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This Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread has the perfect focaccia texture! You would never suspect that it is gluten-free. Naturally vegan and xanthan gum free!
Here's a recipe I worked nearly a year on! I went through much trial and error to finally achieve the texture and flavors I was after in a gluten-free focaccia bread and I'm thrilled to finally be sharing this recipe with you! I so hope you love it as much as we do!
Jump to:
📖 Features
- Super simple ingredients and method. Very easy to make!
- Reminiscent of conventional gluten-filled focaccia bread.
- Packed with beautiful flavors and textures.
- Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan.
🥖 Ingredient Notes (+ 1 Secret Ingredient!)
Gluten-free flour: The trick to this perfect focaccia is using a gluten-free all purpose flour blend without xanthan gum. I tested many different store-bought and homemade blends and while I was able to create some tasty breads, none of the tests using blends with xanthan gum came even close to the texture you would come to expect from a true focaccia. I'll share some of my favorite flour blends in the recipe card toward the bottom of the post!
Yeast + sweetener: This is mandatory for a nice risen focaccia dough!
Olive oil: No focaccia would be complete without a little olive oil thrown into the mix! This adds both flavor and a nice golden, crispy exterior.
Baking powder: This adds a little extra lift and browning power.
Salt + Rosemary: This simple combo adds a lot of flavor!
For full ingredients list and instructions, refer to the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
🥣 How-to Make
Step 1: Combine water, yeast and sweetener. Let sit to 'bloom' for 5 minutes.
Step 2: Add flour, salt, baking powder and oil. Mix well.
Step 3: Cover and let rise until doubled in size.
Step 4: Pour into prepared baking pan. Let rise for 30 minutes longer.
Step 5: Make holes in the dough, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with rosemary and bake.
Step 6: Enjoy!
💭 FAQ and Top Tips
Use the Right Flour Blend
In case you missed it further up in the post or in the recipe card, it is imperative you use a gluten-free flour blend without xanthan gum for best results. I tested with xanthan gum numerous times and while I was able to create tasty bread, it did not produce the lovely texture you would come to expect from focaccia. I recommend some of my favorite store-bought blends as well as a DIY blend in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Yeast
Letting the yeast/water/sweetener mixture sit for 5 minutes and get foamy is indicative of the yeast being healthy and active. If your yeast mixture does not begin to bubble or get foamy, then you may want to start again with a newly purchased batch of yeast for to ensure your dough rises as intended.
Let it Rise
Rising times can vary due to brands used, altitude, temperature, etc. Just make sure it doubles in size during both rising times, regardless of how long it takes. Patience serves you well here! If it does not rise for some reason, you either used a blend with xanthan gum (which is not advised!), you did not wait long enough for it to rise, the ambient temperature is not warm enough (move to a warmer location), or your yeast is mostly like old or inactive for some reason and you should start again with new yeast.
Toppings
Simple dried rosemary, olive oil and flaked salt makes for a divine combo, but you can certainly top your focaccia off however you would prefer! Some other ideas:
- Sliced onions.
- Sliced cherry tomatoes.
- Fresh or dried thyme.
- Fresh or dried basil.
- Fresh or dried oregano.
- Sliced olives.
- Roasted red peppers.
- Sun-dried tomatoes.
How do I store and reheat this Gluten-Free Focaccia?
This focaccia tastes best fresh from the oven but it does keep well lightly covered at room temperature for up to about 24 hours. Otherwise, I recommend freezing it over refrigerating it, if storing. To freeze, store in freezer safe containers for up to one month. To reheat, whether kept at room temperature or the freezer, place the bread into a 400F oven and heat until crisp and warmed throughout.
🧂 How-to Serve
This is the kind of bread that doesn't need anything else but itself! It is that delightful. But if you're looking for ways to mix it up a little, here are some great ways to enjoy this bread:
- Dipped into olive oil with or without dried herbs.
- Slathered with a healthy dose of butter or ghee.
- Dipped into marinara sauce.
- Topped off like a pizza and reheated until toppings are melted.
- Dipped into soup.
- Sliced and used as sandwich bread.
🍞 More Delicious Gluten-Free Bread Recipes
The Best Gluten-Free Vegan Bread
Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Bread
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or any granulated or liquid sweetener of choice
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 3 cups gluten-free all purpose flour blend without xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or pink salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus more for topping and pan
- 1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary optional, for topping
- coarse or flaked sea salt optional, for topping
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine yeast, sweetener and warm water. Whisk well and let sit 5 minutes or until appearing foamy.
- To the same bowl add flour, salt, baking powder and oil. Mix well. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size (it will be a rather wet batter, do not fret!).
- Grease a 9"x13" pan and line with parchment paper (greasing helps the paper stick and hold shape).
- Pour the risen batter into the center of the pan. Cover and let sit to rise for 30 minutes longer, or until the entire pan has filled with batter (see how-to photos in post for reference).
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Press a wet finger into the batter to make small indents throughout. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with dried rosemary (if using). Bake for 17 minutes, or until the bread is firm and golden brown.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing. Optionally, sprinkle with a little coarse or flaked sea salt before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Equipment
Anna D says
This is an amazing recipe, finally can enjoy foccacia again.
