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    Home » Breakfast

    Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread {Quick, Egg-less & Healthy}

    Published: Nov 3, 2022 by Deepti · This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments

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    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    This golden colored Whole Wheat Focaccia, topped with fresh veggies is incredibly flavorful, well-baked and is moist and spongy. With a soft texture inside and a crispy crust, this Italian whole wheat bread is amazingly delicious and would be a hit in the family!

    whole wheat focaccia
    Focaccia Bread

    This recipe of Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread is a gentle twist to the classic Italian focaccia by creating a healthy version of it using ghee and whole wheat flour.

    Focaccia Bread is one of the most amazing breads in Italy and traces back its origin to Mediterranean regions. In due course of time, it has become an art bread that is decorated with rosemary, cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic flavored with olive oil.

    Olive oil had always been an important ingredient of focaccia bread and once the dough is done we top it with olive oil for a smooth textured bread.

    This healthy vegetarian focaccia is rich in savory Italian flavors topped with vegetables like bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. team it with a hot bowl of soup to have a hearty meal!

    Jump to:
    • Why Would You Love This Recipe?
    • Ingredients
    • Variations
    • Storage Suggestions
    • Expert Tips
    • FAQ
    • What can I team with Focaccia?
    • How to make a No-Knead Whole-Wheat Focaccia?
    • Detailed Recipe with Steps
    • Stories From My Kitchen
    • Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread {Quick, Egg-less & Healthy}

    Why Would You Love This Recipe?

    • Well-Risen Homemade Bread.
    • Bursting with Italian Flavors.
    • Healthy and Easy Recipe.
    • Kids Friendly.
    • Moist, Airy and Soft Textured.
    • The Best Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread Ever!

    Ingredients

    • Whole Wheat Flour- This recipe is a twist to the classical focaccia recipe and uses whole wheat flour. The wheat flour tends to be denser than the all-purpose flour. It would be sticky and not-so stretchy or elastic when kneaded and this is normal. Hence, this bread won't be stretchy and would need a little bit more oil than the usual flour. You may use the same recipe with gf flours as well.
    • Desi Ghee- I love creating recipes with ghee. Ghee is my first preference always. Feel free to use coconut oil or avocado oil to make this recipe vegan.
    • Olive Oil- Since focaccia's prime ingredient is olive oil, I have used a combination of olive oil and ghee. You may use just the olive oil.
    • Salt-adds perfect balance of flavors to this bread. I have used normal table salt in this recipe.
    • Yeast, Sugar and warm water-The dry yeast of any good brand would work well. Make sure to use a fresh supply. An old yeast may not be activated properly and yeast is the most important ingredient of this bread recipe as it helps in fermentation process. A combination of warm water, sugar and yeast helps create a frothy mixture which helps create a porous, airy and soft-textured bread.
    • Vegetables for Topping- I have used a combination of fresh veggies- Bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomato. The freshly chopped coriander leaves helped me create an elegant art on focaccia. You may experiment with the veggies to be used as topping. For greens, parsley or basil would work too.
    wheat flour, ghee and salt
    focaccia bread

    Variations

    • No Knead Focaccia Bread- For busy you, you may skip the kneading part. You may use a dough machine or simply take a large spatula and mix everything gently.
    • Vegan Focaccia- Replace ghee with vegan oils to make this recipe fully vegan.

    Storage Suggestions

    The leftovers, if any, can be stored in a dry container with lid in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days. For using again, you may reheat in the oven for about 5 min or warm up on stove top on slow flame on a iron flat tawa.

    Expert Tips

    • Always use the dry yeast in warm (and not hot) water with little sugar to activate it. If it doesn't get frothy (in 5-10 min), don't move ahead as it means you wont get a risen dough and hence not a porous or aerated bread. So buy new yeast and start again then to be disappointed.
    • Give enough time to give two risings of dough. Fermentation is an important step that yields great textured bread. If your environment has high temperatures, fermentation would be easy. However, for winter zone, you might need to keep the dough in warmer place. You may try keeping it inside Microwave or over boiled/ hot milk/ food.
    • Kneading dough more always is a good idea. It would be sticky and wont leave your hands but that's the exact texture we wish. You might apply oil on your hands in between.
    • Patience and Patience. Its not at all tough to bake a bread but it needs you to be positive throughout the process.
    wheat focaccia bread

    FAQ

    Is Focaccia a healthy bread?

    Made of whole-wheat, desi ghee with the toppings of Vitamin C rich Bell peppers, fiber-loaded tomatoes, minerals, and many more vitamins from green coriander leaves and garlic, this focaccia is indeed a healthy snack. It keeps you full for longer.

    What is the difference between focaccia bread and regular bread?

    Focaccia bread is made in high olive oil as comparison to regular bread. This recipe of focaccia bread makes use of whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

    What is focaccia bread used for?

    A thick and moist bread, focaccia can be used for making a sandwich, or team it with a bowl of hot soup, or a cup of coffee or have it as is.

    What can I team with Focaccia?

