French Onion Focaccia Bread
A French onion soup masterpiece all in one slab of bread. It’s like freshly baked bread and a hearty warm soup had a baby.
you're making mealtime meaningful.
French onion soup is a masterpiece of a sweet and savory winter dish. From the caramelized cheese crust to the sweet slow roasted oniony broth, this soup has made it’s mark in the soup community. What would happen if I mixed a can of French onion soup into the dough to replace the water? Would it work? Oh it works alright!
Start with these few easy ingredients. This bread recipe alone is only four ingredients, so what’s a few more. Heat up your Campbell’s soup in the microwave to create an ideal temperature for the yeast to grow and start caramelizing your onions.
As you mix the bread, you are graced with this delicious caramelized onion smell in the dough that will get you so excited.
The dough doesn’t start out looking too appealing as it looks very shaggy and clumpy because of the caramelized onions in the soup can. As the dough gets folded and stretched it starts to come together like any great focaccia dough. It’s bubbly, jiggly, and stretchy.
Top tip to start your onions early so you have a chance to cool them down when your bread is proofed. Sprinkle with fresh thyme as the onions cool for a hint of fresh herb flavor.
My favorite part comes when we stuff the dough. It’s like biting into a freshly baked grilled cheese.
The dough that perfumes the air with French onion as we spread half of the caramelized onions and grated gruyere cheese. Be sure to spread evenly so that no one section is overloaded with toppings. The bread still needs to be light and airy enough to rise.
Once the bread emerges from the oven you are transported to a French bakery with the smell of fresh bread in the air. It’s hard to just sit and watch this cool when you want to devour this loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Always let your bread cool to completion, especially with these filling. The bread is very fragile at this point and the strands of gluten holding the dough need to dry out. When you want to reheat this bread, just place it back in the oven at 325 in some aluminum foil and it will be like it just came out fresh.
If this is too much bread for you, share with your friends or freeze the bread for later. This could make for excellent croutons in a salad or even used as the bread in your next French onion soup. How meta is that?!
French Onion Focaccia Bread
Yield(s): Serves 8 - 12 pieces
15m prep time
30m cook time
5h inactive
you're making mealtime meaningful.
For bread:
- 1 (10.5 oz.) can French onion soup plus water
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the tray
For toppings:
- 2 1/2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
- 2 white onions, sliced, caramelized, and cooled
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Preparation
- In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, add all the French onion soup and heat in the microwave until room temperature. Add warm water until you have 2 cups of liquid.
- Mix the French onion soup, salt, yeast, and tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl with a spoon until dissolved.
- Add flour to the mixture until a shaggy dough forms. The dough should be wet and jiggly. You may need to adjust warm water tablespoon by tablespoon.
- Cover mixture with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Set up a bowl of warm water for your hands, then execute four stretch and folds from North, South, East, and West over each side of the dough with wet hands for each fold. Then lift the dough and coil the dough under itself. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. Repeat 3 more times.
- Gently add the dough to a greased 9x13 pan and spread half the caramelized onions and gruyere cheese all over the dough. Fold the dough into thirds and flip lengthwise in the pan. Lightly press it into the pan without degassing the dough then drizzle with olive oil, and top with remaining toppings.
- Cover dough with plastic, and let rest for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Dimple the focaccia dough lightly from top to bottom, then top with whatever toppings you’d like. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes or until lightly golden and the internal temp registers 190°F.
- Let rest for 5 minutes, then remove bread from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.