And Asiago on top!

I just don't care for them all that much, so we generally don't cook with them. I would definitely add some fresh tomato in to get roasted on top of the bread, though.

But the asiago was amazing, for sure.

Or even just slices of fresh peppers like jalapeno or serrano. Hubby has a sensitivity to bell pepper (but not hot pepper) and it gives him reflux, so we very rarely use it in cooking.

I love the kind of pillowy parts of foccaccia.

I'd do those instead of the olives. Or red peppers. Or something colorful.

I've just never been all that nuts about olives, too many are salty.

One caveat, the "good quality olive oil." Don't fall for the fancy bottles, it's all the same unless you know an old farmer in Spain, Italy, or North Africa who grows his own olives and uses an old wooden press and produces the high flavored, rather dark green stuff. Otherwise, it's McOlive, all roller pressed in huge batches and sold to various labels. I've never had bad oil from either Bertolli or Colavita. The bottles aren't much fun, but the olive oil is predictably decent. Just don't buy that clear, colorless stuff, it's extracted from the pressed olive mash by chemical means and has no flavor at all.

When you buy olive oil in fancy bottles, it's the same stuff, you're paying extra for the fancy bottle.

Italy is the biggest exporter of bottled oil. It's the biggest importer of mass produced, pressed olive oil.

There was a huge scandal some years ago when it was found that olive oil (mainly sold in Europe) was actually soybean oil with coloring and some flavorings added. The industry has cleaned up its act since then and testing in the US shows it's all the genuine article. Just be aware that pressed oil from various countries is mixed together to make the final product.

Tl, Dr: Olive oil is big business. The country on the label doesn't indicate the country whee it was grown or pressed. The labels Extra Virgin and Virgin have lost their meaning, it's all one pressing. Stay the hell away from that yellow stuff with no flavor, it's not good.

https://www.mashed.com/849471/the-untold-truth-of-olive-oil/

We go through a lot of olive oil, and we've got a line on some farmers that produce nice stuff. Aromatic, tasty, not too bitter. And we buy it in giant metal cannisters and have a little bottle that we decant into to have on hand easily without wrangling a huge metal tin of it. There are also a couple of really nice Middle Eastern shops near us that have some decent (not outstanding) olive oils, also in big tins.

but I'm now in the wild west where it's McOlive.

The FDA, which protected us from the worst of the adulterated stuff back in the 70s-early 90s, also discourages a lot of small producers, afraid that any inadvertent contamination would ruin their reputations everywhere. The big guys can afford to eat a big batch and say oops and move on.

and a long period of time to allow the flour to absorb as much moisture as it can while the yeast goes to work eating the carbs and puffing up the gluten with CO2. Gentle handling and only enough flour at the end to keep the dough from sticking as you pat it into shape will result in a coarse crumbed, light peasant sort of bread that makes great toast. Rougher handling with more flour will result in something dense and chewy with little oven spring. Both are wonderful, it just depends on what you're looking for.

I would probably not punch this down a third time in the pan, I'd want it a bit lighter than this. I also use cornmeal on the bottom instead of oil or butter, it doesn't stick that way and the cornmeal toasts along with the crust and gives it extra crunch and flavor.