    • Vegan Gluten-Free Red Pasta
    • Lemon Coriander Soup for weight-loss
    • Mashed Potatoes salad with Moong Sprouts

    How to make a No-Knead Whole-Wheat Focaccia?

    You may use a dough maker. I have always been comfortable with kneading by hand as that's how I learned it. One may use the method in which they are most comfortable.

    For making this recipe a no-knead, you may mix the wheat flour using a spatula in a large bowl. This recipe doesn't need a lot of kneading. If you can mix well with a spatula, it would work well.

    Detailed Recipe with Steps

    Step 1 Prep Yeast Dough

    In a small bowl, add warm water and add sugar and dry yeast to it. It takes about 5 min for yeast to get activated. If its frothy, the yeast is active, else you may not proceed further.

    In another bowl, take wheat flour, salt, olive oil and ghee. Once the yeast is activated, add it to wheat flour gradually.

    yeast sugar in warm water
    frothy yeast
    wheat flour, ghee and salt
    wheat flour ghee with soaked yeast

    Step 2 Knead the Dough

    The kneading dough seems to be the most important and difficult part. If you are not comfortable kneading with hands, use a spatula. It works fine to use spatula for this recipe. We don't wish to over-knead any way and the dough should have a loose sticky texture, else the bread would be dense. The third image on right is the first rise of the dough(around 30 min after kneading it).

    You may apply oil on your hands while kneading. Knead the dough again and let it sit for 1-2 hrs for the second rise.

    kneading yeast dough for focaccia
    wheat dough for focaccia bread
    first rise of focaccia

    Step 3 Second Rise of the Dough

    The second rise of the dough was amazingly great. Patience works best for making bread.

    second rise of focaccia

    Step 4 Ready the toppings

    While the dough is rising, you may prepare the toppings. I have used bell pepper, onion, capsicum, tomato and coriander leaves. It's your garden of veggies, feel free to use any vegetable and decorate it as you love it.

    veetables topping for focaccia bread

    Step 5 Ready for Baking

    After the second rise, knead for few min and transfer the dough to a round/square baking dish. Make sure to oil the dish first. Keep the dough in the baking dish for about 15 min. Top it with vegetables.

    baking prep of focaccia bread
    garden veg topping of focaccia bread

    Step 6 Bake It

    Bake it in pre-heated OTG at 180 degrees C for about 10-15 min.

    baking focaccia bread
    baked focaccia

    Step 7 Serve It

    The Healthy Italian wheat bread is ready. Serve it with butter or cheese or a bowl of soup.

    whole wheat focaccia

    Stories From My Kitchen

    I had been wanting to make bread for quite a long time as the aroma that is spread while the baking process is happening, makes me so happy. When mom would go to the local bakery shop for giving all ingredients for her Atta Biscuits made, I would accompany her always. The reason was not to get any stuff but just to inhale the baking aroma.

    To my surprise, the first bread that I had baked happened to be focaccia. I wondered that how amazing it really turned out to be especially when it's a loaf of whole wheat bread.

    I must mention that I followed the recipe of Dassana. Click at the Link: Dassana's Focaccia Bread

    She has art to make things less complicated and I have followed her several recipes and they have been great. This was used primarily for ratios and I modified it by adding my food art.


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    If you make this recipe, share the image of it on our instagram account @veg.buffet or twitter account @vegbuffet

     

    whole wheat focaccia

    Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread {Quick, Egg-less & Healthy}

    This golden colored Whole Wheat Focaccia, topped with fresh veggies is incredibly flavorful, well-baked and is moist and spongy. With a soft texture inside and a crispy crust, this Italian whole wheat bread is amazingly delicious and would be a hit in the family!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 2 hrs
    Cook Time 20 mins
    Total Time 2 hrs 20 mins
    Course Appetisers, Main Course
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 5 pie
    Calories 221 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    For Bread

    • 2 cups Wheat flour
    • 1 teaspoon dry yeast
    • ¾ teaspoon sugar
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 tablespoon Desi ghee
    • 1.5 cup water

    For garden (optional)

    • 1 small onion
    • 2 small bell peppers I have used red and yellow
    • 1 small tomato
    • few leaves coriander along with stem
    • 3-4 cloves garlic

