Whole Wheat Focaccia With Cherry Tomatoes and Oregano

Whole Wheat Focaccia with Cherry Tomatoes and Oregano

I made the dough from scratch, but you might as well buy fresh whole wheat pizza dough and start from there. If so, all you need to do is to knead ¼ cup olive oil into the pre-made dough before making the focaccia. That simple.

Ingredients

Makes 16 focaccia squares

Dough

1 ½ cup / 400 ml warm water (between 105°F and 115°F)

4 ½ cups / 21.1 oz / 600 gr whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

¼ cup / 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons sugar

3 teaspoons fine grain sea salt

Topping

1 lb / 453 gr cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves, chopped

Brine

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Directions

Dough

Place warm water in a large bowl and add dry yeast, sugar and salt. Let stand until yeast dissolves. After 5 to 7 minutes, it should be a bit foamy. If it’s not, you might have some bad yeast (or the water was too warm) and should start again with another packet.

Add whole wheat flour and olive oil to yeast mixture and stir to blend well (the dough will be sticky).

Drop the dough onto a floured surface (or leave it in the bowl) and knead it until it becomes smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if the dough is too sticky.

The dough will be soft and pliable and extremely easy to work with.

Form dough into a ball and coat with a bit of olive oil. Place it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let raise in a draft-free place until doubled (it should take about 1 hour).

Make the focaccia

Coat a 15x10-inch baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Punch the dough down. Using your fingertips press out the dough to a rectangle filling the baking sheet.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise while the oven preheats to 425°F (220°C).

In the meantime cut cherry tomatoes in half. Over a bowl, squeeze them with your hands to remove seeds.

Press cherry tomatoes cut-side up into dough, scatter with oregano.

In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Drizzle the dough with this olive oil brine.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until top it’s golden.