Parmesan Focaccia Bread

This was SO good, it's definitely 5 stars, but what a journey for me to get there! I don't have a bread machine, but still really wanted to try this recipe. So I proofed the yeast, then dumped everything else in and tried to knead it. (I'm kind of a novice at making bread...anyway). Well, it was waaaayyyy to much flour, and it turned into a hard, dense, un-kneadable mass. It was impossible to knead, and I realize I should have only put in part of the flour and then added more as I went along. I went along with it anyway, and set it in a bowl to rise. After 30 minutes and it hadn't risen at all, I decided to start completely over, because I really wanted this with dinner tonight. I chucked the first attempt, and started over. Proofed the yeast w/sugar and warm water for 10 minutes, then added the rest of indgredients except flour. I only added 3 cups of flour (including 1 cup of whole wheat) and it was a pleasure to knead. Soft, smooth, and pliable. I added more flour as I went along, maybe another cup altogether. (Didn't put in any lecithin...whatever that is!) It rose beautifully this time and tasted out of this world! We ate it with Rich and Creamy Tomato soup, and ate almost all of it! (I made the whole recipe and it made 2 8-inch round loaves, not one. But I was glad it made a lot!). I will make sure to write down my notes because I WILL be making this bread again!

I really enjoyed this alot. It reminds of the pizza bread they serve at a local restaurant called the Italian Bistro. If you chop a fresh tomato and saute it in olive oil with fresh garlic and some salt, then spread that on top before baking, it would be identical. The first time I made it, I baked it for 20 minutes and the top was definitely golden, but the center was still doughy. The second time I baked it for 25 minutes instead and that did the trick.

I have made this twice in the past two days...my husband loves it! Perfect...it's not hard to make either....love it

Very good indeed. I halved the recipe and made in an 8" pan, left out the lecithin and didn't use bread machine at all. It looked very pretty too (see photo). Next time I make it though, I will decrease the amount of olive oil to make it healthier. This has a lot of potential.

I really liked this bread. I even modified it by adding chopped tomatoes, black olives, roasted red peppers and a little bit of chopped onion to the top for extra flavoring.

This was sooooo good! I omitted the lecithin and added some garlic. I decided that the 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 parmesan cheese was to be used after the bread is formed on the cookie sheet, not added into the machine. Dipped in Italian butter..yum

My husband LOVED this bread...he actually said that I should make it ANY time we were going to have company...make sure you use the traditional "italian butter" (olive oil with fresh ground pepper in a dish for dipping) to enhance it even more ;) (note, i did sprinkle pretzel salt over the top prior to baking the second loaf...we are salt-a-holics)

This recipe IS a husband pleaser! We both love it, as did my weight watching neighbor who begged me not to give her any more of it (for a while). Great texture and flavor and it kept well too. This is definitely a "keeper". Thanks Sandra!

This is very good bread. It made much more than one 8" round pan full. In fact, I made two pans full! I could not find lecithin, so I left it out. I added garlic to the topping. My family enjoyed it very much.

This bread was DELICIOUS! My husband ate half the loaf when he got home from work. It smelled great baking in the oven. Using a bread machine for me is cheating, so I made it by hand. I dissolved the sugar into the warm water (110-115 F) and added the yeast to that and let it sit for 5 minutes until it was foamy. Then, I added the salt, only HALF the oregano and olive oil and mixed well. I skipped the lecithin, didn't have it. Then I added the flour a cup at a time. I taught myself how to bake bread by hand, and I'm pretty good at it now. A tip...never add ALL of the flour at once. You may not even use the entire amount. Humidity and many other factors can change how much flour you end up needing! Mix in a cup at a time until its incorporated and you have a very sticky dough. Then, turn out onto a well-floured surface (I use a cutting board to minimize mess) cover with more flour and knead, adding more flour a little at a time until it is no longer sticky. Knead the flour in. It will take a while, but you have to do it until it is smooth textured and elastic (it pulls and stretches, doesn't come apart). Then, I let it sit in an oven that was turned on for about 30 seconds, and let it rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours in the oven. I followed the recipe after that step. I added garlic powder and cracked pepper to the olive oil before baking. It turned out beautiful and perfect. A crispier crust, and a nice, fluffy interior. Definitely will be making it again!

Very good, simple bread, especially for base of sandwich (Chicken Pesto Paninis comes to mind!). Didn't use lecithin. Made one 9" loaf. Oh, didn't sprinkle with parmesan since the pesto had plenty in it.

