Truffled honey. Can I get a group OMG going? I hope so… that stuff could probably be under a list of controlled substances… I better use mine up before it does makes into the list. But back to the focaccia. I wanted to bake something for a departmental get-together, scheduled for a Thursday evening. Weather forecast for that week was high 90’s, low 100’s, so turning the oven at 450F seemed wrong on many levels. But the weekend before we got a little break with some rain and cooler temps, so I decided to get the baking out of the way as early as possible on Saturday, then freeze my production until showtime. I also wanted something a little different from the same old same old, and a grape focaccia came to mind. In Tuscany, it is called a Schiacciata con l’Uva, a name that beats grape focaccia into submission. I found a recipe at epicurious, but ended up winging it myself. Rebel is my middle name.
FOCACCIA WITH GRAPES, ROQUEFORT & TRUFFLED HONEY
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)
3/4 cup very warm water
1/8 cup milk, full-fat
1 teaspoons sugar
1 + 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil for dough plus more to spread
seedless black grapes
Roquefort cheese, crumbled
dried thyme to taste (or fresh)
Maldon salt flakes
truffled honey (or regular honey)
In the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer stir the warm water, milk, sugar, and yeast. Add the flour, salt and Add the flour, salt olive oil (2 tablespoons) to the bowl, then knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead it by hand briefly, a minute or so longer.
Place the dough inside an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 90 minutes. It will more than double, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Brush a half-sheet baking pan with olive oil, transfer the risen dough into it, and allow it to rest for a few minutes to relax the gluten. Add olive oil on top (about 3 tablespoons) and spread the dough to cover the baking sheet. Cover it again and let it sit for 45 minutes at room temperature. While the focaccia is in its second rise, turn the oven to 450F.
Top the dough with grapes sliced in half, the crumbled Roquefort cheese, thyme, add coarse salt all over, then drizzle the surface with a little truffled honey. Do not add too much, as the flavor is very potent.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. If the top is getting too dark, reduce the temperature to 425 F after 10 minutes.
Cool it on a rack before slicing in squares.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Before anyone criticizes me for taking liberties with the thickness of the schiacciata, let me state upfront that I like my focaccia to be thick and pillowy. If you want to stick to tradition, stretch the dough to the extension of a full baking sheet instead of half. It will then be thinner and crispy. The combination of grapes with blue cheese is a classic, but when truffled honey was added to it, I’d say I hit that one out of the park. And I don’t even like baseball! One word of caution, the stuff is potent. When you open the bottle, the intensity of the truffle smell will surprise you. Use it sparingly or it will overpower every other flavor in the focaccia. Of course, if you don’t have truffled honey, use a regular honey instead. Maybe you own a bottle of truffle oil? In that case, put a small amount of it to use, maybe mix a few drops with regular honey… I suppose that could work well too.
Grab a piece or four… and be happy!
ONE YEAR AGO: Moroccan Carrot Dip over Cucumber Slices
TWO YEARS AGO: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
THREE YEARS AGO: Cilantro-Jalapeno “Hummus”
SEVEN YEARS AGO: Shrimp Moqueca
Bewitching Kitchen 
Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.
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Thank you for sharing… sharing is caring! 😉
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I thought your middle name was efficient this week….??!
Amazing looking bread, I haven’t tried grapes in my bread or the truffle honey, it’s a whole new world for me! When you froze and then defrosted it, did the grapes not go soggy?
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You caught me! Actually the focaccia was made last week, so yeah, that middle name changes quickly. Who knows what it will be next week? I always like to strive for Posh, you know… (wink, wink)
The grapes get pretty soft and gooey already in the first bake, I did not detect much change upon defrosting – I do it at room temperature – in this case from 1 pm until 6pm when I put the in a slow oven to warm up before going to the party. I sliced them before freezing, and that was a good move, I think
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Okay, that sounds good, you obviously know what you’re doing, Posh Bird 🙂
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Gosh that looks delicious! Barring an attempt at hot cross buns I’ve never baked anything with yeast. Would you say focaccia is a good place to start or should I begin with something a bit easier?
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OH, DEFINITELY – focaccia is THE easiest bread of all, and I really would love if you tried it – I have several recipes for it in the blog, including a super easy one with the food processor – you will LOVE it. I am willing to bet…. hey, I can virtually hold your hand while you make it… how about that? 😉
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That sounds great! Which is your super easy recipe?
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sorry, no food processor – my pizza recipe uses the food processor. You can stir it by hand, but I find it easier and simpler to use the KitchenAid – I know, it goes against the idea of the recipe, but it’s a breeze that way…. use the dough hook attachment, 4 minutes tops and you are done!
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The recipe looks brilliant, I’ll try it out this Saturday. 😀 Not sure we actually have a working food processor at home anyway so it’ll have to be by hand for me!
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I was over the moon when you posted the tease for this on FB!! Looks beautiful and I can just imagine the taste in my head! Will definitely be making this soon, and I personally like the thickness, somewhere between snack cake and bread….naysayers be gone! Thanx for more inspiration!!
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Thanks, Jim! Now make sure not to leave the focaccia unattended in the oven… and go for a long shower… (he, he, he…)
I hope you try this, it was a huge hit with everyone who tried it
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Our neighborhood is full of red wine drinkers and we get together often for wine and heavy appetizers. This is perfect for that. I don’t use (or even have!) a FP and do all my bread mixing and kneading by hand. I may have to use the No-knead recipe for this. No Truffled Honey but I do have white truffle oil — believe it or not we sometimes mix a little in with the melted butter we pour over our popcorn on our weekly Netflix night.
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That sounds like a great plan! Popcorn with truffled butter… hummmmm you do know how to live! 😉
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I seem to recall baking a grape-filled focaccia a couple of years ago during a visit home in Michigan. I don;t think it was as flavorful as yours, Sally, for I don’t remember ever using Roquefort in any type of bread recipe. Sounds like I need to bake one of these to erase any doubt. Well, that will be my excuse, anyway. I’ve never tried truffle honey but it sure does sound good! You’ve got one lucky bunch of co-workers!
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I hope you try this recipe with any tweaking you feel like, the grapes do run the show! 😉
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OMG!! A dear local blogfriend posted a ‘truffle’ one last week including a link to a rather new producer of truffle products here Down Under. Have just received my parcel: yup, truffle honey and oil besides truffle salsa and mustard!! A lot of fun to be had . . . including trying to make this!!!
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I am laughing here… I read “a local boyfriend” – and said to myself, wow, what an interesting life! 😉 But seriously, I absolutely LOVE the timing of it all, I suspect that means you MUST make this recipe as soon as possible… it’s fate. So there!
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I’ve never even heard of truffle honey. I love the idea of using grapes in focaccia. What a fun recipe!
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I had never heard of truffle honey either – it’s something that I saw in an article online and could not resist. Of course, now I don’t remember the article…(sigh) I would love to share it with you…. good intentions? do they count for anything? 😉
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Deb Perelman posted this version, which I made some years ago. It was excellent but I’ve never made it since – seedling the Concord grapes once was all that I could handle. I took her reply to my comment as an admission that she felt similarly.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/09/grape-focaccia-with-rosemary/
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