ABC - Focaccia (Tart) for Breakfast

Focaccia Tart with Apples and Craisins and Olive Oil Streusel

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge recipe is a yeast challenge: Focaccia for Breakfast. It's Flo Braker's "sweet" take on the classic Italian bread, Focaccia. Her recipe has us dot the dough with fresh berries and an olive oil streusel. Interesting combo, huh? That's what I thought too!!

The dough for the Focaccia has a hydration percentage of about 66%, so it's a fairly "wet" and sticky dough. Avoid adding any flour to it for a light and airy end result. I made the dough in the bread machine last night and let it go through its first rise. Then I refrigerated the dough overnight in a well-oiled container.

It dawned on me that this dough will make a big batch of "dessert" Focaccia. So I started thinking "savory". The dough itself is not sweet so it could go either way. Why not both? How about I make lunch AND dessert with this dough? That's when the idea of making a Taco Pizza was born.

I have been in an "apple state of mind" lately, so instead of blackberries (not in season anyway), I used cubed apples, craisins, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. I cooked this until the apples were fork-tender (not mushy). Then the apple mixture was drained and the drained juice saved for later. I boiled the juice until it was reduced by half.

The dough was roughly divided into one-thirds and two-thirds. The small portion for the dessert and the large portion for the Taco Pizza.

See how airy the dough is?

I pushed the dough into an oiled 9" tart pan. After it rose, I distributed the apple filling on top and let it rise again.

Ready for its final rise before baking.

After a 40 minute visit to the oven, the crust was nice and golden brown.

Yum! The smell is amazing.

We ate it slightly warm and it was wonderful.


Spiced Apple-and-Craisin Filling
by HanaasKitchen
Ingredients:

• 1 lb apples (I used 2 small HoneyCrisp and 1 small Gala), peeled, cored, cut into 1/4" cubes
• 1/4 cup (40 gr) dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup (66 gr) dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  

Instructions:
Combine all the ingredients in a medium pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the apple mixture and reserve the juice. Use the filling when cooled slightly. When ready to serve the Focaccia, boil the reserved juice (using the same pan), until reduced by half and it's slightly thickened and syrup-y looking.



This is what lunch looked like today:

Toppings: taco-seasoned ground beef, refried beans, grape tomatoes, red onions, spring mix lettuce, shredded cheese, and sour cream drizzle.

Crisp exterior, and soft and slightly chewy interior!

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby and I loved both the sweet and savory choices. He gave this a 9 out of 10 rating!
• This is a really good Focaccia recipe. The exterior is golden brown and crunchy, but not hard. It's almost crumbly which I liked. The interior was light, fluffy and slightly chewy with a very mild yeast flavor. I'd like to try and make rolls with this dough sometime. I'd like to sub white WW flour for some of the bread flour.
• The two kinds of fillings were great. The apple filling was sweet with a slight tang and wonderful spice. The Taco toppings were hearty and spicy.
• Changes made to the dough: added 1/3 cup (23 gr) non-fat dry milk powder, used 1.5 tsp salt instead of 2 tsp.
• Changes made to the olive oil streusel: used 3 Tbsp of butter, melted (instead of 5 Tbsp of cold butter). I find that melted butter makes streusel more crunchy.
• I hope this post and pictures have sparked your interest in trying this recipe. You can find the recipe in Flo Braker's book, Baking for all Occasions. It can also be found online on COOKSTR.
• Don't forget to check out this month's ABC blog roll.
• I have submitted this post to YeastSpotting.