Monday 18 March 2013

Filled Rosemary Foccacia

Occasionally, I'd have a foccacia craving and I'll pluck some fresh rosemary leaves from my little pot to make this delicious bread. Typically foccacias are eaten plain dipped in a little olive oil or perhaps you could turn it into some sort of a sandwich by slicing it into two and filling it. 


I thought Delia Smith's idea of a filled foccacia was really wonderful. I couldn't resist biting into a foccacia filled with delicious fillings and melted cheese! The recipe called for ham and cheese - I turned it into a vegetarian version by substituting with chopped capsicums and mushrooms. 


This bread is really easy to make because the breadmaker did all the work and all I did was roll out the dough and fill it. It made a delicious brunch on a weekend. 


This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here.



This is for Herbs on Saturday hosted by London Busy Body.

This is for Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays.

This is for Bake Your Own Bread by Roxana's Home Baking. 

This is for Yeast Spotting at the Wild Yeast Blog.

Filled Foccacia (8 x8 inch)
From Delia Smith's  How to Cook Book Three

For the dough:
  •  9 oz (250 g) strong white bread flour, plus a little extra for dusting
  •  1 level teaspoon easy-blend dried yeast
  •  1 dessertspoon (10ml) olive oil, plus a little extra for greasing
  •  1 level teaspoon salt
  • 150 ml water
For the filling: 
  •  6 oz (175 g) sliced Parma ham
  •  12 oz (350 g) Fontina (or Gruyère)
  •  3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
  •  freshly milled black pepper
For the top:
  •  15 small sprigs fresh rosemary
  •  2 tablespoons olive oil
  •  1 level teaspoon sea salt
Method
  • Pop the ingredients for the dough  into the breadmaker in the order your manual instructs. Set it to the dough only setting (as the focaccia is going to be baked in the oven) and press the start button. The dough setting mixes for 30 mins and proofs for 1 hour. If you are using a stand mixer, follow the kneading and proofing time.
  • Meanwhile, towards the end of the time, prepare the filling ingredients, separating the slices of ham and cutting the cheese into thin slices. When the dough is ready, remove it from the machine, turn it out on to a flat, lightly floured surface, divide it into two and then roll out one half to form a rough, rounded rectangle about 11 x 8 inches (28 x 20 cm). Note: I only managed to make a 8 x 8 inch.
  • Then place it on a baking tray (or pizza stone) and arrange the slices of ham on top, making sure they go right up to the edge. Follow this with the cheese, right up to the edge again, then scatter over the sage. Now give it a good seasoning of freshly milled black pepper. Then roll out the remaining dough, lay it on top of the first, pinching the edges together all the way round to completely enclose the filling. Now cover it with a clean tea cloth and leave it to puff up again for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C).
  • When the dough is ready, make 15 little dimples in it with your finger and press in the sprigs of rosemary. Finally, drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the dough is crisp and golden. Serve the focaccia, cut into squares or wedges, straight from the oven.

31 comments:

  1. Hi Mich,

    I have bookmarked this recipe as well... Look like we are thinking very much the same for this and the low fat carrot cake :D

    Can I say... Great minds think alike? - LOL!

    Zoe

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  2. Hi Mich
    I have never attempted to bake foccacia before....and sure looks simple to make. Great for a light lunch with it.

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  3. Hi Mich, I love all your bread bakes, they always look so good! I think I will need to invest on a breadmaker this yr cos I'm always too lazy/busy to do all the work involved in making bread.

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  4. Looks wonderful, Mich. I would love to try this with buckwheat somehow. I will definitely do so when I make pasta this week x

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  5. I love foccacia too, just went to the bakery and their fresh foccacia were not ready so i had to settle for a ciabatta. Must try your foccacia cheese melt soon, yummeh!

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  6. My children don't like this kind of bread, so sad ! I don't have a chance to bake this lor!

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  7. Haven't make foccacia for ages! Indeed, filling it will actually make a nice easy meal! Great idea! Too bad I don't have a rosemerry plant, else it'll be so nice!

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  8. Hi Mich,
    Lovely focaccia, my favourite! Have not made any in ages! Love it that you use fresh rosemary from your garden! Must be very deliciously fragrant!

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  9. Hi Mich! Did you add extra rosemary after baking? They look green?! :D

    My kind of bread and I still do not have a breadmaker machine. :(

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    1. Hi Alvin, yes, sprinkled more rosemary for colour and fragrance :)

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  10. Hi Mich, love to eat focaccia and a vegetarian filled one sounds good to me. Already bookmarked this!

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  11. This looks so delicious. I can't wait to try it.

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  12. The filling looks so tempting to have one now!

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  13. Yum - this foccacia looks perfect!

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  14. Mich this filled foccacia looks really yumm love it.

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  15. Oh, Mich, after reading about your foccacia, I would like to try it soon. I haven't used my breadmaker for a long time, usually I used my stand mixer to knead the dough,then followed by labour work. Thanks for sharing this, oh, I think this with go well with some sun dried tomatoes too! My next post is all about dips & bread chips, which I'm going to dedicate to you, cheers!

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  16. Stuffed, oh my that is a lovely twist on an old favorite. Looks beautiful. How perfect for a spring brunch.

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  17. You just remind me I have too long did not attempt foccaccia ..

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  18. I could never say no to a focaccia like this. I like the softness and the beautiful colours. The filling makes it really interesting and very yummy indeed.

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  19. i never thought of adding fillings inside the foccaccia - gonna try this out soon!

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  20. Mich - it looks absolutely delicious!
    I love the idea of filling the foccaccia and will definitely try it (not with ham though as we're forbidden to eat it)

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  21. Mich , I just sigh over your fresh rosemary lol Your foccacia looks scrumptious ! I love the melting cheese so as the capsicum and mushroom filling .

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  22. This is like crazy-amazing focaccia, Mich! I love the stuffings and the combination of rosemary and sage - what a fabulous bread! Thanks so much for sharing and I can practically smell this...

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  23. That sounds so nice! Oh, I wish I had a breadmaker! Thanks for entering the Herbs on Saturday this month.

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  24. I love this it looks delicious. I have never made focaccia before, I really need to do so.

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  25. Wahhhh! Your foccacia has fillings! I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT! I bet that adds aditional flavor and such a wonderful idea. I once made foccacia at home, but that was a long long time ago. I need to start making again! This looks really good!

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  26. Oh...your focaccia looks awesome, I absolutely love the filling that you have...looks delicious and so beautiful! Totally irresistible.
    Hope you are having a fun week :)

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  27. Hi Mich, your focaccia look great and the filling is yummylicious. Very well baked, hard to say NO if you offer me 2 pieces.

    Best Regards.

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  28. Mich, your foccacia looks beautiful! I would love to taste it :)

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  29. Mich, your focaccia got fillings!!
    It's mushroom my favourite:)
    mui

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  30. Love your foccacia Mich! It's almost a meal in itself. I'm sure the rosemary adds a lovely fragrant note.

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