If you've seen my previous posts from the last couple of weeks, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of the show Unique Eats. The show goes around the States and highlights unique foods from various restaurants. I'm not ashamed to admit that I get a lot of inspiration from the show, including this fruit focaccia. This breakfast pastry is from SoNo Bakery in New York; a savory bread turned sweet with the addition of fruit. When I looked at the recipe, I realized that the fruit was actually dried fruit rather than fresh. I imagined focaccia studded with beautiful berries, so I took my focaccia recipe and turned it into a sweet version with fresh fruit. Just what I was looking for!
Mixed Berry Fruit Focaccia
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water 100-110 degrees F
- 1 ½ teaspoons active-dry yeast (6 grams)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (25 grams)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour (360 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 6 ounces raspberries
- 6 ounces blueberries
- 6 ounces blackberries
- 2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary
- ½ cup coarse sugar (100 grams)
Instructions
- Combine yeast with warm water and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes or until yeast is activated and mixture becomes foamy.
- Combine flour with salt. Add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix until dough forms. Knead dough until smooth and elastic about 7-8 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a clean bowl and transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat with oil. Wrap with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place or until doubled in size.
- Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Spread 2 tablespoons olive oil on baking sheet and place dough on top. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Dimple tops of focaccia using your fingers. Top with enough berries to cover the top, gently pressing down on the fruit. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons coarse sugar per bread and ¼ teaspoon chopped rosemary. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil on top.
- Bake fruit focaccia for 15-20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway. Remove and cool slightly. Sprinkle more sugar on top and serve warm or at room temperature.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
I've prepared focaccia before but this recipe is a bit different in that the bread is a sweet variation. The original dough only uses a small amount of sugar to activate the yeast. To make this more of a dessert, the amount of sugar is increased to 2 tablespoons. This may not seem like much but it'll help sweeten the dough just a touch.
Knead the dough until smooth and let it rise in an oiled bowl for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
The secret to making this focaccia light and airy is to let it rise two times. Make sure to cover the dough while rising to prevent it from developing skin and drying out.
Make indentations in the dough after the second rise using your fingertips. At this point, you may be thinking, there is a lot of oil in this recipe! Well, believe it because the secret behind great focaccia is the amount of oil. By pouring 2 tablespoon of oil on the bottom of the baking sheet pan, the focaccia will create a lovely crust on the bottom. It is so good.
When adding the fruit, add a liberal amount since the bread will rise and spread in the oven. Gently press down on the fruit to make sure they stick and sprinkle the sugar and rosemary. If you want sweeter focaccia, sprinkle more sugar.
I chose raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries for this fruit focaccia but you can also add strawberries. Peaches, figs, nectarines, even cherries would also work beautifully. Drizzle a little extra oil on top and the focaccia are ready to be baked.
About 15-20 minutes later, the fruit focaccia is ready. If some of the berries fell off the bread, just plop them back on while they're still warm. Sprinkle extra sugar on top and serve the bread warm or at room temperature.
These fruit focaccia are great because they're not too sweet, making them perfect for breakfast. My favorite part? When you bite into the focaccia and the fruit bursts with juice. Just heavenly!
For more bread inspiration check out these maple custard brioche tarts with caramelized pear!
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