Kristen Wood says
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Cecilia ChaeMi says
I've never commented on a recipe I found online but this was just too good. Just like real focaccia! I didn't get the dimples bc I was too impatient. I think I let it rise slightly less time than I was supposed to and my yeast was old, but it was so great! No one knows it's gluten free. I put grey salt, oregano, shallots, and high end olive oil on top. Perfection. I'm gonna make more and freeze it bc it does take time to make. But it's so easy.
Kristen Wood says
Your version sounds delicious! I'm so very happy you enjoyed this recipe. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to share here!
Dana Sandonato says
This was so good! We entertained some friends, one needing GF food, so I made this and it was a hit for everyone!
Andrea says
Thank you! I've been looking for a good focaccia bread that's gluten free. Delicious and easy to make.
Sara says
Loved your recipe and tips along the way, following your ingredients and method exact and it turned out delicious, loved the texture!
Anita says
This turned out great. There's almost no difference from my usual all-purpose flour focaccia.
Kathleen says
Had some friends over for a girls night out the other night and made this focaccia as the birthday girl loves bread but is gluten-free! OH wow was I amazed, I couldn't tell the difference, I added flaky sea salt, tomatoes, red onions and some fresh rosemary. We could have eaten just the bread! All of your tips were so helpful, read the packages of premade GF flours!
Kay says
I followed the recipe exactly, using Bob's All-purpose Gluten Free Flour. It turned out great, and browned up very nicely. I will be making this often. The only thing is that it didn't produce a batter, but rather a more biscuit-like dough. I just pressed it into the pan and drizzled on the olive oil. It turned out perfect as far as I can tell, but why the different texture of the batter/dough?
Kristen Wood says
Hi, Kay! I'm so happy to hear that. That is very interesting! The only thing I could guess is that the yeast impacted the structure a bit (as it does have a mind of its own), or maybe slight differences in the measuring tools we use.
Tara says
Thank you for the tips on toppings for this delicious focaccia! I added in cherry tomatoes and onions - so tasty!!
Kristen Wood says
I'm so happy to hear! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Gina says
Always intrigued when I see gf and vegan in a baking recipe as it's so hard to find good ones. Can't believe how great this focaccia recipe is. Satisfies all those carby cravings in a way I can enjoy!
Danielle says
What a great focaccia recipe! Loved how easy it was to make and we devoured it in a day!
Sara says
Delicious focaccia recipe, loved the flavour and texture.
Kristen Wood says
So happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Jess says
I love that I have another gluten-free option to add to my tool kit!
Bernadette says
Holy. moly. YUM. I’ve found that recipes claiming to be the best often aren’t, but was happily proved wrong with this recipe! This is going straight to the recipe book!
I used 1:1 red sorghum flour to tapioca/potato starch. I followed the metric measurements and ended up with a very dry crumbly dough. Read in the comments that it was a known issue, so added more water, yeast, salt, and baking powder until it was like a pancake batter. I didn’t have time for a second rise so just popped it in the oven after the first rise, but it was still perfect.
Bubbly and bready inside, salty and crisp on the outside. My kids loved it and requested I make it regularly which is a big win!
Amber Shepherd says
I used King Arthur gluten free measure for measure flower, but my bread comes out with never browning at all, so it looks so unappetizing, what am I doing wrong?
Kristen Wood says
Hi, Amber! If you read through the post, that kind of flour isn't recommended for this particular recipe. Measure for measure flour contains xanthan gum and other additives that will impact the rising and browning of this bread recipe. I recommend using a gluten free blend without xanthan gum for best results. Also, brushing the top of the bread with olive oil prior to baking will help with browning process as well. I hope this helps!
Anita says
I did everything you said except I use rice flour instead of brown rice flour. I also use arrowroot. Same 1.1 ratio. Mine had a looser consistency & was gummy. It's not bad but it's not bread. What did I do wrong?
Kristen Wood says
Hi Anita - Unfortunately, the culprit here would be you using rice flour over brown rice flour. Brown rice flour gives a thicker consistency, hence the looser results you experienced with regular rice flour. To use regular rice flour, you would need to cut down on the liquids. They have quite a few differences despite both being rice! I hope this helps.
Julie says
I followed the recipe almost exactly...save that I used instant yeast that I didn't let bloom. When I mixed all the ingredients, it was a dry, sandy mess. I had to add almost twice as much water to get a batter. I used King Arthur GF All-Purpose Mix, and measured it by weight. After doing some digging and measuring, I figured out that 3 cups of KA GF AP flour only weighs 468 g, not 710 g as is stated in the metric recipe.
Kristen Wood says
Hi Julie - can you confirm if you used King Arthur's All Purpose Mix or All Purpose Flour? If you used the mix, then that will not work in this recipe as it contains xanthan gum and baking powder. If you used their flour blend without xanthan gum, that should definitely work just fine. As for the yeast, instant should hypothetically work in this recipe but I have not tested it. And I apologize if the metric measurements were incorrect, I will look into. It is a feature of the recipe card and calculated automatically. I appreciate you bringing that to my attention! I'm sorry you had this experience!
Julie says
Thanks for the reply! My comment was confusing; I used the AP Flour not the baking mix. The good news is that thankfully it turned out ok! I’d be curious to know if you find that the flour measurement by weight is inaccurate. Although I understand that different flour blends will vary by weight.
Emily Flint says
I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make this but it turned out great. Thanks for all of the tips and recommendations!
Ana F. says
I had always wanted to make focaccia and was intimidated at first. It came out delicious for my first try with this recipe! Can't wait to make it again 🙂