I am SO excited about today’s recipe – Peach Crumble Focaccia! Every time autumn rolls around, I have the overwhelming urge to make bread, and focaccia has become my newest hyper-fixation. I have made it a quite a few times in the last couple of months, keeping the toppings simple. A sprinkling of sea salt and some fresh rosemary from the garden. Once I had made the basic recipe a few times, my mind turned to ways I could jazz it up and be creative with toppings.
Lately, my TikTok algorithm is nothing but bread, books and Taylor Swift – and I’m not mad about it. I have been so inspired by other creators doing fun things with inculsions and toppings for focaccia and sourdough. I have so many ideas of my own and I’m honestly so excited. So gear up, we are now in our focaccia era and personally I couldn’t be happier about it.
What is focaccia?
Focaccia is that distinctive dimpled bread popular in Italy. It’s having a sort of renaissance in restaurants, sandwich shops and among home bakers. Focaccia is baked in a tray rather than in a loaf shape, making it perfect for dipping into olive oil or turning into sandwiches. Focaccia incorporates more water and olive oil than other kinds of bread which gives it an airy, fluffy texture when baked.
The first time I made focaccia was a couple of years ago and it turned out tasty, but pretty flat. Lately, I’ve been playing with the “Shockingly Easy No Knead Focaccia” recipe from Bon Appetit and I can confirm it is truly the easiest bread I’ve ever made and has come out really well every single time. The texture is fluffy and squishy and perfect.
It’s a “no knead” recipe that only involves a bit of mixing upfront and a few minutes to do a rough stretch and fold and throw into the pan. It’s then dimpled right before it goes into the oven. This recipe is remarkably hands-off for such a beautiful bread! I like the overnight proof-in-the-fridge method but you can also proof at room temperature and bake on the same day.
What you need to make Peach Crumble Focaccia
Because the original recipe came from an American site, I’ve made a few substitutions based on the ingredients we have readily available here in Australia.
Yeast – The original recipe says to use Active Dry Yeast which must be rehydrated with warm water before moving on to the next step in the recipe. Here in Australia we generally have “instant” yeast which can be added in to dry ingredients and doesn’t require rehydrating. I used the Lowan Wholefoods brand of Instant Dried Yeast and made the recipe as directed without a problem. I like to keep my yeast in the fridge to help it stay fresh and check the best before date before baking. If you have stored it correctly, you can use yeast past this date, but your dough may rise a little more slowly. Alternately, you can buy yeast in small packets that helps it to stay fresh longer.
Honey – Yeast feeds on sugar so this recipe uses honey to give it a little boost. Carbon dioxide gas is a byproduct of the yeast feeding, which creates bubbles in the mixture and helps your bread become light and fluffy.
Salt – All bread needs some salt to balance the flavours and make it taste good. I have never seen Kosher salt available to buy here in Australia and it can be confusing converting the amount of salt from American recipes. I generally use 1 tablespoon of the regular cheap cooking salt in the focaccia dough and some flaky sea salt on top. Because this recipe has a sweet topping, I used 1/2 tablespoon here.
Flour – No need to buy any fancy flour! All purpose or plain flour works perfectly here. I always like to measure it out in grams because it’s more accurate than measuring in cups. Bread flour could also be used in this recipe if you have it on hand. It has slightly more protein than plain flour and could result in a more elastic, stretchy dough. I haven’t personally tried this but I’ll update this post if I do.
Olive oil – Definitely a must for making focaccia! However I prefer to use a little less in all steps than the original recipe.
Butter – I like to grease the baking pan with butter so it doesn’t stick. I also use melted butter to dimple in the fillings for this one. I thought it would work better than olive oil because they were sweet toppings. However the top coloured slightly more than usual when baking. I don’t think it’s a problem (glaze fixes everything!!) and it didn’t affect the taste at all. Next time I will keep a closer eye on the oven in the last 10 minutes!
Equipment – The good news is that you only need very minimal kitchen equipment to make this recipe. You will definitely need a large bowl (I like glass/pyrex) because this dough will rise a lot. I like to bake my focaccia in a 23 x 32cm metal pan with square edges. Just be mindful that darker coloured pans can cause the dough to brown more quickly.
Toppings – Once you’ve mastered the basic focaccia recipe, you can have so much fun with toppings! Savoury or sweet, the choice is yours and only limited by your imagination! In this Peach Crumble Focaccia I used fresh diced peaches, tossed in some brown sugar. If peaches aren’t in season where you are, you could use plums or berries. I also made my favourite crumble topping, scattered that over the top before dimpling everything in with my fingers. It’s as simple as that to change up the flavour!
We absolutely LOVED how this focaccia came out. The texture of the bread was perfect and fluffy as it always is with this recipe. The peach crumble topping was absolutely delicious. I think the only way to make this even better is to add a cinnamon swirl through the dough. This would help to carry that delicious flavour throughout every bite. A quick glaze drizzled over the top of the focaccia finishes everything off perfectly, adding sweetness and a crackly texture as it sets.
Related Post: Hot Cross Bun Pull Apart Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze
Peach Crumble Focaccia
This Peach Crumble Focaccia combines airy, fluffy bread with a delicious fresh peach and cinnamon topping and sweet vanilla glaze!
Ingredients
Focaccia Dough
- 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active or instant dried yeast (see note about yeast above)
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 625 g 5 cups plain (all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tablespoon cooking salt
- 2-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Butter, for greasing pan
- 465 g fresh peaches (5 peaches)
- 45 g brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 25 g butter extra, melted
Crumble
- 50 g sugar (1/4 cup)
- 50 g brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 50 g plain flour (1/3 cup)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 55 g butter, softened
Glaze
- 250 g icing sugar (1 1/2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
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In a large bowl, whisk together the water, yeast and honey. If you are using active dry yeast, let it sit for a few minutes to activate, until it starts to look foamy on top. If you are using instant dry yeast, you can skip the wait and move on to the next step.
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Add the flour and salt and mix together with a spatula or wooden spoon until flour is incorporated and you have a shaggy dough.
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In another large bowl, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and swirl around the bowl to coat. Transfer the dough into this bowl and over with plastic wrap. Now you have two options – for a quick rise, leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours depending on the temperature. Or, place the bowl into the fridge to chill and rise for 8 hours, overnight, or up to 1 day. Either way the dough should be doubled in size and look very bubbly.
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Butter your pan generously. I use a 23 x 32cm metal pan with straight sides.
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Stretch and fold your dough either using wet hands or two forks. You want to pick up the dough from the edge and lift it towards the centre. Rotate your bowl and repeat 3 more times. I usually just do this once, however you can continue doing this 2 more times if you like.
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Transfer the dough to the buttered pan. Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size again (this usually takes about 2 hours for me).
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When the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 230°C (450°F).
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Cut peaches in half, remove the seed and dice into 3cm cubes. Place into a bowl and stir through 1/2 cup (45g) brown sugar.
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To make the crumble topping, combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Rub butter into the mixture with your fingertips until a crumble forms.
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Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the focaccia dough and then scatter the peaches and crumble over the top as evenly as possible. With damp hands, dimple the toppings into the dough. By this, I mean get your fingers into the dough, all the way to the bottom of the pan, to form deep holes. The dough may bubble up around the hole. Repeat until there are dimples and bubbles of dough evenly all over the dough.
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Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden. When cooked, remove from the oven and cool in the pan for at least about 20-30 minutes. Remove from the pan carefully and place onto a wire rack or wooden board.
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To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle the glaze generously over the focaccia and cut into thick slices.
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This focaccia is best on the day it’s made. It can be stored in an airtight container and placed into the oven for a few minutes to crisp back up.