Fruit focaccia

The first time I ate flatbread topped with fruits was some years ago in Italy. Particularly, somewhere in the countryside of Tuscany, I visited as a part of a group a farm where the host introduced to us some of the local foods. Among them is a focaccia-type of bread, locally known as Sciacciatta. That particular one was a sciaccatta all’uva, meaning it was topped with grapes. I still remember my surprised look, when the host after layering the focaccia dough onto a baking pan pinched some grapes into it and sprinkled a bit of sugar before baking it.

Since then, making fruit focaccia became a favorite habit. Strangely enough, I have never baked grape focaccia but through the years I adopted a ritual that has to do with welcoming as well as saying goodbye to summer through focaccia made with seasonal fruits.

Basically, at some point in June when cherries are abundant, I never miss making cherry focaccia, while towards the end of August when figs, my favorite fruit, come on the table I go for a fig one. This provides that I resist and manage to pinch the figs cut in half into the dough before I simply combine them with some Greek yogurt and eat them as such!

---

Focaccia with fruits

Baked in a 28cm-diameter pan

Dough

• 400g flour*

• 300-320g (75-80% dough hydration) water

• 80g active sourdough

• 6g salt

• 40g extra virgin olive oil

Toppings

• fruits (grapes, figs, cherries)

• salt

• sugar

• extra virgin olive oil

* I use two parts of white/bread flour for dough structure and one part of whole grain flour for taste and character. In most cases, the whole grain flour comes from hard (durum) wheat which I like a lot

- Mix well in a bowl all the ingredients for the dough until the flour is fully hydrated. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 min.

- Work the dough simply by performing 3-4 rounds of stretch-and-folds every 15-20 min.

- After the last stretch-and fold round (the dough should look smooth, cohesive, and elastic) cover the bowl and let the dough rise/ferment until it grows in volume between of 50-100% its original size.

(The fermentation time depends on the exact room temperature, roughly between 5-8 hours)

- After the dough has risen transfer the bowl to the fridge and let it there overnight.

- Next day, bring the bowl back to room temperature, let it stand for 30-60 min, and scrape it off onto a well-oiled pan.

- Using also oiled hands spread gently the dough to cover the pan surface. If it resists the stretching, let it rest for a bit of time and try again.

- Pinch into the dough the fruits cut in half and the inner part facing upwards (if grapes use them whole). Sprinkle a bit of salt and sugar and drizzle with some olive oil.

- Bake in a pre-heated at 200°C oven for 40-60 min or until the top looks golden brown.