This recipe for Miso Mushroom Focaccia features a thick and bubbly dough studded with crisp, savoury miso and maple flavoured mushrooms.
What is focaccia?
Focaccia is an Italian baked flatbread leavened with yeast and can be served in round or rectangular shapes.
It consists of flour, water, olive oil, yeast and salt.
Focaccia can be flavored with herbs such as rosemary or sage.
What is miso?
Miso is a thick, Japanese fermented soybean paste.
It has a predominantly salty and mildly sweet taste and comes in different varieties, most commonly red miso and white miso.
Japanese Miso contains koji mold (fungus) starter, an ingredient also used in making soy sauce.
It's slightly different than Korean doenjang soybean paste, which is made with only soybeans and salt, and used in gochujang.
Why you'll love this recipe
This recipe is inspired by my friend Lisa from Okonomi Kitchen.
Although the dough requires an overnight rest, it's a simple recipe that requires not much effort.
There's no kneading required!
The dough is airy and fluffy, and the mushrooms are slightly crisp and perfectly flavoured.
It can be used as a base for pizza.
This recipe uses olive oil in place of butter and is dairy-free and vegan.
Ingredients you'll need
For the focaccia dough:
- all-purpose flour: or strong bread flour, which has a higher protein and gluten content
- active dry yeast: or instant yeast
- fine sea salt: we're using a little less sea salt in the dough since the miso mushroom topping will be quite salty; however you can add a little more salt to the dough if you prefer
- water: cool or room temperature water will work here; make sure it's not too warm or the dough will ferment quickly
- olive oil: use a good quality olive oil for the best taste and flavour
Miso garlic mushrooms:
- mushrooms: thinly sliced; you can use any type of mushrooms you like such as cremini, shiitake, chanterelles, etc.
- garlic: finely minced; or garlic powder
- white miso paste: has a milder flavour than red miso, but you can use either; it's very salty so start with a little and add more if needed
- olive oil
- maple syrup: or any liquid sweetener that you like
The secret to fluffy focaccia
Lies in the dough's high hydration, usually calculated in a percentage (which is the amount of water divided by the amount of flour).
Similar to ciabatta-style baguettes, wet dough requires a longer fermentation period, which results in more air bubbles and better flavour.
This recipe uses a 94% hydration dough, which is very high.
The great thing about high hydration doughs is that you mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, cover it and let it rest.
Super easy! No kneading involved.
How to make it
Prepare the mushrooms
Preheat oven to 425F.
Place the thinly sliced mushrooms in a single layer on large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Roast the mushrooms for 15-20 minutes, or until the mushrooms have shriveled and evaporated most (if not all) of its moisture.
Remove the mushrooms from the oven and cool.
In a bowl, stir together the miso paste, olive oil and maple syrup.
Add in the mushrooms and coat evenly with the miso mixture.
Cover and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the focaccia dough
Mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil together in a large bowl.
Cover and let it rest at room temperature for up to 8 hours.
Place the dough into the fridge overnight to let the fermentation process slow down.
The next morning, remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 2-3 hours, until it warms up.
Once the dough has warmed up to room temperature, gently pour out the dough (you don't want to lose all those bubbles!) into a 9" by 13" baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Tip: Use a lightly oiled silicone spatula to help scrape the dough out with ease.
Lightly press the dough out evenly, taking care not to pop any air bubbles and stipple (make holes) over the surface.
Cover and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes before adding the miso mushroom mixture on the dough.
Bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and mushrooms are slightly crisp.
Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and slice into squares or rectangles.
How to serve & reheat
Serve focaccia at room temperature or slightly warmed.
For crisp texture, bake the focaccia at 350F for 10-15 minutes, until warmed through and lightly toasted.
You can also quickly reheat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, however the dough will not be crisp.
Variations & substitutions
Feel free to add different toppings as you like.
Try sprinkling parmesan cheese (if you're not vegan), or adding green onions/scallions.
If you like it spicy, add some crushed red pepper flakes or a drizzle of homemade chili oil.
Use different mushrooms like shiitake, oyster mushrooms, or chanterelles.
Add caramelized onions for an even sweeter accent.
For a thinner focaccia, press the dough out into a larger pan.
Other delicious recipes you may like
Be sure to check out these recipes:
Banana Miso White Chocolate Doughnuts
Instant Pot Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup
Everyday Artisan-Style Crusty Loaf (No-Knead)
Pillowy Soft Korean Sausage Bread
Easy Japanese Terimayo Hot Dogs (Japadog-Inspired)
Let me know if you try out this recipe -- tag me on Instagram @siftandsimmer or leave me a comment/rating below!
Miso Mushroom Focaccia
For accuracy and precision in baking recipes, use weight (metric) measurements when available.
Ingredients
Miso mushrooms:
- 1 lb mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced or garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon maple syrup
Focaccia dough:
- 480 g all-purpose flour
- 7 g active dry yeast
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt increase to ½ teaspoon if you prefer the dough to have more salt
- 450 ml cool water
- 60 ml olive oil
Garnish:
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
Prepare the mushrooms:
- Preheat oven to 425°F/218°C.
- Place the thinly sliced mushrooms in a single layer on large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
- Roast the mushrooms for 15-20 minutes, or until the moisture from the mushrooms have evaporated.
- Remove the mushrooms from the oven and cool.
- In a bowl, stir together the miso paste, minced garlic, olive oil and maple syrup.
- Add in the mushrooms and coat evenly with the miso mixture.
- Cover and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the focaccia dough:
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil together in a large bowl or container (make sure it has enough room for dough expansion).
- Cover and let it rest at room temperature for up to 8 hours.
- Place the dough into the fridge overnight to let the fermentation process slow down.
- The next morning, remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 2-3 hours, until it warms up.
- Once the dough has warmed up to room temperature, gently pour out the dough (you don't want to lose all those bubbles!) into a 9" by 13" baking pan lined with parchment paper.
- Tip: Use a lightly oiled silicone spatula to help scrape the dough out with ease.
- Lightly press the dough out evenly, taking care not to pop any air bubbles and stipple (make holes) over the surface.
- Cover and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes before adding the miso mushroom mixture on the dough.
- Bake at 425°F/218°C for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and mushrooms are slightly crisp.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and slice into squares or rectangles.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided should be considered as approximate and is not guaranteed. Please use your best judgment to ensure food is safely prepared and/or a good fit for your diet.
Neil
I love making my own focaccia. It's never quite right and you've given some excellent tips here for how I can improve my bake. Also a delicious topping. Thanks Michelle!
David @ Spiced
Wow - what a fun idea! I love baking, and focaccia is always a favorite in our house. The flavor twist here with miso and mushrooms is so creative!!
Kim | Give it Some Thyme
This focaccia is calling my name. Looks so light and delicious and the mushroom-miso pairing adds the perfect flavor!
Healthy World Cuisine
Really love these unique toppings on your delicious focaccia with all of those nooks and crannies. Mushrooms and miso are delightful umami flavors.
Dawn
There is nothing like homemade bread and this one with the miso and mushrooms looks like a must try! I can only imagine just how flavourful it is - yum!!