5 Expert-Approved Toppings To Amp Up Your Homemade Focaccia

If you're thinking about getting into bread baking, one of the best recipes you can begin your journey with is focaccia. Focaccia is an Italian flatbread, and is super simple to throw together — it's even easier if you make it with store-bought pizza dough. You can use focaccia as sandwich bread, put it on a charcuterie board, or enjoy it plain to get a fuller appreciation for its tender yet crisp texture. Another reason focaccia is so popular is that when it comes to customizing your recipe, this dish is literally a blank slate. Salt and fresh herbs are some of the most common toppings, providing a savoriness while keeping the bread's flavor the focus. "I love enhancing focaccia with sea salt and herbs like rosemary or sage, which infuse the bread with earthy aromatics," says chef Luca Corazzina. However, these simple ingredients are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to upgrading homemade focaccia.

Besides being a focaccia expert, Corazzina is the chef de cuisine at the Italian eatery Olio e Più. When seasoning his flatbread, he considers classic ingredients that will complement its flavors and make the final product look as good as it tastes.

If you frequent foodie forums, chances are you've heard about the magic of San Marzano tomatoes. This variety originally hails from the San Marzano region of Italy (though it is possible to find them grown in the United States) and is thought to be the perfect combination of sweetness, savoriness, and acidity thanks to the volcanic soil in the region. San Marzanos are much more expensive than other varieties, but making focaccia is one of the perfect times to splurge on San Marzanos.

Since these tomatoes are such gems, pairing them with the enriched flatbread helps to highlight their natural flavor. "I often use San Marzano tomatoes marinated with oregano, olive oil, salt, and pepper," Chef Luca Corazzina says. Marinating allows the tomatoes to soak up the flavor of the herbs and the rich oil, enhancing their flavor, and visually, their vivid red hue looks great against the bread's golden top. Add a few extra dashes of oregano and you've got yourself a tantalizing taste of Italy in your own kitchen.

Chef Luca Corazzina says "Another unexpected combination is a light sprinkle of grated lemon zest with thyme." He explains that the combination of lemon and thyme "adds a bright, citrusy freshness" to the focaccia, which goes well with the yeasty bread. As with pretty much any other toppings for this dish, finishing the bread with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt and a drizzle of quality olive oil will bring out the flavors even more.

While zested lemon peel is an attractive garnish by itself, you can add even more visual interest by adding thin, deseeded lemon rounds to the top of the focaccia before you bake it. You can also enhance the presentation by adding freshly chopped thyme to the uncooked dough as well as whole sprigs to the finished bread for aesthetic effect. With just two ingredients, this is one of the most straightforward ways to upgrade your focaccia, and its vibrant flavors make it pair perfectly with lighter fare like grilled chicken and roasted vegetables.

To give your focaccia a unique twist, chef Luca Corazzina says that "Caramelized onions or thinly sliced figs paired with a drizzle of balsamic glaze also create a delightful balance of sweet and savory." While any one of these components would taste amazing on focaccia individually, together they turn plain flatbread into a truly restaurant-worthy offering. The sweet notes from each ingredient blend together perfectly without being too heavy thanks to the sharpness of the vinegar (and to a lesser extent, the onions), making this compelling combination perfect for casual wine nights and fancy dinner parties alike. When baking your onion and fig focaccia, add the fig before the dough goes into the oven and the glaze once it comes out. For the caramelized onions, you could work them into your dough or use them to top the bread post-bake.

If you'd rather skip the slightly arduous task of caramelizing onions, there's no shame in adding some raw slices of the vegetable to your uncooked dough. You can also make the dish even more decadent by melting a few slices of aged cheddar over the focaccia or crumbling some fresh goat cheese over the top.

If you want to give your focaccia a show-stopping appearance, chef Luca Corazzina knows just what vegetables to use. "For more creativity, adding thinly sliced zucchini or bell peppers can create vibrant patterns," he says. One technique for decorating focaccia involves pressing your design elements directly into the dough, so the rigidity of these veggies make it easier for them to hold their shape.

Still, you need to be practical in your approach. When planning focaccia art, Corazzina warns to keep your toppings on the drier side so your bread doesn't get soggy. Meanwhile, heat will degrade the zesty flavor of leafy fresh herbs, so you'll want to save your showerings of parsley or basil for garnishing just before serving rather than incorporating them into your dough.

As you work on your decorated focaccia, be sure to coat it in olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt before adding the toppings. With a sharp paring knife and a bit of practice, you should be able to shape the vegetables into a design that looks almost too good to eat.

Topping your focaccia with an array of edible flowers is one of the most elegant and stunning decorating techniques out there. There are many types of edible flowers like lavender, daisies, and violets. They're perfect for decorations as they're naturally so colorful and beautiful that all you have to do is arrange them artfully on the surface. However, chef Luca Corazzina advises doing so post-bake, saying, "Be sure to place them on the focaccia after it's fully baked to preserve their natural beauty and fragrance." Just be aware that it can be a little difficult to source them fresh.

Since edible flowers aren't cooked, it's important to make sure you know where they're coming from. The flowers sitting outside your local supply store aren't going to cut it unless you want to take a chance with whatever chemicals they might be sprayed with. Instead, find fresh edible flowers at a farmers' market, buy a dried variety — like Hands on Earth's Mixed Dried Edible Flower Petals — online, or grow your own little garden from seed with your favorite blooms. Pansies, chamomile, and coriander blossoms are just a few of the edible flowers in chef Corazzina's focaccia garden. "These flowers add vibrant colors, delicate textures, and a mild, floral aroma to your focaccia," he says.