Name: Tadka Focaccia
Total time: 1 hour (plus 9 hours 30 minutes for rising)
Yield: 10–12 servings
Ingredients: 2½ cups lukewarm water; 1 (¼-oz.) envelope active dry yeast (2¼ tsp.); 2 tsp. honey; 5 cups all-purpose flour; 1 Tbsp. ground turmeric; 1 Tbsp. salt; 6½ Tbsp. olive oil; Butter, for greasing; ¼ cup ghee, unsalted butter, or additional olive oil; 2 tsp. black mustard seeds; 4 tsp. white sesame seeds; 4 or 5 dried red chiles; 20 to 30 fresh curry leaves; Flaky sea salt

Tadka focaccia from Amrikan 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora

Photo by Aubrie Pick

When I want fresh bread, I make focaccia. It’s a very forgiving dough and can be made from start to finish in one day if you start early enough. I am always in awe of the beautiful Indian-inspired sourdough boules my friend Kusuma Rao makes on Instagram, with ingredients like polenta, turmeric, pepitas, and a mustard seed and curry leaf tadka baked right in. It inspired me to dream up this tadka-topped focaccia loaded with crispy curry leaves, black mustard seeds, white sesame seeds, and dried red chiles. The turmeric in the dough doesn’t add much flavor, but I love the hue it imparts to the final product.

I like my focaccia thick, so I bake it in a 13x9" pan, but use a rimmed baking sheet if you like yours thinner. I keep it thick so I can slice it in half to make sandwiches.

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