Three Flavour Focaccia

We found this focaccia recipe in an old cooking book, and it’s stuck around. The dough is forgiving, the toppings are completely up to you, and the result is a bread that’s crispy on the bottom, soft in the middle, and properly soaked with olive oil.

What we love about this one is that you divide the dough into thirds and top each section differently — balsamic onion, tomato and basil, three cheese with rosemary. Everyone gets what they want, and you get to eat warm bread straight from the oven. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The Dough Comes Together Quickly

Focaccia dough isn’t precious. You can mix it by hand or throw everything into a food processor if you’re in a hurry. Strong bread flour, a bit of semolina, yeast, water, salt — that’s it. The dough gets kneaded for about five minutes, then left to rise in an oiled bowl for half an hour while you sort out the toppings.

Some people let it rise overnight in the fridge, which deepens the flavour and makes the timing more flexible. We’ve done it both ways and both work. The key is using good olive oil — it goes into the dough, onto the tray, over the top before baking, and usually gets served alongside for dipping. We use Wilson’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil for this. You’ll taste it, so it’s worth using something decent.

Three Toppings, One Tray

Once the dough has risen, you spread it out on a baking tray and divide it visually into three sections. No need to cut it — just keep the toppings in their own zones.

The balsamic onion section gets red onions that have been fried gently with thyme, then reduced with balsamic vinegar until they’re sticky and sweet. It’s rich, slightly tangy, and balances the bread perfectly.

The tomato and basil section is bright and simple — halved cherry tomatoes, torn basil, sliced garlic, a splash of white wine vinegar and olive oil. The tomatoes soften and release their juice into the dough as it bakes.

The three cheese section gets Taleggio, goat’s cheese, and Parmesan scattered over the top with rosemary leaves. The cheeses melt into the bread and create little pockets of creamy, tangy flavour.

The Dimpling Part

After you’ve spread the dough out, you press your fingers into it — hard — to create deep dimples across the whole surface. It feels a bit like playing a piano. These wells catch the olive oil and toppings, and they’re what give focaccia that signature uneven, rustic look.

Don’t be gentle here. Push down firmly so the dimples actually hold the oil. Once that’s done, scatter your toppings over their sections, drizzle the whole thing generously with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and let it prove for another 20 minutes before it goes into the oven.

Twenty Minutes at 220°C

Focaccia bakes hot and fast. You’re looking for a golden top, crispy bottom, and cheese that’s starting to bubble and brown. The kitchen will smell incredible — garlic, rosemary, balsamic, olive oil.

Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting, but don’t wait too long. Focaccia is best when it’s still warm and the olive oil is still glistening on the surface. Serve it with soup, salad, cold chicken, or just tear into it on its own with more olive oil and balsamic for dipping.

Leftovers make excellent sandwiches, and you can refresh the bread in a low oven if it firms up the next day.

Olive Oil Makes the Difference

Focaccia uses more olive oil than you’d expect, and it’s not just for flavour. The oil keeps the crumb soft even as the crust crisps up. It’s in the dough, brushed on the tray, pooled in the dimples, and usually served on the side. You’ll go through a fair bit of it, and that’s intentional.

Use good extra virgin olive oil for this — you’ll taste it, especially in those dimples where it soaks into the bread. We use Wilson’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it’s clean, fresh, and bold enough to hold its own against the garlic, cheese, and balsamic.

Play with the Toppings

Once you’ve made this a few times, you’ll start swapping toppings around. Olives and rosemary is a classic. Caramelised garlic and thyme works beautifully. You could do a simple sea salt and olive oil version, or go more elaborate with roasted peppers, anchovies, and capers.

The dough itself is flexible. If you want to add herbs directly into it — rosemary, oregano, basil — chop them finely and work them in when you’re kneading. You can swap half the white flour for whole wheat or spelt for a nuttier flavour, though the texture will be a bit denser.

For the balsamic onion topping, Wilson’s Balsamic Vinegar brings the right balance of sweetness and acidity. If you don’t have white wine vinegar for the tomato section, lemon juice works just as well.

Full recipe below: Three flavour focaccia takes about an hour of hands-on time, plus proving. It serves 10 and works well for sharing.

Focaccia Trio

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Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

For the Dough

• 400 g strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting
• 100 g fine ground semolina flour or strong white bread flour
• 1 sachet dried yeast
• ½ tablespoon golden caster sugar
• 300 ml lukewarm water
• Wilsons Foods Extra Virgin olive oil

For the Balsamic Onion Topping

• 2 red onions
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• Wilsons Foods balsamic vinegar

For the Basil and Cherry Tomato Topping

• 1 bunch of fresh basil 30g
• 1 large handful of ripe cherry tomatoes
• white wine vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic

For the Three-Cheese and Rosemary Topping

• 30 g Taleggio cheese
• 1 small log of goat’s cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary

Method

 

1. Place the flours and ½ tablespoon of sea salt into a large bowl, and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water, and mix with a fork. Leave this for a few minutes and, when it starts to foam, slowly pour it into the well, mixing with a fork as you go.
2. As soon as all the ingredients come together, which may take a minute or so, knead vigorously for around 5 minutes until you have a smooth, springy, soft dough.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl with some olive oil and transfer the dough to the bowl. Dust with a little extra flour, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled in size.
4. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7 and prepare the toppings.
5. For the balsamic onion topping, finely slice the onions and pick the thyme leaves. Fry the onions and thyme in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a low heat for about 5 minutes. Add 6 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, reduce for a minute or two, then leave to cool.
6. For the basil and cherry tomato topping, pick and roughly chop the basil leaves and halve the tomatoes. Pop the basil and tomatoes into a bowl and season with salt and black pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a tiny splash of white wine vinegar. Peel and slice the garlic and mix into the bowl.
7. To cook the focaccia, as soon as the dough has risen, pound it, then place on a baking tray and spread it out to cover the tray. Push down roughly on top of the dough like a piano to make lots of rough dips and wells.
8. Divide the onion and the tomato toppings over two thirds of the focaccia.
9. For the three-cheese and rosemary topping, break up the Taleggio and the goat’s cheese over the remaining third of the focaccia. Grate a handful of Parmesan cheese and pick the rosemary leaves. Sprinkle both over the final third and season with pepper. Finish with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.
10. Leave to prove for a further 20 minutes, then bake for 20 minutes, until golden on top and soft in the middle.

Focaccia is one of those breads that rewards the time you put in without demanding precision. The dough is straightforward, the toppings are flexible, and the result feels special. Make it on a weekend, share it with friends, or keep it all to yourself with a bowl of soup.

Just make sure you’ve got extra extra virgin olive oil on hand for dipping.