Ratatouille Focaccia

No ratings yet

Ratatouille Focaccia with roasted summer vegetables, cherry tomatoes, fresh thyme, and Parmesan. A pillowy, golden homemade focaccia that is worth every single minute.

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Proof Time10

Total Time10 55

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

1 envelope active dry yeast
3 teaspoon granulated sugar
2.5 cups water warmed to 115 degrees F
630 grams bread flour (I'm sorry but yes you need to weigh it)
1.5 tablespoon kosher salt
6 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil divided, plus more for hands
1.25 cups freshly grated Parmesan
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

For the Ratatouille

1 zucchini small dice
1 eggplant small dice
1 red bell pepper small dice
½ red onion small dice
3 cloves garlic minced
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Flaky sea salt

Instructions

Make the Dough

In a medium bowl, whisk together the yeast and sugar. Add the warm water and whisk to combine. Cover with a kitchen towel and let the yeast bloom for 5 minutes. The mixture should look bubbly and alive. If it does not, toss it and start over. Life is too short for sad yeast.
In a large separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and stir until a wet, shaggy dough forms and no flour remains. Do not overmix.
Coat a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Transfer the dough into the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24. The dough should double in size.

Make the Ratatouille

While the dough does its thing, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, onion and garlic with 3 Tbsp. olive oil on a sheet pan or large baking dish. Spread into a single layer and roast until tender and caramelized at the edges, tossing once, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely. This can absolutely be done a day ahead.

Assemble

Remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes
Use the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil to coat two bread pans or baking vessels generously.
With oiled hands, gently punch down the dough, then gather the edges toward the center, rotating the bowl as you go. Turn the dough over and divide it in half. Transfer each half to a prepared pan.
Gently guide the dough toward the corners but do not force it. It will relax and stretch more easily as the second rise gets going.
Scatter about a third of the roasted ratatouille vegetables over the surface of each loaf, pressing gently so they nestle in without deflating the dough too much. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with the rack in the center position.
With oiled fingers, dimple the focaccia all over the surface, pressing almost all the way through the dough.
Scatter the remaining roasted ratatouille vegetables and all the cherry tomatoes over the top of both loaves. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the Parmesan, the black pepper, fresh thyme, and a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.
Transfer to the oven and bake until puffed and the cheese is golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, drizzle each loaf with a tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of Parmesan, and cover with the lid of the bread oven. Return to the oven and bake until the focaccia is fully cooked through, about 10 minutes more.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes. Rip and serve warm with good olive oil for dipping.

Notes

Check your yeast before you commit. After whisking the yeast, sugar, and warm water together, cover it and wait five minutes. It should look bubbly and alive. If nothing is happening, your yeast is dead and your dough will not rise. Start over. Life is genuinely too short for sad yeast.

115 degrees F is the sweet spot for the water. Too cold and the yeast will not activate. Too hot and you will kill it. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the water temperature before adding the yeast. This step is not optional if you want reliable results.

Do not overmix the dough. Stir just until the flour is incorporated and the dough looks shaggy and wet. Overmixing develops gluten too aggressively at this stage and can make the finished focaccia tough rather than pillowy and airy.

The overnight cold rise is the move. Eight to twenty-four hours in the fridge develops flavor in a way that a quick room-temperature rise simply cannot replicate. The bread will taste more complex, have better texture, and be significantly easier to work with. Plan ahead and you will be rewarded.

Make the ratatouille a day ahead. It roasts in 20 to 25 minutes and the vegetables get even better after sitting overnight. Having them ready means the day of assembly is effortless and relaxed.

Oil your hands generously, every time. Focaccia dough is sticky and wet, which is exactly what makes it so light and airy when baked. Oiled hands rather than floured hands keep that moisture in the dough rather than adding flour that changes the texture.

Do not rush the second rise. Two hours might feel like a long time but the dough needs that full rise to develop those beautiful air pockets and that signature pillowy texture. A rushed second rise gives you denser bread.

Dimple aggressively. When it is time to dimple the dough, press your oiled fingers all the way down almost to the bottom of the pan. These indentations trap olive oil, create those iconic focaccia craters, and are part of what makes the bread so incredibly good. Do not be timid about it.

The lid finish is everything. After the first fifteen minutes of baking with the lid off, that last ten minutes covered is what steams the interior fully and ensures the bread is cooked all the way through without over-browning the top. Do not skip this step.

Let it rest before cutting. Fifteen minutes of rest after coming out of the oven allows the interior crumb to set properly. Cutting into it immediately will give you a gummy interior even if the outside looks perfect.

Nutrition (estimated)