Vegan Cheese and Jalapeno Focaccia
This Vegan Cheese and Jalapeno Focaccia is fusion food at its finest. The texture of the focaccia is a great carrier for the flavours of the cheese and jalapenos. Get the recipe below.
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Fusion food
Sometimes you just need to mix things up a little. Fusion food is the perfect opportunity to play with textures and flavours coming up with something entirely unique.
This vegan cheese and jalapeno focaccia is far from authentic but it takes a soft, bouncy focaccia dough and tops it with the irresistible combo of spicy jalapenos and a sharp, vegan “cheddar” cheese.
How to make vegan focaccia dough
Focaccia dough is made using flour, yeast, salt, olive oil and water. It’s a simple combination of ingredients that, when used in the right quantities, makes for a really light, bouncy, airy bread.
The good news is that focaccia is already vegan so no substitutes are required!
The method for making focaccia is much like any bread recipe. You mix together the dry ingredients, add in the wet, knead until smooth and then leave to prove. Once it’s doubled in size you then shape and prove again. It really is that easy.
But, what makes focaccia a little different to a standard white loaf is the high ration of wet ingredients to dry ingredients. This makes for a really wet, slightly sticky dough, that can be hard to work with.
The trick is to oil your hands and use a dough scraper when kneading. Without these the dough will stick to both you and your work surfaces!
As the dough proves you’ll see big air bubbles form.
After the first prove it’s time to shape. You do this by simply tipping it out on to a prepared baking sheet (either oiled or lined with baking paper) then stretching it out into a rough rectangle shape.
Add your toppings the, using oiled fingers, press dimples into the dough. Let price again and it will then be ready to bake!
The cheese and jalapeno flavour combination
Although it might intially seem a bit odd, if you look closer cheese and jalapenos actually work really well together. Just think of jalapeno poppers which are stuffed with cream cheese.
I’m sure you’ve also had tacos with jalapenos and cheese as toppings at some point in your life.
The reason I like to combine cheese and jalapenos is…
Using vegan cheese
To make sure this recipe is suitable for anyone following a plant based diet, I make this recipe using vegan cheese.
There are lots of vegan cheese alternatives on the market these days and some are better than others and they all do slightly different things and behave in different ways.
For this recipe my favourite brands are Violife Mature Cheddar and Cathedral City. They both have that really sharp tangy flavour of cheddar cheese and they don’t have that coconut aftertaste that lots of vegan cheeses do.
The recipe
Vegan Cheese and Jalapeno Focaccia
Ingredients
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 10 g salt
- 10 g instant yeast
- 100 ml olive oil for the dough
- 350 ml water warm
- 100 g vegan cheese grated
- 2 jalapenos thinly sliced
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- olive oil for your hands
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast.
- Add the olive oil and warm water.
- Bring together until you have a wet sticky dough ball.
- Knead briefly with oiled hands until it is smooth.
- Brush with olive oil and leave in an oiled bowl with a damp tea towel over the top.
- Leave to prove for 2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Line your baking tray with baking paper then tip out the dough on top.
- Oil your hands again and stretch it out into a large rectangle covering the baking tray.
- Press dimples into the dough at random intervals.
- Brush again with olive oil and cover.
- Let it prove for another hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 220 C / 425 F / gas mark 7.
- Oil your hands and press down into the dimples again to make sure they are defined.
- Sprinkle over the grated cheese, sliced jalapenos and flaky sea salt.
- Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 25 – 20 minutes until golden on top.
- Transfer to a cooling wrack but it’s best enjoyed while still warm!
More focaccia recipes
More bread recipes
For the full range of bread recipes (both sweet and savoury) check out the bread recipe archives.