I was ecstatic when the new season of The Great British Bake Off was released. I anticipate every Friday so I can watch a new episode (as they’re released on Netflix). The the recent “Bread” episode, there were many delicious sounding focaccias, but the one that Crystelle made with roasted grapes sounded particularly delicious.
I was in a baking mood last weekend so I decided to morph some recipes together and see if I could come up with something similar.
Focaccia with Roasted Grapes, Walnuts, Rosemary and Honey
I was inspired by Crystelle from the Great British Baking Show as well as a colander of grapes on the cabinet.
Ingredients
- 1 1/8 t. yeast
- 1 t. honey (plus more for drizzling)
- 1 1/4 c. warm water
- 2 c. bread flour
- 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 T. kosher salt
- 3 T. olive oil, divided
- 2 T. butter
- 1/3 c. roasted grapes (See step 4 below.)
- Leaves from 2-3 rosemary sprigs
- 1/4 c. walnuts, chopped
- sprinkling of sea salt
Instructions
- Place the dry yeast, 1 tsp. honey, and lukewarm water in a bowl of a stand mixer and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy.)
- Add flours and salt and mix with the dough hook until a shaggy dough forms.
- Pour in 2 T. olive oil into a dough rising bowl with a lid or a large bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 3–4 hours.
- While dough is rising, roast the grapes. Preheat oven to 425F. Clean and dry grapes and remove from stem. Toss grapes in a mild oil like sunflower or grape oil. Spread on a foil lined baking tray. Sprinkle with a bit of fine sea salt. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Generously butter a 9 x 9″ baking pan then pour 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into center of pan.
- Keeping the dough in the bowl and using a fork in each hand, gather up edges of dough farthest from you and lift up and over into center of bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat process. Do this 2 more times; you want to deflate dough while you form it into a rough ball.
- Transfer dough to prepared pan. Pour any oil left in bowl over and turn dough to coat it in oil. Let rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like a preheating oven) until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours.
- Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 450°. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small visible indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. Dimple focaccia all over with your fingers, creating very deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan).
- Press in the roasted grapes, walnuts, and rosemary. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake focaccia until puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add a drizzle of honey. Serve.
Yield: 6-8
So, I don’t know if Paul Hollywood would approve but I love the flavor combination that Crystelle delivered. BTW, while I was searching for inspiration, I found that apparently the first ever GBBO winner, Edd Kimber, has a similar recipe.
This was a great bread to snack on over the weekend and I also enjoyed it for breakfasts.
I wasn’t as inspired by this week’s cake episode however the sticky toffee pudding sounded delicious (but too complicated).