Ingredients
- Dough
- 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) olive oil
- 1 to 2 teaspoons dried or fresh rosemary, to taste
- 3/4 cup (6 ounces) warm water
- 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Mellow Pastry Blend
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons (5/8 ounce) sugar
- 1 egg
- Topping
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/4 pounds seedless red grapes (about 80 grapes)
Preparation
Step 1
Manual/Mixer Method: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and mix to form a cohesive dough. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, until it�s smooth. Transfer it to a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, gently deflating it after 1 hour if you decide to give it the longer rise.
Bread Machine Method: Place all of the dough ingredients into the pan of your bread machine, program the machine for manual or dough, and press Start. Check the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle; it should be quite soft (especially if you�ve used the lower-protein Mellow Pastry Blend rather than all-purpose flour), but still workable. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then gently deflate the dough and allow it to rise an additional 60 minutes, if desired (this extra rising time improves the focaccia�s flavor).
While the dough is rising, prepare the grapes. Place them on a parchment-lined or lightly oiled baking sheet, and bake in a preheated 375�F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until they�ve released some of their juices, they look a bit darker, and they�re starting to shrivel and get a bit soft. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool.
Lightly oil an 18 x 13-inch half-sheet pan, or similar-sized pan. Flatten the dough on the pan, and shape it into an 18 x 13-inch focaccia. Don�t be uptight about making it exactly 18 x 13 inches - just make it fill most of the pan. It helps if you flatten it fairly flat (it�ll keep shrinking back on the oiled pan); then let it rest, covered, for 10 minutes; then flatten it some more. Spread the focaccia with the 2 tablespoons olive oil, and layer it with the grapes.
Cover the focaccia (a proof cover works really well here), and let it rise for 30 minutes. Gently push the grapes down into the dough; you want them semi-buried, not just resting on top. Allow the focaccia to rise an additional 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 375�F.
Bake the focaccia for about 25 to 30 minutes, till it�s golden brown. Serve it warm, or at room temperature. Yield: about 12 servings.
Nutrition information per serving (1/12 of focaccia, 102g): 209 cal, 7g fat, 4g protein, 30g complex carbohydrates, 2g sugar, 2g dietary fiber, 18mg cholesterol, 229mg sodium, 147mg potassium, 13RE vitamin A, 2mg vitamin C, 2mg iron, 11mg calcium, 47mg phosphorus.
This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. XII, No. 6, Autumn 2001 issue.