Chewy. Tart. Gooey. Savory and sweet, with ribbons of raspberry jam and big gobs of buttery brie cheese. This Raspberry Brie Focaccia is such a fun bread, both to make and to eat.
I don’t know about you, but I still love getting magazines in the mail. My favorite magazine to receive, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Bake From Scratch. I love flipping through the pages to get recipe inspiration. The idea for this bread came to me last summer when I discovered their recipes for stuffed focaccia.
I ended up loving this technique of stuffing focaccia dough full of delicious, gooey add-ins, and I definitely have some additional flavor ideas for the future using this same method!
Recipe highlights
- Delicious homemade focaccia. Nothing compares to homemade bread! This bread is fluffy, chewy, and bathed in olive oil.
- Looks impressive. With streaks of red raspberry jam and perfectly browned chunks of cheese on top, you’re definitely going to want to show this off to your friends and neighbors.
- Simple to make. No kneading! No electric mixers! This focaccia recipe is easy to make by hand with minimal effort. It’s a dream come true.
- Light on sweetness. With a lightly sweetened homemade jam and no other added sugars, this bread borders on the savory side and isn’t super sweet.
How to make raspberry brie focaccia
For full recipe instructions, head to the recipe card. Below, you’ll find the basic recipe overview with step by step photos.
Mix the focaccia dough. Stir together the water, oil, flour, salt, and yeast. Done.
Let it ferment. Allow the dough to sit for about 1 ½ hours, until poofy and bubbly. Stretch and fold the dough twice during this time period, about every 30 minutes.
Stretch the dough into a rectangle. Roll, stretch, and/or pat the dough into a rough rectangle on an oiled baking sheet.
Spread it with jam & cheese. Add raspberry jam, spreading in an even layer over the dough. Top with chunks of brie.
Form it into a log. Roll it up like a cinnamon roll and pinch the seams together to seal.
Stretch & rise. Let the dough log rest for about 10 minutes and then stretch it again into a rough rectangle. Allow dough to rise again until bubbly, about an hour.
Dimple the dough. Use your fingers to dimple the dough all over.
Top it off. Sprinkle focaccia dough with fresh raspberries, brie pieces, and a little demarara sugar. Drizzle with more olive oil.
Bake. Bake the bread until golden and gorgeous.
Simplify this recipe
Looking to save a little time and effort on this recipe? Use store bought jam instead of making your own. Just note that this will yield a bread that’s sweeter than what’s written here.
Substitutions & variations
I wouldn’t recommend making any adjustments to the bread portion of this recipe, as any changes could alter the final flavor and texture of the bread. However, there are many ways you could adjust the flavors and fillings added to this stuffed focaccia!
Raspberry substitutions: Use your favorite flavor of store bought jam or make your own with any fruit. Any type of berry or stone fruit jam would be great here, but consider which cheese to pair with the fruit.
Here are some other fruit and cheese combos that I think are worth trying:
- Apple butter and sharp cheddar
- Pear compote and blue cheese
- Cranberry compote and brie
- Cherry jam and ricotta
- Strawberry or apricot jam with burrata
Other flavor ideas: The sky is the limit here! You could fill this focaccia with cinnamon butter and drizzle it with cream cheese glaze to turn it into cinnamon roll focaccia. Or instead, make it more savory by using ingredients like caramelized onions, roasted peppers, bacon, and herbs.
Make it sweeter: As written, this bread is very light on the sweet side. To make it more of a “dessert bread”, I highly recommend drizzling a warm slice of it with honey! It’s absolutely delicious.
Other options are to sweeten the homemade raspberry jam more heavily or make a simple glaze for the top. You could try a meyer lemon glaze, honey cream cheese icing, or use this recipe for strawberry glaze and substitute raspberries in place of the strawberries.
Make it sourdough: If you’d like to leaven this bread with sourdough instead of yeast, use this recipe for Sourdough Focaccia instead.
Use a 13×9 inch pan. You could also bake this bread in a 13×9 inch pan instead of using a rimmed baking sheet. The final bread will be a bit thicker. You may need to increase the baking time slightly.
If you try this Raspberry Brie Focaccia, please leave a star rating and comment below! I really appreciate your feedback.
Raspberry Brie Focaccia
Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheet or 13×9-inch pan
Ingredients
Focaccia Bread
- 1 ¾ cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for pan
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1 package instant yeast
Filling
- 2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 4 ounces brie cheese, sliced and cut into chunks
Topping
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup fresh raspberries
- 2 ounces brie, sliced and cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar, or other coarse sugar
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Whisk together warm water, olive oil, and salt in a large bowl. Add bread flour and yeast, mixing until combined. Dough will be slightly dry and shaggy.
- Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and allow to ferment and rise in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours, stopping to stretch and fold the dough twice during the fermentation period. After the first 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough. With oiled hands, grab the dough from underneath, stretching it out to the side. Fold this back into the middle of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat on all sides. Cover back up and continue to allow dough to rest and ferment.
- Around the hour mark, stretch and fold the dough again.
Make the raspberry jam:
- While dough is fermenting, make the jam. Add raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until water content has evaporated significantly and mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.
- Pour into a small bowl and allow to cool completely before using.
Shape & fill the bread:
- Once dough has proofed for about 1 ½ hours, it's time to shape it (dough should be hydrated and bubbly at this point). Coat a rimmed baking sheet OR 13×9-inch pan thoroughly with olive oil and place dough in pan.
- Stretch dough into a rough rectangle about 1 inch thick.
- Spread cooled jam evenly on top of dough. Don't spread it all the way to the edges – leave about an inch of space around all sides. Distribute brie on top of jam.
- Roll dough up into a log, starting with one of the short sides. Pinch the seams together to seal and place log seam-side down on the pan.
- Let dough log rest about 10 minutes. Then gently stretch it again into a rough rectangle. It may break open a bit, revealing jam inside. That's ok, but be careful not to tear it open too much.
- Allow dough to rise again until bubbly, about an hour. Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Dimple the dough all over with your fingers, pushing all the way through the dough to the pan without tearing the dough.
- Drizzle dough all over with olive oil. Sprinkle with raspberries, brie, and sugar.
- Bake until golden brown on top and bottom, about 15-20 minutes. Internal temperature should be at least 190° F.
Notes
Did you try this recipe?
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