on top of this one to serve, as well.
Storing and freezing focaccia
This one is best enjoyed on the day it is baked, but don’t hesitate to make it several hours ahead. Let sit loosely covered at room temperature until you are ready to enjoy. If you’d like to enjoy it slightly warm, simply set on a baking sheet and pop it into a 350F oven for a few minutes.
This focaccia should also freeze well. Thaw in its wrapping, then if you like, warm slightly on a baking sheet in a 350F. oven to “refresh”.
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Get the Recipe: Aged Cheddar and Apple Focaccia
Ingredients
For greasing the pan:
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
For the dough:
- 1 cup warm water, (105-115 F.)
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, less if using fine salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, less if using dried thyme
For the topping:
- 1 cup aged white cheddar cheese, shredded, packed
- 3-4 red apples, unpeeled and thinly sliced down the sides, avoiding core
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
For finishing:
- Flaky salt
- leaves Fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. (regular bake setting/not fan assisted) Grease a 9×13-inch baking sheet with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a kneading hook, combine the warm water and honey and stir well. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
- Add 2 cups of the flour, the salt and thyme leaves and knead in. Continue adding the remaining flour in small increments, as needed, until dough wraps the hook (or spoon) and cleans the bowl in spots. Dough will be moist and may look a bit sticky still.
- Generously flour a work surface. Remove dough to work surface and lightly flour the top of the dough, then form in to a ball. Cover with a clean tea towel and let stand 10 minutes.
- Gently press dough in to prepared baking pan, using your fingertips to stretch and push it so it fills the entire pan. Work as gently as possible so you don’t remove all the air from the dough. Cover dough with a clean tea towel and let stand 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare your apple slices. To slice, take thin slices from opposite sides of the apple, slicing from top to bottom in very thin slices and stopping when you reach the core. Discard or save remaining apple for another purpose. Set aside.
- Use your fingertips to make some indentations in the dough. Scatter dough with 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Top with sliced apples, covering most, but not all of the top surface, over-lapping slightly here and there. Place 3 thyme sprigs randomly on top of apples. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
- Bake in preheated 400F. oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and scatter remaining cheese on top. Return to oven for a further 3-5 minutes, or until cheese has melted. If desired, pop under the oven broiler for a short time to brown cheese a bit. Remove from oven. Allow to stand a couple of minutes, then loosen from pan and slice focaccia on to a cooling rack. While warm, top with a sprinkling of flaky salt and a scattering of a few fresh thyme leaves.
- To serve, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut in to serving pieces. Drizzle with a bit of nice honey to serve, if you like.
Notes
More focaccia recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Jennifer, are you using a 9×13 shallow sheet pan for this or a 9×13 baking pan? Some focaccia use the deeper pan but wasn’t sure what you were using as a baking sheet.
Hi Den, I usually use a 9×13 baking pan, as I like soft sides, but either will work.
Jennifer, wondering rather than reheating, if the dough can be made and pressed into pan and refrigerated. Then when ready leave out room temp add toppings and bake and serve fresh. Does this make any sense or do you see pitfalls?
ps, I don’t see where you talk about using a vitamix yet comments do!
Hi Den, it may work just fine, but it’s not something I’ve tested with this recipe, so can’t say for sure. Also, this recipe was originally developed with a vitamix, but I reworked it to make it more widely usable, as not everyone has a vitamix :)