Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Fruity Focaccias

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I went on a baking binge after moving into a townhouse with 2 ovens.  I've never been a baker, but I thought that I should give it a go anyways and make good use of my roommates as taste-testers.

Some of my favorite baked goods to come out of my binge were the sweet and savory focaccias topped with various fruits.

The first focaccia recipe I tried was with figs that grew from a tree in the backyard, sage, and some sauteed shallots.  The following recipe is adapted from lick my balsamic.

Focaccia with Sage, Shallots, and Figs
(Recipe Adapted from lick my balsamic)

3 cups flour
1 2/3 cups room temp water
2 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
5 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoon sage leaves chopped
3 shallot bulbs thinly sliced
sea salt to taste

The only thing that I did differently than lick my balsamic is that I topped the focaccia with shallots that were sauteed in balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt before popping the whole thing in the oven.  I highly recommend the shallots if you have a savory tooth.  

The dough from this recipe turned out wetter than I expected.  When I tried to make indentations with my finger on top of the uncooked focaccia, the dough had the texture of mud.  The result, however, was deliciously thick, fluffy, and moist.  In contrast, the dough for the following grape and rosemary focaccia was thin, fragrant, and crunchy.

Grape and Rosemary Focaccia
(Recipe Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)



3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons milk, slightly warmed
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups halved seedless grapes
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary needles
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt





Apart from not using concord grapes, I also didn't top the focaccia with course sugar.  Otherwise, I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe fairly closely.

The grape focaccia tastes amazing, but you better finish it quickly because it doesn't retain its crunch-and-chew ratio very well when reheated.  The fig focaccia dough holds better when reheated.

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