Focaccia is a fluffy and soft Italian bread that is flat and savory and needs just herbs, olive oil and salt. You can eat it plain or as a base for a variety of toppings such as rosemary, cherry tomatoes, garlic, sage or any other ingredient you love.
Here is a very easy gluten-free, vegan recipe for Valentine’s Day & not only for that day.
The main that I’m giving you with this recipe is the decoration on top and that we carve/cut it beforehand so that it is in small pieces on your table and of course decorated according to the requirements of Valentine’s day.
But it’s not just for Valentine’s Day, it’s for every day you want to show your love to the ones you love and make each day special. We should celebrate love and romance every day and not just one day a year.
Focaccia is probably the most famous type of bread in Italy. It is thicker than 1.5cm/ 0.6” inches. I would say it is very similar to Greek Lagana, that traditionally baked for Clean Monady (for the gluten-free recipe, see here). It can be served as a bread in meals or as a sandwich bread and can have various shape: round, rectangular or square.
Focaccia did not become famous by chance. After all it is one of the tastiest breads that you can prepare without special ingredients or sophisticated equipment.
Its most representative feature is its slightly crispy crust combined with its fluffy and chewy crumb. I achieved this feature with the Italian gluten free flour Caputo’s Fioreglut.
But also with other flours that I have made, it has become a favorite of my family. There are several times I have made it with whatever flour I had leftover in the cupboard, such as: – Freee’s rice flour, – Schär’s Mix B, Bread flour, – Schär’s Mix it Farina flour, – Akis’ corn starch, – Caputo’s Fioreglut flour mix.
Pizza bianca, the focaccia of Rome that has their particularly fluffy and puffy dough, is due to the increased liquid content in the dough recipe, which also greatly favors of ours gluten-free flours. Soda water / club soda helps the dough rise tremendously and as you can tell it has become my go-to dough ingredient. Be careful that to use Soda water / club soda and not sparkling water.
Tip: Check off the ingredients you have used in the recipe or note the ingredients you have and add the rest to you shopping list to buy them. - Attention: All ingredients must be checked that are Gluten-Free and without traces of gluten.
Abbreviations: g=grams • kg= kilograms • cup=250 ml • tsp= teaspoon=5 ml • tbsp= tablespoon=3 tsp=15 ml • ml= millilitre= (1ml=0.034 fl oz / 1fl oz=29.6 ml) • l=litre/liter=1000ml
Mix the yeast with the sugar and warm water and leave it in a warm place for 1 hour so that the yeast activates.
Once the yeast is ready, add the olive oil and soda water.
Sift the flour, add the salt and yeast mixture. Mix well with an egg beater to make the dough.
Depending on the flour you will use, the dough/batter will become either a rather liquid batter or a soft dough that sticks to the hands. Oil your hands so you can peel it out of the bowl and shape it.
Line with a parchment paper a pan sized approx. 35Χ40cm / 13.8”X15.8” and spread the polenta and olive oil.
Pour the dough/batter into the pan. And as I mentioned above, depending on the flour you use, it will become either a liquid dough or a soft dough that sticks to the hands. If the dough is relatively runny, like a batter, then with the help of a spatula you will spread it all over the pan. It helps to grease with oil the spatula a little so that the dough does not stick. If it is quite firmly dough, you will spread it with your hands. Oily a little bit your hands for help at opening the dough and also not to stick to your hands.
Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour. I preheated the oven to 50°C/120°F and I turned it off when I put the dough to rise.
In a small bowl, mix a tablespoon of olive oil with half a teaspoon of paprika and set aside.
Once the dough has raised up, optionally with a knife that you have oiled, you carve/cut it into small squares.
You use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and after dipping it in the olive oil with paprika, you press it into each square that you cut it. Set aside whatever of the mixture oil with paprika is left.
If you like cherry tomatoes, like me and want to use them, we use the variety that is like acorn because they are long and narrow and you can easily make hearts out of them. Cut them diagonally in half and turn half of it and thus make hearts and place them in the squares.
Optionally, sprinkle a pinch of salt or whatever salt you want on top and fresh or dried oregano. I also added freshly ground pink pepper which gives a strong aroma without the burn.
