Cheesy Garlic Focaccia Bread
Cheesy Garlic Focaccia Bread
Cheesy Garlic Bread Focaccia is just the crispy bread recipe that you've been searching for! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, this focaccia is covered in melty cheese and delicious garlic butter sauce. It's a perfectly indulgent side dish, perfect for dipping in soup or marinara sauce.
Cheesy Garlic Bread Focaccia is just the crispy bread recipe that you've been searching for! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, this focaccia is covered in melty cheese and delicious garlic butter sauce. It's a perfectly indulgent side dish, perfect for dipping in soup or marinara sauce.
WHY I MADE THIS CHEESY GARLIC BREAD FOCACCIA
My Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Muffins were such a hit at Thanksgiving, and SO many of you agreed that recipe is definitely a keeper! I also saw many comments from you on how to upgrade the rosemary garlic focaccia muffins even better: ideas like adding garlic confit, melty cheese in the middle, deep frying the final result… yum.
There were so many delicious ideas, and of course I had to try some of them out. I really loved the idea of making cheesy garlic focaccia bread in particular. This is a weird thing about me, but I don’t love breads stuffed with cheesy or super melty cheese dishes (probably because it’s messy, maybe?). But when it comes to sprinkling cheese and garlic and butter on top of bread.. oh, yeah. I’m all in.
My Easy Fluffy Focaccia recipe is once again the base for this cheesy garlic bread focaccia recipe, because it’s truly so easy and adaptable for so many recipes. I’ve even used it in a sweet recipe: baklava focaccia (yup, it was delicious).
But this time, we’re making a pull apart version of focaccia that also happens to be completely coated in garlic butter in cheese. Hang on, because this one is going to be a new keeper!
MY GARLIC FOCACCIA BREAD RECIPE
The full recipe for my cheesy garlic focaccia bread is below–it’s super easy! But here’s the gist of it:
Focaccia Part one: Mix the yeast, honey, and water together in a large bowl. Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and mix everything with a large spoon. Drizzle olive oil on top of the dough, and gently turn the dough in the oil so it’s coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight.
Garlic butter: Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the minced parsley and garlic. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. Transfer the garlic butter to a bowl.
Focaccia Part two: Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled counter. Divide the dough in half, and then cut six pieces from each half for a total of twelve dough balls. Dip the dough balls in the garlic butter. Lay the dough snugly in the baking dish.
Bake: Bake for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese all over the top of the bread, and bake for 15 more minutes. Brush the hot focaccia with leftover garlic butter and sprinkle with the finishing salt.
CHEESY GARLIC FOCACCIA BREAD KEY INGREDIENTS
honey
bread flour
extra-virgin olive oil
parsley
garlic
mozzarella
HOW LONG DOES THIS FOCACCIASTAKE TO MAKE?
If you have time to wait: plan out two days to make this garlic bread focaccia. The reason why is because you will want to let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight for at least 8 hours. And then, once you take it out of the fridge the dough will need to rise for another two hours on the counter at room temperature.
Focaccia is easy to make because there’s very little hands-on time involved but you will need to wait a bit for the dough to rise. It’s very much worth the wait though!
If you don’t have time to spare: you can let the dough rise for just four hours on the counter instead, cutting your overall time by a lot. The focaccia will still taste amazing, it just won’t be as soft and springy if you do it this way.
HOW TO STORE THIS CHEESY FOCACCIA BREAD?
This cheesy garlic focaccia bread tastes best the day it’s made. I recommend serving it the same day that you bake it. Of course, if you do have leftovers you can store the bread in an airtight container for one to two days.
You don’t want to refrigerate the baked bread because it’ll dry out and get hard in the fridge. Reheat the focaccia in the oven at 375 for about 10-20 minutes to get it soft and crispy again.
FOCACCIA BREAD FAQ
1. I only have all purpose flour. Do I have to use bread flour?
No, you don’t have to use bread flour for this recipe. You are welcome to use all purpose flour if that’s what you have.
