Focaccia Muffins

If you love the pillowy texture and olive oil flavor of regular focaccia, you’ll love these portion-sized focaccia muffins all the same. Studded with olives and rosemary, they make the perfect accompaniment to soups, salads and pasta dishes.

Like most of the world in 2020, I got majorly into sourdough baking. After countless boules, I finally decided to try my hand at focaccia. I had initially thought it’d be much harder (a completely unfounded assumption) than regular sourdough bread but I was totally mistaken and the result was something I loved a million times more.

With it’s pillowy-soft crumb, bubbly holes and golden brown, crunchy edges, it quickly became my favorite bread to eat. Plus, there’s something incredibly satisfying about a bread that requires you to punch your fingers into it to create dimples.

The idea for focaccia muffins was born out of my love for the bread and desire to make something more portion-sized. It helps me stop at a reasonable amount instead of eating half the bread in one sitting. What’s also great about the muffin or roll approach to focaccia is being able to vary the toppings per muffin. For a bread that often makes use of such a polarizing topping such as olives, this is a great upside.

Why You Should Make Focaccia Muffins

• No kneading — focaccia is one of the simplest breads to make because there’s no formal kneading required.
• Similar to sourdough without the work — the highlight of sourdough bread is the open crumb structure. Focaccia gives you that without the multiple steps.
• Perfectly portioned — each muffin is the perfect amount for one person.
• Topping options — go whichever route you like with focaccia from keeping it plain with just olive oil and salt, to herb-studded, to veggie packed.

Ingredients You’ll Need

The list is short and sweet. It’s amazing how something so flavorful can come from these unassuming ingredients.

• Flour — All purpose flour, 00 flour or bread flour can all be used to make focaccia but you’ll want to make sure that whichever you choose has at least 12g of protein per 100g of flour. Protein amount affects the development of gluten in the bread and too little will result in a subpar crumb — arguably the most prized feature of focaccia.
• Yeast — Since this isn’t sourdough focaccia, we are relying on dried instant yeast to create the rise.
• Extra virgin olive oil — Olive oil keeps focaccia tender and flexible by softening the gluten, helps the dough stretch and hold air, promotes crisp browning on the top and bottom and adds moisture and flavor throughout the bread. Choose a good quality oil for making these muffins.
• Sea salt
• Toppings — Focaccia toppings are up to you and your preferences. I chose to use fresh rosemary and olives for this batch of muffins.

Step by Step Instructions

The full set of directions with detailed quantities and instruction can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. This is a surface level walk-through to help you visualize the process of making focaccia muffins.

The muffins are best served warm after cooling just a few minutes from the oven.

My Pro Tips

Important Notes

• The temperature of the water is important when using yeast. You want it to be warm enough to quickly activate the yeast but not too hot that it kills it. Aim for a temperature of 95-105°F.
• This dough is supposed to be sticky. Don’t be deterred by the stickiness of the dough at first or add more flour. The hydration of this dough is important to the quintessential open crumb structure of focaccia.
• Do the folds gently. Much like sourdough, the folding part of this dough process is crucial in the outcome of the focaccia. You want to retain the bubbles and air in the dough as much as possible while still making it structurally sound.

How to Shortcut the Process

If you want to cut down the time needed in preparing these focaccia muffins, you can omit the 8-12 hour refrigeration process. See my notes at the bottom of the recipe card that explain how to do this.

The flavor will be more neutral and less developed without the long, cold fermentation, and the texture a little less airy, but the muffins will still come out very good and it’s a worthy tradeoff if you’re limited in time.

Topping Options

Focaccia can be as plain or as loaded up as you like. There’s nothing wrong with just quality olive oil and sea salt for a basic focaccia muffin, but if you want to experiment with toppings, here are my favorites:

• Pesto – any pesto will work. Play around and try everything from arugula pesto to something more unique like trapanese pesto.
• Herbs – rosemary is often used on focaccia, but other fresh herbs like thyme, sage, oregano and marjoram are good options too.
• Olives – make sure they’re pitted, but other than that choose your favorites like kalamata or castelvetrano.
• Sun-dried tomatoes – these bring a sweeter bite to the focaccia.
• Bocconcini – also known as the small mozzarella balls.
• Artichoke hearts – I like the ones in olive oil, not water for focaccia, but be sure to use smaller pieces and drain them well.
• Garlic confit – roasting the cloves into a confit makes their sweetness shine. Air fryer roasted garlic is a quicker option with similar flavor.
• Caramelized onions

Storage

If you don’t eat all the muffins the same day as baking, store the mini focaccia in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 or 2 days. You can freeze them for longer storage and reheat them in a low oven (150°F or as low as your oven goes) for 5-10 minutes.