One of our favorite Italian breads is focaccia. It may be served in a plethora of ways and is quite delicious on its own. It follows that there would inevitably be leftovers from time to time. Now, if you’ve ever attempted to reheat this bread at home, you might have encountered some less than desirable outcomes. It either turns out drenched or solid. In such case, how do you reheat focaccia? The best way to reheat focaccia is in the oven since it cooks evenly and swiftly, leaving the top soft and the crust crisp, ensuring the best and freshest flavor and texture. Focaccia can also be heated up in the microwave, skillet, and air fryer.
In this post, we’ll go over each of these approaches in more detail. Additionally, we’ll discuss how to store this flatbread properly so that leftovers taste even better the next day.
What Is Focaccia?
Focaccia is one of the most well-known Italian flatbreads today! They are baked in a hot oven with leavened dough. What distinguishes this sort of flatbread is that it is slathered in olive oil, salt, herbs, and other veggies. Typically, rosemary and pitted olives are the toppings of choice. But, as with most things nowadays, there are literally hundreds of thousands of variations on the original focaccia concept!
How Is Focaccia Made?
The ingredients for the dough used to make focaccia are flour, oil, water, yeast, and salt (pretty much like all other bread dough). The dough is allowed to rise once the ingredients have been combined, which gives it a fluffier texture. It is then perforated after being knocked down and formed into a flatbread (another key feature of this bread). While the bread is baking, these puncture marks help the dough retain moisture. Again, any toppings, herbs, condiments, or seasonings are baked with the bread to enhance flavor.
How To Reheat Focaccia — 3 Easy Methods
Few things in life make us happier than freshly baked bread. However, focaccia is frequently regarded as an accompaniment! It’s paired with spaghetti, soups, charcuterie platters, and cheese boards – basically any typical Italian dish you can imagine of! This means that you will occasionally have leftovers. Fortunately, focaccia keeps rather well if properly stored. However, warming this flatbread correctly is equally essential if you want it to taste as nice as new. So, without further ado, here are the best ways to reheat focaccia bread using the numerous equipment you may have at home.
Method 1: In The Oven (Best Method)
We’ll begin by discussing the most effective strategy you have. It should, wherever possible, be your only option. Any oven will work for this procedure. We disagree with the common assertion that “you cannot achieve this without a convection oven.” Any oven you have can be used; however, some may take longer to use than others (like a gas oven for example). Now, all you need is a cookie sheet or baking pan, nonstick baking paper, and an oven to reheat focaccia. Here’s how to go about it!
Step 1: Preheat The Oven
Preheat your oven to 375oF (190oC) to begin. This is an important step; do not attempt to heat the focaccia without first preheating the oven. It has the potential to make the bread soggy, heat unevenly, and lose its crisp quality totally.
Step 2: Set Up The Focaccia
Place the focaccia on the lined baking or cookie sheet while the oven is preheating. Non-stick baking paper may not even be necessary, but we like to use it to prevent the bread from sticking.
Step 3: Reheat The Focaccia
Place the focaccia in the oven once it has been warmed. Sprinkle a few drops of water on top of the focaccia – this will keep the flatbread moist! Allow it to bake for 10-15 minutes, or until thoroughly heated. The bottom of the loaf should be crisp, the loaf should be thoroughly heated, and the top should be deliciously oily and moist.
Step 4: Rest The Reheated Focaccia
We are aware that the temptation to jump in is strong. But after taking it out of the oven, let the focaccia cool for five minutes before cutting it. In addition to making it simpler to handle the hot bread, this will enable the heat to disperse more evenly.
What Will Make This Method Work Better?
Stones for pizza! Yes, you already know how much we adore a good pizza stone. However, it works! Using a pizza pan or a pizza stone, you may crisp up the bottom of the focaccia while keeping the top soft.
A pizza stone also helps to transfer oven heat more evenly onto the bread. This, in turn, will help it heat more evenly and produce a better overall flavor. And, yes, we are still discussing the leftovers!
Method 2: Air Fryer
The second approach is comparable to reheating focaccia in the oven. However, air fryers simply operate more quickly, and they require much less time to heat up than ovens do. The fact that these appliances kind of already come with a pizza stone is an additional benefit of using them. Because of the perforations in their baskets, the heat can more evenly warm and crisp up the focaccia’s base.
The main drawback of using an air fryer is that some models cannot accommodate an entire focaccia. However, cutting the focaccia into sizable pieces that will fit is a straightforward solution. Just be careful not to chop them too finely or they will dry out.
Step 1: Preheat The Air Fryer
We recommend preheating the air fryer to 350oF (180oC). Put it on the bake setting if you have one.
Step 2: Heat The Focaccia
Place your focaccia or other pieces into the basket once the air fryer has been heated up. Reapply a small amount of water to it. Reposition it and wait for about 8 minutes. Before removing the focaccia, check its progress. Leave it in longer if it needs to heat more thoroughly, but only for a few minutes. These tools operate quickly and efficiently.
Method 3: Stove Top
Now, we don’t love this method, but we also don’t despise it. It works great if you don’t have any of the appliances we discussed today! This reheating method requires only a large pan with a (preferably glass) lid, a spatula, and a small amount of olive oil and water.
The olive oil will help to crisp up the bottom and evenly distribute the heat. The water, like the oven and air fryer, will help keep the top soft and fluffy, but it will also generate steam, which will aid in the heating of the focaccia.
Step 1: Preheat The Pan
A non-stick frying pan should be filled with a little olive oil. Although a standard pan will work, non-stick is preferable. Once heated, set the temperature to medium-high.
Step 2: Add The Focaccia And Heat
Sprinkle your focaccia with water and place it in the heating pan. Then, place the pan lid on and heat the bread for a few minutes.
Step 3: Check The Progress
Check the progress of the bread once you can see that the entire cover has steamed up. Give it a few more minutes if it isn’t heated enough. Reduce the heat if your bottom starts to get too black. You can take off the lid and continue after it is almost hot enough for you.
Step 4: Crisp The Bottom A Little
Remove the lid when the focaccia is nearly finished heating. Then, turn up the heat to high and let the base crisp for a few minutes.
Method 4: Microwave (The Worst Option)
Why is it on the list if it’s the worst? Because it actually works. But that doesn’t necessarily indicate that it performs as well as we would like it to! The focaccia will heat up in a microwave pretty quickly. Additionally, it will be extremely hot. However, that implies that it either softens the entire loaf of bread or entirely dries it out. Is there no middle ground? Unfortunately, no — no matter what we do, the top will never become mushy while the bottom will always remain crisp. Simply put, a microwave doesn’t work that way.
Again, it will get the job done swiftly if you have no other options. Additionally, all you need to do is put the focaccia on a microwave-safe dish and heat it for 30 to 60 seconds on high. That’s all there is to it, then!
How To Store Focaccia
Even while storage has nothing to do with reheating your focaccia, it does have an effect on the quality of the focaccia you are reheating. So, if you kept it poorly and the focaccia has dried out, the reheating process will be very different – and much more difficult! The same is true with focaccia, which gets soggy during storage.
That is why we will only go through the fundamentals of storing focaccia properly. Wrap the focaccia in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. A brown paper bag can also be used, but it does not work as well. After that, keep it at room temperature in a cold, dry, and dark location. It should not be kept in the refrigerator. If you freeze it, the focaccia will need to be thawed before reheated.