I loved the texture of this bread just to much oregano for me. I will play with this and make again. Thanks for the recipe!

This was my first attempt at focaccia though I've made a lot of bread. I reduced the amount of flour to 3 cups, added basil, oregano, and minced garlic (1 tsp each) and also about 3/4 c of sliced black olives to the dough. Like others I made two round pans, not one, reduce the amount of olive oil, by rolling each dough ball in the oil and maybe pouring over 1 or 2 tbsp over each loaf with a large whack of fresh grated parmesan. Brushed it with a little more olive oil when it came out of the oven. Definately a keeper recipe...warm out of the oven with a little butter...To. Die. For. Yummy!!

Mmmm.... SOOO good!!! Made this to serve with Jamie's minestrone. There's nothing better than a steaming bowl of soup with hearty slices of warm, homemade bread. :) While my fiance and I both liked this, I do think I'll make a couple of changes (i.e. improvements) next time. The most obvious change I'll make is to add Parmesan cheese to my bread dough AND as a topping (be sure to use fresh - it makes ALL the difference). And, per my fiance's suggestion, I'll use a 9 x 13 in. pan (slices are too thick otherwise). My fiance commentd that the best part was the crust, but that the actual "bread" itself was bland (I agree). That didn't stop us from having seconds tho! My only change was to sprinkle a generous amount of coarse sea salt over the top (everything is better with salt!) and substitute roasted garlic EVOO for plain EVOO (1/3 c. is waaay too much; I ended up draining it from my bread pan BEFORE placing in the oven!). NOTE: My bread took about a half hour to rise and 25 minutes to bake to a lovely golden brown color (it rose perfectly and was nice and crusty on the outside!!!). I set my pan on top of my stove while it was preheating. It was the heat, I believe, that helped my bread rise so beautifully. Dipping pieces of this in our soup and in Italian butter was DIVINE! I think spreading slices with pesto would also be yummy!!! Thanks SO much for sharing your recipe with me, Sandra. This is a BEAUTIFUL bread, and with a little tweaking, it will be superb! :-)

I made this recipe except I did not add the lecithin and made it by hand rather than dig out the bread machine. I did mix one clove of crushed garlic into the dough and I decreased the oil drizzled on top significantly - at least by half. After reading the reviews I baked this in two 9" cake pans and it came out beautifully. I served it with Italian butter for our lasagna dinner and everyone loved it. I would make it again

My husband loved this bread. I used my pizza stone to let this rise and bake on and it turned out beautifully!

Great bread. I gave 4 stars only but the results results with modifications made it a 5 star bread. The water amount is a huge issue with this recipe. Thanks to previous reviewers for the heads up. I started out with 2.5 c water. It's easier to add more flour than it is to add liquid to bread dough. The result was a lovely soft dough. I made it into one large round but next time, I'll make it into two rounds. As per other reviewers, I added some Parmesan to the dough but I don't believe the results justified doing so. Next time I will reverse steps #3 and 4 (I'll increase the cheese), then set it to rise - see if I can get more of that flavor poked down into the bread. Great crust. All our guests had second pieces of the bread. We'll toast what's left for breakfast this morning. I served the bread with Manicotti Italian Casserole and a green salad. Made an excellent meal for guests.

This is some delicious bread!! I made it by hand and left out the lecithin(have no idea what it is) and it was yum!

***** Wow, how good! Easy to make. Although I read about all the other reviews and the oil spilling over into the oven so I just brushed on the oil without pouring it all over. Will certainly make it again!

Well, I didn't have lecithin and I wonder if that is the reason my bread got fluffier than normal focaccia. It was good, just not dense.

Thank you for sharing this great recipe. I found I had to decrease the flour to 4 cups but this may have to do with the flour I was using. This tastes and smells even better than the store bought equivalent. The second one I did I added jalapeño chilli and brushed the top with chilli and olive oil. We do like hot and spicy,as does our local doctor he is due at the house today so I have made him one too. Once again thanks for this wonderful recipe

This bread turned out really well, nice seasoning and the parmesan is a great accent. I did a half of this recipe and it was still a good size loaf. I will make this over and over!

made for dinner last night, and breakfast toast this morn. GREAT. mixed dough in bread machine, added grated parm/romano in mix. rose nicely in the machine, and would have kneaded more flour in but hands were sticky. two 8" loaves seems more likely to be the texture i wanted. like the idea of kosher salt on top, also want to try an olive tappanade (sp?). will definitely make again...

