This Black Olive Shallot Focaccia bread is made with a simple olive yeast dough and topped with a flavourful combination of black olives and roasted shallots. Ready in under 2 hours, this recipe is sure to impress!
Focaccia is one of my favourite kinds of bread to bake. My Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread recipe that I posted in September 2019 is well-loved by several of my readers and I figured it was about time to create another flavour combination of this delicious bread!
Olives
Olives have always been one of my absolute favourite foods! Even from the time I was a small child, I have loved the flavourful, salty, sometimes bitter flavour of olives. Green olives, kalamata olives, canned black olives, and especially the ones stuffed with pimentos! I remember stacking the sliced canned olives on my little fingers and pretending they were rings before eating them off like they were candy. Hahaha, so weird but it's what I liked! Just like my love for canned smoked oysters as a child! I know, I know.
Of course, I knew I needed to develop a recipe for olive focaccia! This recipe calls for canned black olives. You could definitely use kalamata olive or green olives instead. I went with canned black olives because they have a milder flavour and are more tolerable for those despicable people out there who don't like olives... 😏 (I'm very sorry if that is you, but at the same time I am not sorry at all. 💀)
I decided to pair the olives with sliced shallots for their delicious, slightly milder than onion and somewhat garlicy flavour. The sliced shallots get roasted on the top of the focaccia while it bakes in the 400℉ oven and they caramelize and develop a sweet flavour. So yummy! If you don't have shallots, you could substitute them with finely sliced purple onion.
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📖 Recipe
Black Olive Shallot Focaccia
Equipment
- 9x9-inch baking pan
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2 cups bread flour (all-purpose works too)
- 1 tablespoon quick-rise yeast (instant yeast)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ cup chopped canned black olives (drained and patted dry)
- ¾ cup warm water (110℉)
- ¼ cup olive oil
For the Topping:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons sliced shallot (or purple onion)
- 2 tablespoons sliced black olives
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, quick-rise yeast, onion powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the chopped olives. Put the olive oil together with the warm water (110℉) in a glass measuring cup. Slowly add all the oil and water into the flour mixture while mixing to form a loose dough.
- Turn onto a lightly floured counter and knead until a smooth dough forms - about 1 minute of kneading. Shape dough into a ball and place in a bowl that has been well greased with olive oil (seam side down). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Right before the dough is done rising, preheat the oven to 400℉. Grease the bottom of a 9X9-inch pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Once the dough has risen for 1 hour, lift it out of the bowl and gently place it in the prepared pan. Press the dough into the corners and use your fingers to make holes all around in the dough to create that classic focaccia look. Add the sliced shallot and extra olives to the top of the dough and sprinkle with the salt and black pepper. Lastly, drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil on top of everything.
- Bake immediately in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Love and Cookies,
Naomi ♡