Drizzle with a little more olive oil to give it a nicer golden-brown color while baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 250°C / 480°F for about 20 minutes.
Optionally, after baking, brush the hearts with the olive oil and paprika mixture so that they have a slightly more reddish color. As you will see in the video, I made all 3 designs together because I like cherry tomatoes. And of the hearts that I made with the cookie cutter, I only brush the half of them with paprika on top for my husband who likes smoked parika, while I left some of them as they are because my son likes it that way more.
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the yeast with the sugar and warm water and leave it in a warm place for 1 hour so that the yeast activates.
Once the yeast is ready, add the olive oil and soda water.
Sift the flour, add the salt and yeast mixture. Mix well with an egg beater to make the dough.
Depending on the flour you will use, the dough/batter will become either a rather liquid batter or a soft dough that sticks to the hands. Oil your hands so you can peel it out of the bowl and shape it.
Line with a parchment paper a pan sized approx. 35Χ40cm / 13.8”X15.8” and spread the polenta and olive oil.
Pour the dough/batter into the pan. And as I mentioned above, depending on the flour you use, it will become either a liquid dough or a soft dough that sticks to the hands. If the dough is relatively runny, like a batter, then with the help of a spatula you will spread it all over the pan. It helps to grease with oil the spatula a little so that the dough does not stick. If it is quite firmly dough, you will spread it with your hands. Oily a little bit your hands for help at opening the dough and also not to stick to your hands.
Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour. I preheated the oven to 50°C/120°F and I turned it off when I put the dough to rise.
In a small bowl, mix a tablespoon of olive oil with half a teaspoon of paprika and set aside.
Once the dough has raised up, optionally with a knife that you have oiled, you carve/cut it into small squares.
You use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and after dipping it in the olive oil with paprika, you press it into each square that you cut it. Set aside whatever of the mixture oil with paprika is left.
If you like cherry tomatoes, like me and want to use them, we use the variety that is like acorn because they are long and narrow and you can easily make hearts out of them. Cut them diagonally in half and turn half of it and thus make hearts and place them in the squares.
Optionally, sprinkle a pinch of salt or whatever salt you want on top and fresh or dried oregano. I also added freshly ground pink pepper which gives a strong aroma without the burn.
Drizzle with a little more olive oil to give it a nicer golden-brown color while baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 250°C / 480°F for about 20 minutes.
Optionally, after baking, brush the hearts with the olive oil and paprika mixture so that they have a slightly more reddish color. As you will see in the video, I made all 3 designs together because I like cherry tomatoes. And of the hearts that I made with the cookie cutter, I only brush the half of them with paprika on top for my husband who likes smoked parika, while I left some of them as they are because my son likes it that way more.
See the following video to found out how easy this recipe is:
- I have tried it with various flours and it always works well. Specifically, this focaccia in the photo was made with left over left over gf flour I had: – Freee’s rice flour, – Schär’s Mix B, Bread flour, – Schär’s Mix it Farina flour, – Akis’ corn starch, – Caputo’s Fioreglut flour mix.
- It requires a little attention to the water that you will mix with the yeast. It should be lukewarm around 38°C /100°F. If it’s colder it will just slow down the activation of the yeast, so you’ll need to wait extra hour. But if it is hotter, it will burn the yeast and it will not activate. My opinion, better colder water and let’s wait longer for the yeast to activate.
- Another trick for the activation of the yeast (that I’ve been doing lately), is to put it in a deep bowl such as the one for 1kgr yogurt package and leave it on the heat radiator which is hot at winter time. Be careful, it needs a quite deep bowl because the yeast is it inflates a lot and you don’t want to overflow.
- Depending on the flour you will use, the dough will either be batter or soft dough that sticks to the hands. You will be able to easily detach this dough from the bowl and shape it, if you oil your hands.
- You can also use red pepper cut into small hearts for decoration.
Good Luck and Bon Appétit!!!
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I don’t want to miss any of your creations!
Take a photo & upload it to Instagram tagging me @vivoglutenfreecom so I can also be proud for you.
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