Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia
This is the most delicious Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia with a fluffy and simple garlic olive oil focaccia base decorated with a vegetable garden.
I am in love with homemade focaccia thanks to this recipe. It really is so delicious and so easy to make, it needs minimal work and the decorating part is so fun. You can make your garden as elaborate or as simple as you like. It’s the best form of edible art! As with any yeasted dough, you’ll need to allow time for the proofing but apart from that it comes together quickly.
Why will I love this focaccia?
We are all obsessed with this bread at home as it’s:
- Fluffy, tender and chewy
- Slightly crisp and golden on top
- Salty, garlicky and packed with good quality olive oil
- Easy to make in a few steps
- Naturally vegan and nut-free
- Fun to decorate or to keep plain
If you already love this focaccia, skip ahead to the recipe card below. First, let’s discuss the recipe in more detail.
What ingredients do I need?
The base for the dough is made of a few simple ingredients:
- Strong white flour: I prefer strong white bread flour for this recipe for the next texture and best rise. I think plain white flour will also work but I have not tested this with good results using gluten-free flour. Try these gluten-free dough recipes, instead.
- Fast action yeast: for the rise.
- Salt: for flavour and for the yeast.
- Sugar: again for the yeast to feed off.
- Olive oil: for mixing into the dough to add some lovely texture.
- Water: this recipe calls for lukewarm water to activate the yeast. Make sure it’s not too hot which will kill off the yeast or too cold as this will mean the yeast is not properly activated and the proofing process will take longer.
For the garlic olive oil brush:
- Olive oil: I like to use good quality olive oil for the best flavour like EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and I do not recommend swapping this to sunflower or coconut oil.
- Fresh garlic: this adds so much flavour on top of the focaccia.
To decorate:
You can make your garden however you like, but there are the vegetables and toppings that I’ve used:
- Sunflower and pumpkin seeds: for a little bit of crunch and as parts of the flowers and grass.
- Asparagus: for the trees, make sure you trim the asparagus to the correct height and remove the woody end from the bottom.
- Tomatoes: I halved some cherry tomatoes for flower petals. Make sure you place these cut-side up so that the juices from the tomatoes don’t turn the bread soggy.
- Red onion: for the flower petals. Peel and then slice the red onion. You don’t want these to be too thin otherwise they’ll burn in the oven.
- Peppers: I used mini peppers for flower petals.
How do make this Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia?
Although it looks impressive, this focaccia is easy to make in a few steps:
- Stir together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt: either into a large mixing bowl (if working by hand) or in the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the dough hook attached.
- Gradually pour and stir in the olive oil and lukewarm water: and continue to mix until fully combined.
- Knead for three minutes on a low machine setting: or 3-5 minutes of working by hand, until it’s soft, sticky and elastic.
- Transfer to a greased bowl and cover: leave somewhere warm to proof for 1 hour or until nearly doubled in size.
- Make the olive oil brush topping: by stirring together the ingredients.
- Transfer the dough to a greased and lined dish: I use an 8-inch square dish.
- Use greased fingers to spread the dough into the dish: to fill the square.
- Drizzle over half the oil and make dimples with your fingers: all over the dough.
- Cover and leave somewhere warm to proof: for 40-45 minutes or until risen and nicely. Meanwhile preheat the oven.
- Prepare all your vegetables: and have them ready to go.
- With the risen dough, make more dimples all over with your fingers: it helps to lightly grease your fingers with olive oil.
- Make your garden design, pressing down lightly: to fill up the focaccia.
- Drizzle over the rest of the oil: and bake for 18 minutes, until golden and crisp on top.
- Enjoy warm or cold: with salads, soups, and other foods.
How long will this focaccia keep for?
Like most doughs and breads, this Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia is best eaten on the same but keeps well for 1-2 days and is still delicious. Make sure to wrap it up well and you can even freeze it for up to 1 month, too. Allow to defrost at room temperature and then enjoy.
Can I make this gluten-free and nut-free?
This focaccia is totally nut-free as we are decorating with seeds. Sadly, this is not gluten-free as the texture of this recipe is down to the gluten in the flour. To make a gluten-free dough, try one of my other recipes here.
How can I enjoy this Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia?
There are so many ways to eat this focaccia, here are a few of my favourites:
- Alongside salads like my Almond Beetroot and Chickpea Quinoa Salad
- With some hummus like my Edamame and Butterbean Hummus
- Dipped into brunch dishes like my Red Pepper Sun-Dried Tomato and Chickpea Shakshuka
- Served with some pasta like my Vegan Carbonara with Marinaded Mushrooms
I love this focaccia, what else can I make?
I hope you are going to love making and eating this Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia and for more savoury ideas, how about my:
- Gluten-Free Vegan Buckwheat Bread
- Vegan Pesto Feta Filo Pastry Swirls
- Sweetcorn and Red Pepper Fritters
- Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Babka
- Smoked Paprika Cheesy Bean Potato Skins
Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia
This is the most delicious Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia with a fluffy and simple garlic olive oil focaccia base decorated with a vegetable garden.
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 250g strong white flour
- 1 level tsp (4g) fast action yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra
- 180ml lukewarm water For the Top:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- ½ tsp salt For Decoration:
- Sunflower seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- An array of vegetables e.g. asparagus, tomatoes, red onion, peppers
- Fresh basil, to serve
Directions
- 1.Use a freestanding electric mixer with a dough hook attached, or work by hand. Add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar to a bowl and mix well. Either while the machine is running, or with your hands, gradually pour in the olive oil and water and bring to a dough. Knead for 3 minutes on a low machine setting to reach a sticky dough or by hand for 3-5 minutes. The dough is wetter and stickier than regular bread dough.
- Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside. Cover loosely and leave somewhere warm to rise for 60 to 75 minutes, until almost doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, make the olive oil topping: crush the garlic and add to the olive oil with the salt and stir well.
- Line and grease an 8-inch square dish. Transfer the risen dough into the dish and use your hands to spread it out to fill the square. Drizzle over half the olive oil and use your fingertips to make dimples/indents all over the top of the dough. Cover again and leave somewhere warm to rise for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Prepare your vegetable garden: trim the asparagus, half the tomatoes, slice the red onion and slice the peppers.
- Preheat the oven to 200Fan/220*C.
- When the dough has risen, lightly grease your fingers with some oil and make more dimples/indents all over the surface of the dough. Now create your garden scene (make sure the tomatoes are cut-side up so they don’t turn the bread soggy), adding the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and then drizzle over the rest of the oil.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 18 minutes, or until golden on top and fluffy.
- Cool for 10 minutes then enjoy warm or allow to cool fully, decorate with fresh basil and cut into slices/squares. Store for 1-2 days in a sealed container or freezer for up to 1 month.
I look forward to hearing what you think of this Easy Vegan Garden Focaccia so please let me know in the comments below. if you do make this focaccia, I’d love to see your breads, so please tag me – I’m I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – please say hello!
With focaccia garden love x
