Inspired by a classic apple and sage holiday stuffing, this Thanksgiving Focaccia is easy to make and perfect to serve a crowd. Made with vegetable broth and topped with apples, sage, rosemary, garlic, and shallots – each bite is a burst of fall flavour.
Craving stuffing, but don’t want to actually make stuffing? This quick and easy focaccia recipe is perfect for your next dinner party or weekend baking project. Loaded with everything you find in a classic apple and sage stuffing – its the perfect twist on a classic.
Just make our easy thanksgiving focaccia recipe, except we’re using vegetable broth in place of water to add a little more savoury flavour to the dough. Make the dough the night before, let it rest overnight, then in the morning, you do the final proof, top, and bake! Focaccia can take some time but rest assured most of that is idle time for the dough to rise – and we promise it’s worth every minute.
This recipe is adapted from the Bon Appetit No Knead Focaccia recipe.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Quick and easy, all it requires is a little time.
- Packed with seasonal fall flavours.
- Perfect to serve a crowd for your next dinner party.
Top tips for making vegan focaccia:
- Focaccia is already nearly vegan friendly. The best part about focaccia is it’s basically vegan friendly. Often recipes will use butter in their recipe, but just substituting with vegan butter does the trick.
- Make sure your yeast is not expired. Yeast will make or break your focaccia. If it’s expired, we recommend getting new yeast. If the yeast mixture does not have a yeast-y smell or isn’t foamy (or at least creamy), its likely that your yeast is dead and you need new yeast.
- Use good oil. Olive oil is a big part of focaccia and a part that you can taste! This doesn’t mean the most expensive oil you can buy, it simply means an olive oil that you like the taste of.
- Let rest overnight. You can make focaccia in a day, but really recommend making the night before and doing the first proof overnight or at least 8 hours. This will yield the best flavour and texture.
- Generously grease the baking pan. The worst that can happen is your focaccia sticks to the pan – we grease our pan generously with both vegan butter and olive oil to ensure it comes out nice and easy.
- Load up on toppings. We tested this with less toppings, but the stuffing flavour really shined when we loaded it on. So don’t be afraid to really spread it on there.
Ingredient Notes
- Active Dry Yeast – It’s vital that your yeast is not expired and that you don’t kill it. If the yeast is expired, you’ll need to get new yeast before you start the recipe. When proofing the yeast be sure to not overheat the vegetable broth, it should be 40℃-50℃, or else it could kill the yeast and your focaccia won’t rise.
- Vegetable Broth – We use the better than bouillon seasoned vegetable base for our vegetable broth. When warming it, the temperature should not exceed 50℃.
- Maple Syrup – Sugar helps yeast rise. If you don’t have maple syrup you can using white granulated sugar or another liquid sweetener.
- All-Purpose Flour – We use our unbleached store brand all-purpose flour, in this case the No Name brand from No Frills.
- Olive Oil – Use an olive oil that you like the flavour of, as it is a big part of this recipe flavour profile.
- Vegan Butter – We use Becel Plant Based Butter for our recipes, but you can use any other vegan butter brand.
- Granny Smith Apples – Our go-to for most apple recipes is granny smith as it has a great texture and flavour. However if you prefer a different apple variety you can swap it out.
Other vegan thanksgiving recipes you’ll love:
- Vegan Thanksgiving Lasagna
- Perfect Pumpkin Pie
- Smoky Butternut Squash Soup
- Crispy Herb Roasted Potatoes
- Croissant Sage Stuffing with Apples
How to make Thanksgiving Focaccia:
Thanksgiving Focaccia with Apple, Sage, and Rosemary
Inspired by a classic apple and sage holiday stuffing, this Thanksgiving Focaccia is easy to make and perfect to serve a crowd. Made with vegetable broth and topped with apples, sage, rosemary, garlic, and shallots – each bite is a burst of fall flavour.This recipe was adapted from Bon Appetit's No-Knead Focaccia
Print Pin ItServings: 9 servings
Ingredients
- 1½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1¼ cup warm vegetable broth
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 300 g (2½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- 1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup celery, diced
- ⅓ cup Granny Smith apples, diced
- 10-15 sage leaves
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Whisk together active dry yeast, vegetable broth, and maple syrup in a large bowl. The vegetable broth should be warm but definitely not boiling or else it will kill the yeast. Set aside for at least 5-10 minutes or until the mixture is foamy.
- Mix all-purpose flour with salt, then add the mixture to the yeast mixture. Using a rubber spatula fold the wet and dry together until a rough dough forms.
- In a large bowl add 2 tbsp of olive oil and place the dough in it. Gently flip the dough a couple times to coat in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to proof at least 10 hours or overnight.
- Generously butter a 9×9" baking pan and drizzle ½ tbsp olive oil into center of pan. Set aside.
- Using two forks, gather up the edges of the dough lift up and over into the centre. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. We like to go around the dough twice – 8 total folds. Transfer the dough to the greased pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size – about 2 hours.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Lightly oil your hands and dimple the focaccia all over with your fingers creating deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the dough).
- Top the dimpled focaccia with sliced garlic, shallots, and chopped rosemary – dimple the dough again pressing the toppings into the focaccia. Top with diced celery, apples, and whole sage leaves, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake focaccia until golden brown, about 25–30 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from the pan and placing on a wire rack. When ready to eat, slice and serve.
Pin it for later:
