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Whenever I make the mistake of grocery shopping on an empty stomach, I often find myself wandering away from my list, especially in the bakery section. So many times, I've loaded my basket with fresh cinnamon rolls and baguettes, but mostly the flavored focaccia offered by a few of my local grocery stores. They usually offer several flavors of focaccia, but my favorite was always the black olive and parmesan variety.
I say that that flavor "was" my favorite, because with this recipe, I can make an even better version myself! It tastes just like a grocery-baked version, without any preservatives, a fresher taste, and so much more flavor!
Plus, it's so quick! Sure, you might think that focaccia is too much work, or takes too much time. While focaccia can sometimes be time-consuming, this no-knead focaccia recipe is not! Thanks to instant yeast and a quick proofing technique, you can have focaccia in just one hour.
Why cast iron?
If you aren't cooking with cast iron, you're missing out! A well-seasoned cast iron skillet is a perfect option for sweet and savory dishes alike. I've used my skillet for steak, casseroles, potatoes, braised chicken, corn bread, and cakes, and pizza! It's perfect for cooking evenly and getting nice and hot. In this cast iron focaccia recipe, the cast iron skillet made the edges deliciously crispy, but the center of the bread was soft and flavorful. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can definitely still make this in an 8 or 9-inch cake pan.
I think this no-knead cast iron focaccia recipe is a great alternative to store-bought bakery bread, and would be a fantastic complement to beer cheese soup, or any meal! Try it yourself and let me know what you think!
Related Recipes
If you're interested in another Italian-inspired recipe to go with this cast iron skillet focaccia with black olives, you should try my Orange Rosemary Olive Oil Cake. It's so easy, and full of bright citrus and olive oil flavor! And if you love cheesy recipes, you'll want to check out my Cottage Cheese Alfredo!
Another one of my favorite yeast bread recipes you might also want to try is my Pumpkin Pecan Cinnamon Roll Recipe. These rolls are big, soft, and full of amazing spices. Plus, they're topped with a luscious brown butter cream cheese frosting that is SO good. Give them a try!
📖 Recipe
Equipment you may need
- towel
Ingredients
- ¼ oz active dry yeast - (one packet)
- ¾ cup warm water
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 cup all-purpose flour - (256g) divided, plus more for sprinkling
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese - freshly grated
- 6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil - divided
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning blend
- 3 tablespoon black olives - chopped
For the Topping
- ½ cup parmesan cheese - shredded
- 1 tablespoon black olives - sliced
- red pepper flakes - optional
- flaky sea salt - optional
Instructions
Prepare focaccia dough
- Preheat oven to 200°F. Grease bottom and sides of a cast iron skillet or 8 or 9-inch cake pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add warm water and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle in yeast and stir. Wait 5-10 minutes for yeast to get foamy.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and parmesan cheese.
- Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the yeast/water mixture and mix until combined.
- Add chopped olives, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and 3 tablespoon of olive oil and stir until combined.
- With mixer on low, gradually add remaining ¾ cup of flour mixture to the yeast/water mixture and mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and sprinkle a little extra flour on top. Form into flattened disk, and place into greased skillet.
- Turn oven off. Cover dough in skillet with a clean towel and place in over to rise for 20 minutes.
- Remove skillet from oven. Preheat oven to 400°F.
Add Topping
- Remove cloth from pan and brush dough liberally with 2 tablespoon olive oil. Use your fingers to form indentations evenly in the dough.
- Sprinkle with ½ cup parmesan cheese and place sliced olives evenly on top of cheese.
- Sprinkle red pepper flakes on top, depending on your taste.
- Place pan back in preheated oven and bake at 400°F for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top.
- Remove pan from oven and allow to cool in pan 10 minutes. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, and serve warm.
Notes
PIN this quick focaccia recipe for later!
Last Updated on March 22, 2025 by Chenée Lewis
Holly Zepp says
Chenée,
Per all of your instructions the only thing I deviated from was a stand mixer, which not only do I not own, I LITERALLY have no where to store. I simply do not bake or make enough bread to justify owning one that would probably sit on my coffee table when not in use.
When adding the flour mixture to wet mixture it was simply too dry. I am no professional by any means, but cannot fathom that had I used a stand mixture it would have been any different. At first I added more oil but when I noticed it was not mixing well entirely through the dough I turned to more warm water.
In the end, the focaccia was not only edible, but respectable. Not what I wanted exactly, but in the end it did the trick.
Any thoughts on this? And BTW, we specifically have this focaccia with steamed shrimp! We melt some butter in a small spice dish per person and dip the shrimp and bread into it. Utterly divine and as unhealthy as we can get!!!
Chenée Lewis says
The shrimp you had with it sounds amazing!! I'm not sure why your dough was too dry but you definitely did the right thing! Sometimes measuring flour can leave you with a bit too much, so a little extra liquid can correct that. Glad you liked it!
Scott McCarty says
I presume that the 6 Tbsp of olive oil listed in the ingredients are added in Step 6?
Chenée Lewis says
Thanks for letting me know that I forgot to include the oil in the directions! You'll actually mix in 3 tbsp of the oil in step 6 and the remaining oil when you press the focaccia into the skillet. I'll update the instructions now! Thanks again!
Scott McCarty says
Thanks, Chenee!
Chenée Lewis says
You're welcome! Thanks again for the heads up!
Gina Abernathy says
This looks amazing! I agree---if you are not using cast iron you are missing out! I love my cast iron skillets.
Chenée Lewis says
Totally makes all the difference!!
Stacy Boswell says
This looks delicious, I am so excited to try it!
Chenée Lewis says
I hope you love it!
Betsy says
Delicious looking Focaccia! - javasistersvanilla.com