Why is my focaccia undercooked when using an air fryer?

Your focaccia is undercooked because an air fryer pushes hot air across the top of the dough at high speed, so the surface dries, sets and browns before heat reaches the center of a thick, wet dough. The crust you see is done while the middle is still raw, and pulling it out when the top looks right leaves the inside gummy.

Focaccia is a high hydration dough, often wet enough to dimple and hold oil, and it needs steady heat from below and around the pan for long enough for the starch in the center to set. Air fryers are built to cook fast and crisp, not to bake a deep, wet slab of bread. The fix is to slow the top down, add moisture, and give the base more time, which is the same reasoning behind the temperature controls on the machines in our guide to Best Smart Air Fryers for Cooking to Temperature.

The top cooks faster than the middle

Most air fryer baskets and oven cavities put the heating element close to the food and blow air down or around it. That is efficient for a thin item like a cutlet or a fry, where heat only has to travel a short distance. A pan of focaccia is thick, and heat has to move through the whole depth before the center sets. The surface loses moisture first, forms a skin, and stops absorbing heat as quickly, so the outside finishes while the inside lags.

The Typhur Sync Air Fryer Oven publishes a 360 degree turbo convection system with dual heating elements and a 2400 RPM fan, and a temperature range of 85 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with 3 fan speeds. A high fan speed on a thick dough drives that surface drying even harder. If your machine lets you drop the fan speed, do it, and if it has a bake mode rather than an air fry mode, use bake.

Pan choice and dough depth

Focaccia baked in a deep pan or a thick layer has more distance between the surface and the center, so the gap between browned top and raw middle widens. Spread the dough thinner, or use a wider, shallower pan that fits the cavity with room for air to move. A pan that fills the basket edge to edge blocks airflow, so the sides and base get less heat than the top.

Check the interior space before you choose a pan. The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro publishes a 16 x 13.5 x 7 inch interior capacity and states it fits most 9 x 13 inch pans. The Ninja DZ550 Foodi publishes two 5 quart baskets, which are deep and narrow rather than wide and flat, so a single basket holds a smaller slab and the dough sits closer to the element. Neither maker publishes a focaccia recipe or a bread baking chart for these cavities.

Moisture and the dry cavity

An air fryer cavity is small and dry, and moving air carries moisture away from the dough surface. Focaccia depends on steam in the first part of baking to keep the crust soft long enough for the center to set. Without that steam, the top seals early. Put a small oven safe dish of water on the bottom of the cavity, or spritz the surface lightly before closing, and cover the top loosely with foil for the first part of the bake, then uncover to color it.

The Typhur publishes a 27 quart capacity and lists a roasting pan, wire rack and air fryer basket among its parts, and the Breville lists a 9 x 13 inch broil rack and enamel roasting pan among its included accessories. A water dish on the rack below the bread is the practical use of that space. None of the makers in this guide publishes a steam setting or a humidity figure, so treat added moisture as something you control with a dish, not a machine feature.

Temperature and preheating

Recipes written for a home oven assume still air and radiant heat from all sides. A convection air fryer moves heat far more aggressively, and the Typhur notes in its own published features that as a convection oven it cooks more efficiently and may require adjusted settings, and that preset settings should be used rather than food packaging instructions. Drop the set temperature below what the recipe says, extend the time, and rely on the center, not the top, to tell you when it is done.

The machines differ in range. The Nuwave Bravo Pro publishes a range from 50 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit in 5 degree increments and adjustable fan speeds from 0 to 3, with top and bottom heater ratios adjustable from 0 to 100 percent. That heater split is the most direct tool for this problem: bias the bottom heaters higher so the base sets before the top overcolors. The Cosori TurboBlaze publishes a range of 90 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and a 5 fan speed system, and the Ninja publishes 105 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Checking the center, not the crust

Judge doneness by the middle. Press the center with a finger: it should spring back and feel firm rather than leave a wet dent. A skewer pushed into the center should come out with crumbs, not wet dough. If the top is already dark and the center is not set, lay foil over the surface and keep going at a lower temperature. Let the bread rest in the pan for a few minutes after it comes out so the center finishes setting.

Some machines give you a temperature read on the food itself. The Typhur publishes a built in wireless probe with 5 sensors and a stated accuracy of plus or minus 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Ninja publishes an integrated Foodi Smart Thermometer. Both are aimed at meat doneness, and neither maker publishes a bread or dough internal temperature target, so a probe helps you watch the center but gives you no published number to aim for.