Focaccia with Grapes (Schiacciata con L’uva)
This is a beautiful and delicious bread. It’s easy to make, but does take a long time. It is so worth the wait though, I promise! It is the perfect combination between savory and sweet. The grapes with rosemary! Mmm, it’s just delicious! It tasted wonderful with the grape glazed chicken my talented friend Erin made for our Great Grapes Dinner Party, too. Later, I used the leftovers to make a turkey sandwich with farmer’s cheese and a slice of lettuce and it made me want to make this bread every week so I could keep eating sandwiches or open a sandwich shop specializing in grape focaccia bread. Yes, it is that good. Yes, it is! *mouth drooling*
INGREDIENTS:
•1 package active dry yeast
• 3 cups flour (1 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour combined with 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
•1/4 cup organic extra-virgin olive oil
•1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt •4 teaspoons rosemary, chopped
•4 teaspoons thyme, chopped
•4 cups of various colored organic grapes, cut in half
•1/4 cup organic sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1) Stir together yeast, wine, honey, and warm water in a large bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
2) Stir in 1 cup flour mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 hour
3) Add oil, 1 1/2 cups flour, and sea salt and stir until a sticky dough forms.
4) Knead dough on a floured work surface, gradually adding up to 1/2 cup more flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic but still soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
5) Transfer dough to an oiled large bowl and turn to coat.
6) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
7) Turn out dough onto work surface and knead several times to release air. Cut dough in half.
8) Roll out first half with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle, roughly.
9) Transfer dough to a 15- by 10- by 1-inch parchment lined baking pan and gently stretch to cover as much as possible of bottom (dough may not fit exactly, just try to maintain rectangle shape.)
10) Roll out remaining piece of dough in same manner. Cover both halves and let rise in a warm place,1 hour.
11) Lightly brush dough that’s in the pan with olive oil. Evenly sprinkle salt across surface. Then evenly distribute half of the rosemary and half of the thyme. Place grapes face down, using the various colors to form a pattern. Sprinkle with half of the sugar and gently press grapes into dough.
12) Place the other half of rolled out dough on top on top of grapes, gently stretching dough to cover grapes. Repeat step 10.
13) Bake in middle of oven at 375 °F until well browned and firm in middle, 1 hour.
14) Let cool. Cut into 12 pieces. Serve at room temperature.
