The Shortcut To Simple And Tasty Focaccia Is Frozen Dinner Rolls

Most of us have used, or at least seen, Rhodes and other similar brands of frozen dinner rolls. These are little frozen balls of dough you can defrost, allow to rise, and cook up for any occasion. They're a convenient way to get hot bread to the table while skipping the bread-making process. Frozen dinner rolls also provide a jump start for another beloved bread — focaccia. 

Upleveling to focaccia only adds a few steps to the techniques used to enjoy frozen dinner rolls, yet it's a significant shortcut to making focaccia from scratch. If you have a pack of dinner rolls in the freezer, you probably have the rest of the ingredients you'll need on hand too. The great thing about this trick is that it's versatile, so even if you're out of one spice or cheese, you can sub in another. In fact, with the basic focaccia-from-frozen-dinner-roll technique laid out, you can embellish your focaccia bread any way you prefer, serving it up as a zesty, savory, or sweet dish.

This trick from @littlecajunhouse on Instagram makes it easy to create easy focaccia at home. After prepping the rolls, the base topping will always be a coating of high-quality olive oil. This not only adds flavor, but it creates a soft, chewy texture on the crust. 

From there, embed some dried or fresh herbs and seasonings in the dough. Hearty fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme as well as dried herbs like oregano and parsley all work great here. Sprinkle on garlic powder, "everything" seasoning, nutritional yeast, or onion flakes; and don't forget the sea salt.

Additional toppings like vegetables and even fruits add nutritional value and create a heartier dish, elevating your herbed focaccia bread into a meal. Kalamata, green, and black olives are all popular choices — just be sure they're pitted. Sliced bell peppers in every shade add both flavor and a pop of color. For a savory finish, consider sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, or capers. Focaccia also holds up nicely to meats, such as pepperoni, sausage, or thin and salty prosciutto. And of course, cheeses like parmesan and mozzarella are perfect for focaccia.

In truth, as long as the flavors go well together, you can add just about anything to focaccia dough — which gives you the power to create a pizza, a light appetizer, or a delicious side dish. You can even make a sweet treat with melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon topped with figs, plums, peaches, or berries, plus some chopped nuts.

Using frozen dough as a starting point makes this bread effortless, but it doesn't diminish the fact that it's a well-loved staple known to exist as far back as the Etruscan culture in the fifth century B.C.. That historic combination of flour, salt, and water gave birth to a vast array of variations on the basic recipe. Throughout Italy, each region has its own take on this golden bread, where it shows up on the menu under names that include pizza Genovese, crescentina, and schiacciata. 

Over time, the simplicity of focaccia gained favor around the globe where both home and professional cooks continue to embrace its endless flavor combinations. The ingredient list has also evolved. Many versions of modern focaccia now include olive oil and most rely on yeast. It's found in many thicknesses, with some qualifying more as a flatbread or pizza crust while others embrace the commonly recognized 'fingerprint' version with a soft center and a slightly salty crust. Whatever your end goal, starting with premade, frozen dinner rolls will get you there with less effort and the same amount of creative license.