Tomato Basil Upside Down Focaccia

Inspired by Ally’s Kitchen

Think bruschetta baked right into focaccia … with cheese and sauteed onion. It’s a little like a pizza, but in an upside-down cake sort of way. It’s a delightful savory, yeasted upside down cake with focaccia stepping in to replace the cake batter. It could be a show-stealing appetizer, a snack, a meal, a side dish … the dish makes two upside down focaccia pizzas so you have enough to feed a crowd.

If you love focaccia and/or bruschetta and/or fresh garden tomatoes or even if you just love margherita pizza … you are going to … freaking … love this!

I was recently gifted a beautiful bunch of yellow cherry tomatoes, fresh from my friend’s garden. He wanted me to have a bunch of these lovely sweet things to do something wonderful with. I knew just the thing …

When I first saw Ally’s heirloom tomato onion tarte tartin, I was fascinated … mesmerized. I wanted this beautiful creation to happen in my kitchen. I looked through the recipe … and thought, oh dear, it calls for puff pastry. I couldn’t find any puff pastry in my freezer … and last time I tried making something with puff pastry, I somehow messed it up. I know I’ve done things with puff pastry in the past and it worked beautifully … but since my recent failures, well, I’ve lost confidence in my puff pastry abilities.

But (thanks to my bread machine) I’m not afraid of yeast! I’ve made focaccia on many occasions and it was always amazing. And what better to go with tomatoes and basil than the oh-so-splendid Italian focaccia? I got out my bread machine and started up the dough. And when I pulled this out of the oven, I wanted to eat it all … but I had to wait for daylight to photograph it. It sat in my refrigerator for a couple days (tightly covered with wrap) until I found a time when I could photograph this recipe.

Tomato Basil Upside Down Foccacia

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours
• Yield: 2 upside down focaccia (about 8 - 12 servings) 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the focaccia dough:

• 2 cups bread flour
• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese
• 3/4 – 1 cup water (enough to make a nice ball of dough)

For the tomatoes & onions:

• 6 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 – 6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
• Several fresh basil leaves
• Two twigs of fresh thyme
• 8 – 12 medium heirloom tomatoes, cut in chunks … or a mix of heirlooms and cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil
• 2 large yellow onions, cut in strips

For the rest:

• 2 cups shredded Italian cheeses + a bit of crumbled feta
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil mixed with 1 Tablespoon water, 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic & 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• For the top: Extra fresh basil leaves and feta cheese crumbles

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Oil a rimmed baking sheet with avocado oil or spray with cooking spray.
2. Put the ingredients for the dough in a bread machine and set it on the dough setting. Check after a few minutes of mixing to ensure the dough is forming into a nice ball. If it seems dry, add a Tablespoon of water or two (one at a time), until the dough starts to form into a nice ball.
3. In a small bowl, put the olive oil, garlic, basil, and thyme and ensure all the herbs and garlic are submerged in the oil. Set this aside while you prep the tomatoes and onion.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil/herb mixture. Put on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 325 F. for 30 – 50 minutes, until nicely roasted. Turn the oven off.
5. Heat a teaspoon of avocado oil over medium heat in a medium frying pan. Add the onions and saute until soft.
6. Divide the tomato mixture between two pie pans. Sprinkle with the onions and then the shredded cheese and feta.
7. When the dough is ready, divide it in two and drizzle a bit of the olive oil mixture over. Use your hands to make the dough into a round, then gently stretch and toss each ball until it is the size of a pie pan. Set the dough on top of the tomatoes and cheeses in the pie plate. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Rub the top side with more of the olive oil mixture.
8. The oven should still be warm from roasting the tomatoes, but not scorching hot. Set these pie plates in the oven and let the dough rise for about 20 minutes, until puffy.
9. Poke the dough all over with your finger to make indentations. Set the oven to 390 F, leaving the pie plates in the oven, and bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until the focaccias are nicely browned on the bottom.
10. Let the pies cool for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a larger plate. Serve warm.

---

Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2016, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at The Wednesday Roundup, Foodie Friends Friday, Foodie FriDIY,  Gluten Free Friday, Sunday Fitness & Food and Hearth & Soul Bloghop.