Last Sunday we had planned to go to the beach, instead the black sky gave us rain and hail. It seemed to have jumped back in November. A day at home when you have planned to spend it outside can however reveal an unforeseen present.
And so last Sunday morning I decided to cook something that needs time and attentions, that rises with no hurry whilst you do something else, something to peep out from time to time to check what’s going on and that, at the end, when it comes out from the oven, it fully rewards the long wait.
Sweet focaccia was on my mind since a long time. As all the ingredients were in the fridge already (even the milk cream, surprisingly) I took this wonderful opportunity to bake it.
Sweet focaccia is good, very good.
Its consistency is the same of the typical focaccia of Genova, but slightly more melting due to the butter in the dough.
At each bite the caster sugar creaks under the teeth whilst the butter on the surface – which have melted in the oven – goes out of the holes where it nestled slipping away between tongue and palate.
And once again ‑invariably ‑ the magic alchemy that eggs, sugar and butter create when used in making breads repeats so that sweet focaccia tastes of pan brioche, straight out.
One more thing: sweet focaccia needs to be eaten warm because any glorious bite must be announced by its fragrant scent of old-time sweets.
Sweet Focaccia
Ingredients
- 450 g of manitoba flour
- 180 ml of water
- 12 g of fresh brewer’s yeast
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg white
- 70 g of butter, room temperature
- 100 g of sugar
- 50 ml milk cream
- 1 untreated lemon, its peel
- Olive oil
- Additional caster sugar and butter to spread on the surface
Instructions
- Mix 350 g of flour with water (at room temperature) and the yeast (previously melted in few water) until the dough is smooth and elastic. Work it for long (ab. 10 minutes) so to generate the gluten which will help the rising of the dough.
- Leave the mixture in the bowl and put it in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.
- Take out of the fridge the eggs and the butter which need to be at room temperature.
- At the end of the first rising add to the dough, in the same bowl, the yolks, the egg white (previously beaten until the mix is stiff) the butter cubed, the cream milk, the sugar, the lemon peel and the remaining flour (100 g).
- Knead until the dough is compact. It will be soft and sticky, it is fine like this.
- Put the dough in a bowl previously greased with olive oil and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- At the end of the second rising, grease with olive oil a baking tray of 35x25 cm or a round cake tin of 33 cm diameter. Put the dough in the center and press it with the finger up to the borders.
- Let it rise again for 30 minutes in a warm place, covered with a clear film.
- Heat the oven to 220°C.
- Take the tray and make many holes in the dough with your fingers, pushing hard with the fingertips. Dust the dough with caster sugar and butter flakes.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the surface is gold.
- Serve warm.
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