Blackberry & Rosemary Focaccia
I really love when I combine two ingredients for the first time and it magically works. That’s what happened to us this weekend when we made this bread. Sometimes, a combination sounds good but the magic is missing when executed. But that’s not the case with blackberry and rosemary, these two are natural. They even sounds like two sisters.
I think we started to realize that when we started to smell the sweet perfume coming from the oven. It was probably worth making it just go get that scent in the apartment. It was a divine combination of sweet fruit and pine forest. Nico said it smelled like a great Pauillac (a fine Bordeaux wine).
The only downside is that there wasn’t enough in the bread. After all it’s a bread, not a pie or a tart. But it was enough to keep you want more which is kind of the idea. I really can’t wait to try this in other ways. In the mean time, here’s a great focaccia recipe that I hope you’ll enjoy.
Blackberry & Rosemary Focaccia
Makes a 12-inch round bread
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar + extra
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp warm water (100F)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 cup blackberries
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 pinch fleur de sel
- 1 small pinch black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add warm water, yeast and sugar. Set aside for about 10 minutes until foamy.
- Remove leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary and chop finely.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, salt and chopped rosemary. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and water yeast mixture. Knead with dough hook for about 7-8 minutes, The dough should have formed a ball and cleaned the sides of the bowl. It should be soft and not sticky.
- On a floured surface, knead a couple more times by hand. Gather into a ball and place in a bowl oiled with olive oil. Rest for at least one hour, until nearly doubled.
- Coat a 12-inch round baking pan with 2 tbsp olive oil. Spread dough on baking pan using hands and massage dough with the tip of your fingers to create holes. Place blackberries at regular intervals on top of the dough, gently pushing them in. Sprinkle a small pinch of sugar on each blackberry. Sprinkle bread with fleur de sel, rosemary leaves and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil (about 3 tbsp). Rest for about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 430F.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden.