Beautiful & easy to make bread! I left out the lecithin. Did everything else as directed & it turned out great.- lots of compliments!

Very easy, delicious recipe. My husband loved it and dipped it in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I did add about 1/2 tsp. powdered garlic to the dough. I also used a well greased 9x13" pan since there was so much dough and it still made a nice thick focaccia.

Mmmmm, delicious! Thanks to the earlier reviewer who said to add the flour slowly because this didn't take NEARLY what the recipe called for. Substituted 1 cup of flour for wheat flour and I DID use the lecithin. I proofed the yeast, mixed everything in my KitchenAid and kneaded it by hand. Still super easy and a relaxing thing to do on a lovely fall day. I got 2 9-inch cake pan loaves out of the recipe and it was totally enough. Not super-thick but good for sandwiches. Also I didn't add nearly as much oil on top of the bread as it called for and sprinkled Asiago cheese on top. 18 minutes was enough time in the oven for the thinner loaves. Crisp, flavorful and wonderful, it was delicious.

I made this last night and it was delicious! I did not have any lecithin, but I saw on another site where oil can substitute for the lecithin so I added a half teaspoon of olive oil to the liquid. I also added a teaspoon of minced fresh garlic to the olive oil that is drizzled on top before baking. I halved the recipe and made one round loaf. When it was done, I cut into four sections and cut each in half horizontally and used them as the "buns" for my italian burgers, which are nothing more than seasoned beef patties pan fried, with spaghetti sauce poured on top and then mozzarella and heated through. The focaccia "buns" made the sandwiches something really special. Me and my husband thoroughly enjoyed!

Made the recipe as directed and counted off 1 star because we didn't care for the heavy layer of olive oil. Otherwise, this is a great bread dough recipe. It is similar to my own which I have used for years. The only difference is I use 1-1/2 cups of water and instead of pouring 1/3 cup of olive oil over it before baking, I add about 1 T of olive oil to a bowl and add the dough when it is done with it's first rise in the bread machine. I coat the dough in the oil before forming into a ball and laying it out to bake. Then I sprinkle on the Parmesan. This dough also makes wonderful breadstix (shorten baking time). I vary the herbs and almost always add garlic salt and 2-4 T of Parmesan cheese to the dough.

It was a good focaccia recipe, just thought it could have used something more. I don't have a bread machine, so I used my KitchenAide to knead the dough, about 2 minutes. I started the yeast prior to adding it to flour. Used one active yeast packet, .25 oz, for this recipe. Wanted a flatter focaccia so I cut the dough in half and used 2 pans. Will probably add an extra t. salt, more rosemary and add some garlic. Overall a good recipe, maybe my next time will be better.

I would have given this 5 stars but using the amount of olive oil given in the recipe about smoked us out of the house. When the bread rises a lot of the 1/3 cup of olive oil ends up in the bottom of your oven and smokes.

Delicious. I can see that I'm going to have to make loaves of these at Thanksgiving! I never used the lecithin (whatever it is), and each time I like to mix up the herbs with something Italian-ish, like cilantro or rosemary.

I made this with frozen bread dough(yes,I cheated). I added fresh garlic and then put the parmesian on top of that with an extra drizzle of olive oil. I used olive oil and balsamic vinegar as my dipping sauce.

Just like everyone said, super delicious. I left mine in the oven for 25 minutes as someone suggested, and the crust came out brown, crispy and delicious. Will definintely make again! :)

Very nice bread. I made 4 loaves of it to make mini sandwiches for my husband's birthday party. I used different herb/spice combinations in each one and it was a big hit.

The only problem with this bread is people keep bugging me for the recipe ;-) Always a big hit and relatively quick and easy.

This is a fabulous recipe for a bread that turns out light and tasty and makes the house smell like heaven! This one is a keeper

What a disappointment this was for me and I had such high hopes after reading the reviews. I followed the recipe to the letter with the exception of adding a few more Italian herbs. My Bread Machine usually gives me excellent results, with this recipe it had a problem kneading the dough, I had to keep loosening it with a spatula it was so dense, then finally I added a little more water but it still kept seizing up, possibly 4 1/2 cups of flour are too much? It took 40 minutes to achieve a light golden baked result and even then the bottom was still very pale. Although the flavor of the bread was good, the texture was very dense and heavy, the crust dry and hard. I used Bread Flour and Bread Machine yeast with an expiration date of 05/09 so I am at a loss to know what I did wrong, possibly I should have divided the dough and made two loaves, but I wanted a large loaf to use for paninni sandwiches. I'll have to try a different recipe.

