Focaccia dough can also be sweet and be used as a part of a breakfast
ingredients for a 500 g focaccia (cost about 3 Euros with organic flours)
- 100 g hard wheat flour
- 100 g soft wheat flour
- 50 g wholewheat flour
- 100 ml mineral water
- 100 ml milk
- 2 g salt
- 4 g dried yeast
- 70 g sugar
- 30 ml EV olive oil
- 50 g peeled pistachios
- 50 g sultanas
Many many years ago, when I woke up at an Italian “agriturismo”, where I was staying for the holidays, the “padrona” had prepared for the breakfast a fantastic sweet focaccia, baked in a wood oven. I really loved it. So, when I turned back home, I started preparing my own sweet focaccias. Today’s focaccia is among my best ones.
First of all, we have to soak the sultanas in lukewarm water for at least an hour.
The other thing we have to do is to roast just for a while the pistachios in order to remove their peel and to uncover their green colour. We then chop them roughly.
We start by sifting the flours and stirring them with the yeast and the sugar. I have to tell you that I have doubled the yeast compared to the common dough, as all doughs with sugar need a larger amount of yeast to rise.
We add the water, the milk and the salt and we start kneading the dough by hand, or even better we put all the ingredients to a mixer bowl.
We knead in the stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment for 5 minutes at low speed and for 5 more at medium. We add the oil and we knead for one more minute. We cover the bowl with film and we wait for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the room temperature and having in mind that, ideally, this should be around 23 Celsius degrees.
After the first rising, we spread the dough in a very well oiled baking pan. The amount of the dough for each baking pan can be found by multiplying the length by the width and then dividing by 2.4. So, for a common baking pan 40 cm X 30 cm = 1,200 / 2.4 = 500 grams of dough.
We flatten the dough by hand, trying to cover the largest possible part of the pan and we leave it to mature for 3 hours, covered with a damp cloth.
After this time we spread the sultanas and the pistachios over the dough, we cover with a cloth and let it rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, we preheat the oven to 250 C degrees.
We bake for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the oven and our taste. I do not let my focaccia bake for more than 8 minutes.
We wait for it to cool completely and we eat it immediately or we store it in an airtight package. Normally, focaccia must be eaten the same day, but this sweet one can be consumed pleasantly, until the next day.