When I was testing this recipe, however, I found that using bread flour gives this focaccia a sturdier texture and more delicate chew, which is my personal recommendation for this recipe. I’ve also made them with all purpose flour and they came out good, but bread flour is my preference.
2. What type of yeast should I use?
Use any instant yeast for this recipe. My all time favorite ride-or-die yeast brand is Saf, which you can find HERE! This yeast has never failed me. It's very active and all of my breads rise perfectly with this yeast.
3. My focaccia didn’t rise! What happened?
Oh no! I hate when that happens. Check out my blog post 6 REASONS WHY YOUR DOUGH DIDN’T RISE to troubleshoot the problem.
4. Is this recipe vegan?
This cheesy focaccia recipe can easily be made vegan by swapping the honey for white sugar, or maple syrup. You can also brush the tops with melted vegan butter instead of regular butter if you’d like.
Feel free to try using a vegan mozzarella cheese, too, or leave it off altogether if you’d prefer to keep it completely vegan!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If you love this recipe be sure to leave a review! And feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments via my Contact page. You’ll hear back from me soon!
Find even more of my homemade recipes on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cheesy Garlic Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast*
- 1 tsp honey**
- 1 ¼ c warm water
- 2 1/2 c bread flour***
- 2 tsp sea salt
- ¼ c extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 8 tbsp butter
- 1/4 c parsley, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, grated or minced
- 1 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 tbsp finishing salt, like Le Saunier de Camargue Herbes De Provence Fleur de Sel
Instructions
- Cheesy Garlic Focaccia Bread
- Mix the yeast, honey, and water together in a large bowl. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes until the mixture gets foamy and yeasty. If your yeast doesn't foam at all at this point, toss it out and try different yeast.
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and mix everything with a large spoon or spatula until a rough dough forms. The dough may still seem wet and lumpy, but it should hold together.
- Drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil on top of the dough, and gently turn the dough in the oil so it’s coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight (8-24 hours), or, if you're in a hurry, on the counter for at least four hours. The dough will double in size.
- Garlic Butter
- Meanwhile, prepare the garlic butter by melting the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the minced parsley and garlic. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. You just want to wilt the parsley and soften the garlic a bit, but be careful not to burn it. Remove the pan from heat and allow it to cool slightly. Transfer the garlic butter to a bowl and set aside.
- Cheesy Garlic Focaccia Bread, cont.
- Grease an 8x8 baking dish with butter. Set aside.
- Once the dough is risen, drizzle an additional 2 tbsp of olive oil on the dough and give the dough a quick knead to deflate it in the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled counter. Pat it into a rough rectangle (the dough will still be a little sticky).
- Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, divide the dough in half, and then cut six pieces from each half for a total of twelve pieces of dough.
- Working one at a time, form the dough pieces into balls and dip them in the garlic butter, turning them so they're coated on all sides. Lay the dough snugly in the baking dish so they're touching. Reserve any leftover garlic butter, setting is aside.
- Allow the dough to rise, covered, for about 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 F degrees.
- Oil your hands and poke deep holes all over the dough. Don’t be shy–you want there to be lots of holes that touch the bottom of the pan!
- Bake the bread for about 15 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and sprinkle the mozzarella on top. Return to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes, until golden brown.
- Brush the hot focaccia with leftover garlic butter and sprinkle with the finishing salt.
Notes
*My ride-or-die yeast brand is Saf! This yeast has never failed me. It's very active and my breads rise perfectly with this yeast.
**Feel free to substitute the honey with equal parts white sugar or maple syrup, if vegan.
***I have also made this recipe with all purpose flour, and while the focaccia tasted great I prefer the texture that I get from bread flour.
Cheesy Garlic Bread Focaccia is the perfect crispy bread recipe that you've been searching for. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, this focaccia is covered in melty cheese and delicious garlic butter sauce. It's a perfectly indulgent side dish, perfect for dipping in soup or marinara sauce.