We really enjoyed this! I cut the recipe in half, and used one round cake pan and it was still quite thick. I cut it into slices, and then opened each slice up, added butter and heated them in the oven. Served it with pasta, and my 4 year old liked the bread so much she wanted to take it in her lunch the next day! I think next time I will add parm to the dough as well as the top. NOTE: flour amount given is way too much. I used less than called for, and still had to add water and olive oil to my bread machine as it was kneading the dough, as it started out crumbly, even with an already reduced amount. I ended up standing next to the machine with a cup of warm water and a measuring spoon through the whole first knead.

This recipe turned out beautifully. It was delicious, crispy, soft on the inside...I omitted the lechitin, as well as I topped mine with a good helping of sharp chaddar cheese, parmesan and italian herb medley...broiled it so that the cheese was nice and browned...delicious! I found that a half recipe made the perfect size loaf for my family.

Great recipe, but I had to follow some of What a Dish's advice since I don't have a breadmaker either. I also added some basil, rosemary, and alot of garlic to the dough itself, along with a generous portion of romano (I prefer the stronger taste). My husband loves this bread, and so do my kids. It's a big hit wiht anything Italian I make, excellent recipe, although way too much flour, but not a problem if you add it a little bit at a time.

Wonderful recipe!!! I made this tonight for supper and served it with warmed up homemade pizza sauce. Yummy. Everyone in the family loved it. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer and doubled the recipe. I was able to fill three 9" cake pans, and one 9" square cake pan. I kind of pushed the dough around so that it filled the pan. I only used half the oil called for to pour over the loaves, and it was plenty. My kids thought that it reminded them of the crust on a Pizza Hut Pan Pizza. We'll be having this again and again!! Thanks.

I too made 2 loaves and added a sprinkle of garlic salt on top with the parmesan cheese before baking. We dipped our bread in an olive oil/parmesan cheese/salt dip and it was delightful. My kids (1yo and 3yo) couldn't get enough. I heart focaccia bread.

add 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder to dough. Add fresh minced garlic to oil before baking.

Tasty. Will make again. The smell after it was done was quite yummy.

Oh my it smells so good when it's baking. We used garlic butter from this site on it and all I could hear is mmmmm while we were eating it, yummy.

Delicious! My husband and I couldn't keep from snacking on it all night. Instead of brushing the top with olive oil, I used Italian Salad dressing, and I also added a little bit of mozzarella along with the parmesan. Definitely a keeper.

Very good- I used a bought bread dough and put sliced onions and olive oil brushed on top- delicious!

I made this today and it was WONDERFUL!! I substituted canned tomato juice for the water and added basil and parsley. The recipe was too big for one 8" pan. Next time I will use 2 pans instead of one. I served this with BBQ pulled pork.

My book club loved this bread! I baked it in the afternoon and served it with a Parmesan dipping oil that evening. The only change I made was a used about half the olive oil it suggested for pouring over the bread. Thanks for the great recipe!

This recipe is really really good! I didn't use a bread machine and I used rosemary instead of oregano, sooo yummy!

Great recipe! Just added some garlic along with the Parmesan and left out the lecithin, and it turned out good!

Super easy and restaurant quality. I just used regular flour and it turned out fine.

My mixer had a hard time processing the dough the way the recipe is written. The dough was tough, not forming and kept making my bread machine's paddle jam. Maybe it is the altitude (I'm at about 3000ft) or our mixer brand (mine is a Breadman). What I did, after reading the reviews and some desperate googling, was add at least a half a cup more water to the mix and add 1/2 tsp of proofed yeast to the dough. I restarted my dough cycle for the water and extra yeast adding session. Add your water slowly, until it starts to look properly dough-like. I also split my loaf into two like the other reviews; worked like a charm. Another thing is I did not add the lecithin, only because I don't have any.

Very good. I might use a little less olive oil at the end also.

Made as per directions and looked great but was meh tasting and too doughy

Easy recipe... And GREAT bread. We added a little garlic and Italian seasoning to the bread while mixing... So good.

This is a delicious bread but needs a few changes. First, it needs more water because as is it would be dry. Second, 1/3 cup oil is too much on top so I liberally drizzled the top with olive oil. Lastly, salt or garlic sprinkled over the top would go a long way to boost flavor. I will make again with changes.