Olive & Asiago Focaccia
With a great texture and fantastic aroma, this bread is great for dipping in a dish of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, topped with shredded cheese to make some cheese bread, used to make sandwiches, or chopped up to make the best tasting croutons ever.
To start proofing the yeast, make sure your water is warm. An instant read thermometer is inexpensive and is invaluable around the kitchen – the water should be between 105°F-115°F. Not all yeasts will foam when activated, some will only look creamy and have a few bubbles. 
Once the dough is thick and smooth, pour it out onto a greased piece of parchment – sprinkle on a bit of cornmeal for a crunchier crust. Have a dish of water nearby and thoroughly wet your fingers, then flatten and pull the dough into the shape you want (1″ thick). Keep wetting your hands to prevent the dough from sticking.
To create the pockets for the spices, and give the bread a unique appearance, use the end of a wooden spoon that has been dipped in a mixture of olive oil and garlic. This will prevent it from sticking as you’re dimpling the dough, and will also imbed the garlic into the bread adding a wonderful flavor.
Add the toppings, and drizzle over the remaining oil and garlic mixture. You can finely chop the black olives, or slice them in half.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the cheese. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Olive & Asiago Focaccia
Ingredients
- 3 cups GFC All Purpose Flour Blend for Baking
- 2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ¼ cups warm water 110°F, divided
- 2 pkgs active dry yeast
- 1 Tbsp honey
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
Toppings
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 cup kalamata olives chopped or sliced
- 2 Tbsp rosemary leaves chopped
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ cup asiago cheese grated
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, gum and salt in a large bowl.
- In another bowl mix together 1 cup of warm water and the honey, then gently stir in the yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour yeast mixture in. Add egg whites and vinegar and beat at low speed until combined. Batter should be thick and smooth. If too thick to beat with a mixer, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time. Continue to beat for 3 more minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, spray with a bit of oil and sprinkle on a teaspoon or so of cornmeal if desired (makes a crunchier bottom crust). Make one large rectangular shape, or divide dough in a half and shape into two 8” rounds (1" thick). Use wetted hands to spread dough out, then let rest for 20 minutes in a warm area.
- Mix together the oil and garlic in a small dish. Dip the end of a wooden spoon into the oil mixture then randomly imprint the dough’s surface with dimples. Sprinkle the remaining topping ingredients over the surface (except the cheese), and lightly drizzle with the remaining oil mixture.
- Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Immediately sprinkle with the cheese, and allow to cool.
WHAT IS GFC???? ALL PURPOSE FLOUR????? DOES NOT SOUND LIKE
GLUTEN FREE IF IT IS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR.?????
can this recipe be made ahead to a certain point then frozen until ready to make the bread???
This printed out as 9 pages is it possible for it to be condensed for printing from your end?
Thanks for the recipe
Barb
My family loved it , but I can’t have garlic or onions what can I use instead . Georgina
Just omit the garlic completely. You can add other flavors of herbs if you like.
Yes. Once the dough has risen, freeze it at that point. When ready to bake it, allow it to thaw first, then bake as directed.
Don’t use you print button from your internet browser. Look where the recipe is – in the upper right corner of the dashed line all around the recipe is a print icon. If you click on that, only the recipe will print out.
Thank you so much for the reply. Will definitely give this a try. Also liked the mini donut idea but can not find mini trays at any of the local stores. Can order off the net! I do miss breads and donuts — wish me luck!!
GFC stands for our name – Gluten Free Club. We added those initials to the flour blend since we created that blend. If you click on that (blue colored text) ingredient within the recipe, it is a link and will redirect to our recipe for that specific type of gluten free flour blend we used in this recipe.
Before you order online, check out your local thrift stores (like Value Village, Salvation Army, GoodWill, St.Pauls DeVincent, etc) – depending on the store they have huge kitchen sections full of used baking pans and such – that is actually where I found my mini doughnut pan (for $4!). Let me know how they turn out once you get your hands on a pan!
Thank you for clarifying the type of flour. I almost had a heart attack. I knew this was a gluten free site.
Hi does anyone know how to make pan bread on the stove. My daughter used it make for my mum, and now I seem to have the same symptom I would like to make it for my self, but after all this time we have forgotten the recipe. Can anyone help
So far, I haven’t found a recipe easy enough for me (I’m a beginner at this), so I’ll give this one a try and let you know how it went. Thank you !
Thank you for sharing I will let you know how it turns out,
Hi can I make this without egg white and what can I use to substitute eggs?
Check out Dairy & Egg Substitutes, it will give you some ideas on what you can use to substitute the egg with. Although I haven’t used it specifically with this recipe, I’ve had success using chia seeds. Let us know what you used, and how it turns out!
Hello. Have these recipes been tried with store brand gluten free flour? I like the Krustaez brand. It doesn’t have potato starch , which I shouldn’t have) and it already has xanthum gum. Any tips would be great. Thanks
No I have only tried them with the flour blend I’ve listed (it’s my favorite 🙂 ). If you like Krustaez’s blend, by all means use that. It should produce results that you like (since you like the taste/texture of that blend). Have a great day!
I have Krustaaez’s too and also Pillsbury and was wondering the same thing… it I can use those flours that already have the xantham gum in them. I’m new at gluten free (and what a relief to my tummy) and don’tknow much about the flours but I have four bags and having trouble finding recipes using them.
If any flour blend you use contains xanthan gum, omit it from the recipes if its called for. Use the flour blend you like in place of all the various types of gluten free flours that can be called for in a recipe. For example, if a recipes calls for 1/2 cup tapioca flour, 1 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup potato starch – then substitute all that with 1 3/4 cups of your preferred flour blend. Personally I have tried all the packaged gluten free flour blends out there, and my favorite is still our: All-Purpose Baking Blend. But it all comes down to personal preference, and each flour blend produces baked goods with their own unique taste and textures. So I encourage you to try different blends out there (premixed, or from a recipe like ours), it’s a whole new world once you discover one that produces amazing results – without that yucky dry/gritty texture! There is more information on flour/starch substitutions in our article: Secret to Baking Gluten Free Bread