Festive Holiday Foccacia

Focaccia is the perfect bread for making during the holidays since it is so warm, fragrant, and perfect for sharing. This year, I wanted to create a festive twist for the holiday season, inspired by the winter ingredients I love cooking with on the West Coast. So I made this Festive Holiday Focaccia that is decorated to look like a Christmas tree using rosemary, greenhouse cherry tomatoes, shallots, and black olives. It is so delicious and incredibly fun to assemble!

Recipe developed in collaboration with Langley Farm Market.

Using Seasonal Winter Ingredients

Foccacia is such a great recipe since it’s satisfying and can take on any flavourings that you add to it. In this recipe, I used seasonal winter herbs like rosemary and thyme. When used fresh, they provide a bright and savoury flavour which compliments the bread and the other toppings as well.

Speaking of the toppings, I used greenhouse cherry tomatoes to bring brightness and sweetness, sliced shallots to add a bit of onion flavour, and briny black olives for a savoury flavour. You can mix up the toppings as desired, but this trio really tastes delicious and is a classic foccacia topping!

How to Decorate the Christmas Tree

After stretching your focaccia dough into a rectangular baking pan, drizzle it generously with olive oil and gently dimple the surface with your fingertips before decorating as desired. Here are some of my tips for decorating the foccacia in a simple tree design:

1. Create the “tree” shape: Pluck the clusters of rosemary leaves from the stems and form the outline of the tree, angling the branches as desired. Because you are using only the rosemary tips (and not the woody stems), everything on the bread will be tender and easy to eat. You can add one or two stems to form a trunk, if desired, but remove before serving.
2. Add your decorations: Arrange the cherry tomatoes, sliced shallots, and black olives as ornaments.
3. Finish with more olive oil and sea salt: A final sprinkle of olive oil and flaky sea salt is a classic way to finish off a foccacia.

Pro tip: To avoid the herbs from burning as it bakes, tent the foccacia lightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes covered, then remove the foil and bake for the last 10 minutes uncovered.

Pick Up Your Ingredients at Langley Farm Market

Make this Festive Holiday Focaccia with the freshest local and seasonal ingredients. From fragrant rosemary and thyme to sweet greenhouse cherry tomatoes and shallots, you can pick up everything you need for this recipe at Langley Farm Market. Visit them to stock up and start baking!

Get the Recipe: Festive Holiday Focaccia

Festive Holiday Focaccia

Melissa

This Festive Holiday Focaccia is the perfect holiday baking project. It uses seasonal winter herbs including rosemary and thyme to flavour the dough, and is decorated in a holiday-themed design using greenhouse cherry tomatoes, shallots, and black olives. It is simple to make and is ideal for holiday entertaining!

No ratings yet

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Resting Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8

Calories 302 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the Dough

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup olive oil plus more for greasing and drizzling
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

For the Toppings

• 8 rosemary stems leaves picked off (discard the woody stems)
• 10 cherry tomatoes halved or left whole
• 1 shallot thinly sliced
• 4 black olives sliced into rings
• Fresh thyme leaves for sprinkling
• Flaky sea salt
• Olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

 

To Make the Dough:

• In a large bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. Let stand for 10 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.
• Add the chopped rosemary and thyme to the bowl along with the sea salt, olive oil and flour. Mix until a shaggy dough forms, then knead for 3 to 4 minutes until smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
• Brush a 9×13-inch baking pan generously with olive oil. Transfer the foccacia dough to the pan. Using your fingers, gently stretch and press the dough to fill the entire pan, creating an even layer.
• Cover and let the dough rise for a second time, about 30 minutes
• Once the dough has risen, drizzle the surface generously with olive oil. Use your fingertips to create dimples all over the surface of the dough.

To Decorate and Bake:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Decorate the focaccia as desired using the rosemary leaves, cherry tomatoes, shallots, and olives. Before baking, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
• Tent the foccacia loosely with aluminum foil to prevent the herbs from burning. Bake the focaccia for 20 minutes, then remove the foil, and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown and crisp around the edges.
• Let the focaccia cool in the pan for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 302kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 7gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 112mgPotassium: 143mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 190IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 23mgIron: 3mg

Keyword foccacia, holiday foccacia, winter baking, winter recipe

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!