Easy and delicious apple focaccia, with aged cheddar. 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 be enjoying this lovely focaccia warm from the oven in a little over an hour!
Ingredients and Substitutions
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 if you have one. If not, grab your sharpest knife and cut apple slices as thinly as you can. Just cut thin slices from apposite 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”.
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 9x13-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!
Hi Jennifer,
I’m visiting this recipe again! I’ve made it several times & will again this week….
it’s always well received😊
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your delicious recipe!
Mary
I’m so glad you are enjoying it, Mary! Thanks so much :)
Has anyone tried this with parmesan instead of cheddar? Would like to know if the pair is nice.
This recipe is a gem!!! I’ve made it now more times than I can remember. It’s easy to make and always works out perfectly. It has wowed everyone I have served it to. It’s a keeper and rapidly became one of my forever recipes.
So glad you are enjoying it, Dave! Thanks so much :)
I have also made your recipe and left out the apples so that I can make croutons. It makes the most exquisite croutons.
It has never occurred to me to make croutons out of focaccia! A great tip that I’ll be trying soon :)
Jennifer,
I made this for a dinner party last night and it disappeared in a flash. They loved it, me too! My food processor worked great to make the dough and will now use it for other breads. Never had used it before so thanks for the heads up on a quick mix.
So glad! I love this flatbread dough and this topping in particular. I could eat it every day :) Thanks!
What if your vitamin doesn’t have a pulse setting (older model)?
Hi Jennifer, You could try just a quick on and off, to replicate the pulse. Just make sure it’s not straining your machine at all. If it is, just dump it on to a floured surface and knead a bit by hand.
I’ve never used a blender for focaccia, can’t wait to try. Great video! And of course you had me at bread and cheese!
Thanks Cathy and yes, bread and cheese are my two favourite words :)
This is one beautiful savory bread! Love pairing of aged cheddar and apple – such a classic :)
Thanks Laura and yes, it’s delicious together :)
I would have never thought to make bread in a vitamix but I love the idea! I’m going to try it with pizza dough too!
It worked a charm, Sara and yes, I think it would be great for pizza dough, too :)
What a nice treat to serve at a cocktail party…just pinned.
Thanks so much, Karen :)
The Vitamix blender is magical, lol. That’s what I say when friends ask me why I get so excited about mine. There’s nothing it can’t do! Have you made soup in it yet, Jennifer? That was mind-blowing!
This is so beautiful and will be perfect over the holidays!
Thanks Robyn and no, I haven’t tried soup yet, but my daughter keeps talking about how it blends AND HEATS! That is magical :)
Would you happen to know the weight of the cheese used? I find it so much easier to use a weight with cheese since the size it’s grated and how tightly you pack it can vary so much.
Hi Annie and no, sorry, I didn’t weigh the cheese (so few people seem to have a scale). I packed my 1 cup measure pretty well. For this kind of recipe it’s not super important to be completely precise when it comes to the cheese. It’s more important to use a good, aged cheese with lots of flavour, I think.
Thanks Jennifer. I couldn’t live without my scale – it makes baking so much easier. I’ll be trying this recipe over the weekend.
I’m the same Susan! I love my scale and baking by weight. Do enjoy this focaccia! :)
What can’t the Vitamix do? This is awesome, I love how you’ve decorated the top of the bread, Jennifer, it’s a showstopper!
Thanks Sue :) It was super easy too, so win win!
I had no idea you could make dough in a Vitamix! Focaccia is one of my all-time favorite breads – and this combination of cheddar and apples must be wonderful. Love your video too!
Thanks Tricia and it was a revelation for me, as well, but it handled it beautifully!
Oh my word! Another one for my “must make” list!
Thanks Chris and yes, you won’t be disappointed in this focaccia. So good!!
I love foccacia Jennifer. I haven’t made it in quite a while either. I had no idea you could use a Vitamix to make the dough. I love the apple and the cheddar combo. Looks absolutely delicious!
Thanks Mary Ann and it really is delicious! I just love the apple cheddar combination. It was absolutely perfect with a glass of white :)