    Instructions
     

    • Take a bowl and add warm water to it along with sugar. Give a gentle mix. Make sure that water is not hot. You may check with a finger dip test. If you can dip your finger comfortably and feel the warmth of water, its good enough.
      focaccia bread
    • Add dry yeast. and cover it for 5-10 min.
      yeast sugar in warm water
    • You will notice a froth on yeast-water mixture after sometime. Its perfectly fine to have a frothy mixture. It indicates that we can move ahead.
      frothy yeast
    • Take another bowl and add half of wheat flour. We will use half first and then add other half later.
      focaccia bread
    • Add desi ghee and salt to the wheat flour.
      wheat flour, ghee and salt
    • Add yeast water mixture slowly to the wheat flour. Make sure to mix water and flour in batches and not at one go.
      wheat flour ghee with soaked yeast
    • Mix it well and add more wheat flour. Add water-yeast mixture as needed. The dough would be sticky and its okay. But it should not be very hard or very loose. If you feel its loose, add little more of wheat flour. I have used spatula to give a good mix.
      kneading yeast dough for focaccia
    • Keep mixing well the dough. Now you can mix it on the kitchen board as well.
      wheat dough for focaccia bread
    • Apply olive oil to an empty bowl and keep the dough in it covered with a cloth or lid. Keep it near warm place to give it first rise.
      first rise of focaccia
    • After 30 min, you shall notice that the dough has almost doubled up.
      focaccia bread
    • Punch it and release the air and knead again for 5 min. It would still be sticky. You may apply oil on you hands to avoid it sticking on you hands. Cover it again for second rise for 1-2 hours.
      focaccia bread
    • After 2 hours, it would be risen nicely as shown.
      second rise of focaccia
    • In the mean time, you can chop the vegetables in desired shapes for making your garden on focaccia.
      veetables topping for focaccia bread
    • Now we can transfer the dough to the utensil in which we wish to bake it. Coat the utensil with olive oil. Gently transfer the dough. It wont stretch too much as its wheat flour.
      baking prep of focaccia bread
    • You may stretch it to cover the whole pan. Make the garden of your focaccia. Add olive oil at the top once the vegetables are placed.
      garden veg topping of focaccia bread
    • I have used OTG (quite an old model) and had baked it @180 degree for 10-15 min. Keep a check on aroma and make sure the knife comes clean.
      baking focaccia bread
    • It looks so majestic. It has been baked properly and once it cools off, it would leave the sides too.
      focaccia bread
    • Your focaccia bread is ready. Dip in butter and enjoy!!
      focaccia bread

    Notes

    • Always use the dry yeast in warm (and not hot) water with little sugar to activate it. If it doesn't get frothy (in 5-10 min), don't move ahead as it means you wont get a risen dough and hence not a porous or aerated bread. So buy new yeast and start again then to be disappointed.
    • Give enough time to give two risings of dough. Fermentation is an important step that yields great textured bread. If your environment has high temperatures, fermentation would be easy. However, for winter zone, you might need to keep the dough in warmer place. You may try keeping it inside Microwave or over boiled/ hot milk/ food.
    • Kneading dough more always is a good idea. It would be sticky and wont leave your hands but that's the exact texture we wish. You might apply oil on your hands in between.
    • Patience and Patience. Its not at all tough to bake a bread but it needs you to be positive throughout the process.
    Nutrition Facts
    Serving size: 1 pie
    Servings: 5
    Amount per serving  
    Calories 221
    % Daily Value*
    Total Fat 6.5g 8%
    Saturated Fat 1.6g 8%
    Cholesterol 3mg 1%
    Sodium 468mg 20%
    Total Carbohydrate 38g 14%
    Dietary Fiber 7.3g 26%
    Total Sugars 4.8g  
    Protein 7.1g  
    Vitamin D 0mcg 0%
    Calcium 9mg 1%
    Iron 3mg 14%
    Potassium 122mg 3%
    *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
    Keyword easy recipe of focaccia bread with wheat, focaccia bread, focaccia bread with wheat without egg, how to make focaccia bread, how to make focaccia bread with wheat, veg focaccia bread with wheat, wheat focaccia bread

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    About Deepti

    Warm Welcome to my blog!
    This blog is created by a former Assistant Professor, mother, and Netflix Binge watcher who is passionate about food! This blog is my collection of homemade healthy vegetarian (egg-free too) recipes that are tested and approved by my family before they are finally posted here. A variety of Indian and World recipes that are made in a simple way!
    I am so glad to have you as a part of my journey in this online world.
    Thanks for stopping by!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jami says

      February 14, 2022 at 7:13 pm

      I was wondering if it is 1 pie or 1 slice. I am very strict with calories, so I wanted to know. But it looks very good! I will try to make it as I like focaccia!

      Reply
      • Deepti says

        February 15, 2022 at 5:09 pm

        Hey Jami,
        I had made the focaccia in round pan. The calorie count is of one slice (there were total 5 slices of it). It was indeed loved by all at home, though its not stretchy like the usual All-purpose flour breads and is a bit dense. It was layered with olive oil to make it soft from within. Thanks. Happy Cooking!

        Reply
    2. Vinayak says

      November 27, 2022 at 7:35 pm

      5 stars
      Love this. I make a similar recipe with WW flour.
      Though I don’t add ghee to mine.

      Reply
      • Deepti says

        December 01, 2022 at 5:11 am

        Hi Vinayak, Glad to hear this. Thanks for the lovely words.

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Deepti!

    Warm Welcome to my blog!
    This blog is created by a former Assistant Professor, mother, and Netflix Binge watcher who is passionate about food! Here, I am sharing homemade healthy vegetarian (egg-free too) recipes that are tested and approved by my family before they are finally posted.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    More about me →

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