Delicious, thick, but light in texture, this roasted tomato focaccia is flavoured and topped with garlic, herbs, olive oil and roasted tomatoes.

roasted tomato focaccia sliced

Believe it or not, even after I made 5 batches of Roasted Tomato Marinara, I still had a few roma tomatoes left. So I roasted them off whole and used them to make this delicious Roasted Tomato and Garlic Focaccia.

It’s really easy to roast off roma tomatoes whole. Simply toss with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper, cut a slit in each one (so they don’t explode :) and roast in a hot oven for about an hour. Transfer to a bag and refrigerate or freeze. Use them just as you would canned whole tomatoes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here are the simple ingredients you will need …

Yeast – you can use either Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast to make this focaccia.

Tomatoes – fresh roma or plum tomatoes are best, but you can also use whole canned plum tomatoes, drained well.

Garlic powder – garlic powder is used here instead of fresh garlic, as the fresh garlic tends to scorch when exposed on the topping. Scorched garlic is not a pleasant flavour, so the powder brings the flavour without that risk.

Recipe Tips

As for the focaccia, I baked mine up in a brownie pan, that is 7×11, so it’s nice and thick. If you don’t have that size of pan, just use an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan. A 9×13-inch pan would be too big, as the focaccia would be far too thin.

Serve this focaccia with a bit of olive oil/balsamic for dipping and enjoy as a snack, with a salad or in place of garlic bread with your pasta. Freezes well, so don’t worry about left-overs going to waste.

tomato focaccia sliced on cooling rack

Making ahead, Storing and Freezing

This focaccia is best enjoyed on the day it is baked, but is still quite nice the next day. You can also freeze focaccia up to 2 months.

tomato focaccia sliced on cooling rack

Get the Recipe: Roasted Tomato Focaccia

Delicious roasted tomato focaccia bread, flavoured and topped with garlic and herbs and roasted roma tomatoes. Freezes well.
5 stars from 3 ratings
Prep Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

For the focaccia dough:

  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
  • 3/4 cup water, lukewarm
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, use less if using fine salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, *see Note 1 below
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

Herb oil:

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh basil leaves, chopped, or 3/4 tsp. dried basil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped, or 3/4 tsp. dried parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 8 Roasted Roma Tomatoes, or 8 canned plum tomatoes drained, (roasting instructions below)
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
 

  • *To Roast Roma Tomatoes: Preheat oven to 425 F. Toss roma tomatoes in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cut a small slit in the top of each tomato. Roast in preheated oven for about 1 hour. Cool, then transfer to a bowl or bag and refrigerate or freeze for later.
  • To make the focaccia dough: In a large bowl of the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast with the warm water and sugar. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Add olive oil, salt, garlic powder and 2 cups of the flour. Mix to combine. Start adding additional flour, in small increments, until you have a smooth, moist dough.
  • Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Shape in to a ball, cover with a clean tea towel and let stand 20 minutes.
  • Prepare the Herb Oil: Combine all the Herb Oil ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
  • Once focaccia dough has rested, grease a 7x11-inch pan (or 8 or 9-inch round cake pagenerously with olive oil. Roll out the dough in to the exact size of your pan (using a bit of flour if sticky), then transfer to your prepared pan, pressing it right out to the edges of the pan with your finger-tips. Spread herb oil evenly over-top and refrigerate dough, uncovered for 3 hours.
  • After 3 hours, remove focaccia from refrigerator. Drain any liquid from the tomatoes and hand-crush them over-top of your focaccia, keeping them quite chunky. Top with some grated parmesan cheese.
  • Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover focaccia loosely with greased plastic wrap and set pan on top of preheating oven to rise for 30-40 minutes, or until dough has risen slightly above the sides of the pan.
  • Bake in 325 F. oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cut into square, wedges or slices and enjoy as is or serve with an olive oil/balsamic dip. Freezes well.

Notes

  1. I prefer to use garlic powder here vs. fresh garlic, as fresh garlic tends to burn on top of the focaccia, which instroduces a bitter flavour to the bread. If you'd prefer to use fresh garlic, use 2 or 3 cloves chopped and place them underneath the tomatoes to keep them from scorching.
Cuisine: American, Canadian
Course: Bread
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 240kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 370mg, Potassium: 163mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 421IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 22mg, Iron: 2mg
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