Focaccia, a flat oven-baked Italian yeast bread is traditionally a savory bread with herbs and salt on top. This decadent version is sweet, studded with tart dried cherries and semi-sweet chocolate chips and sprinkled with coarse sugar.
Shulie, Food Wanderings, tweeted me and asked me if I’d like to join the Breaking Bread Society. Shulie, Marnely of Cooking with Books, and Lora started this fun new bread baking group to inspire us to bake more bread. Lora, Cake Duchess, is this month’s hostess and it was Lora’s irresistible Raisin Focaccia post that inspired me to create a Cherry Chocolate Focaccia.
In addition to making it a sweet focaccia with cherries and chocolate chips, I changed the recipe to use instant yeast. Using instant yeast allows you to mix the yeast with the flour, use warmer water and helps speed up the process. You can even skip the first rise if you’re in a hurry.
It’s best to knead in the cherries and chocolate chips by hand. When kneading a moist dough like this focaccia dough, use wet fingers and a wet scrapper instead of adding additional flour.
The recipe recommends letting the bread cool before cutting it, but the focaccia baked up so golden brown and smelled so amazing, I couldn’t wait. The melty chocolate chips and tart cherries in the hot bread were a real treat. I couldn’t resist eating several slices hot out of the oven.
Later my husband slathered a slice or two with Nutella, which he highly recommended. So my breakfast the next day was Cherry Chocolate Focaccia with Nutella. Amazing!
Visit Lora, Cake Duchess, for the original focaccia recipe and more information about Breaking Bread Society.
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) rapid-rise instant dry yeast
- 1 1/3 cups warm water (about 130 degrees)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Topping:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp. turbinado sugar (coarse sugar)
Directions
- In large mixing bowl, mix together 2 1/2 cups flour, yeast and salt on low speed in your mixer.
- In a small bowl, whisk together water and 3 tablespoons olive oil.
- With the mixer on low, pour in the liquids. Continue mixing until a shaggy dough begins to form. Clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining flour a little at a time, adding more or less flour as needed, to make a dough that is elastic and a little moist, about 8 minutes.
- Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead in cherries and chocolate chips. (I used a wet scraper to help me knead them in.)
- Form the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl, turn to coat the ball with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size (about 1-1 1/2 hours). (If you’re in a hurry you can skip this first rise when using instant yeast.)
- Place the dough on a parchment lined 101/2 x 151/2-inch jelly roll pan. Pat and press the dough gently until the dough fills the pan completely. If the dough resists, let it rest for a few minutes before continuing. Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and let it rise again until doubled in size (about 40-60 minutes).
- Preheat to 425º.
- When the dough has doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap. Dimple the surface of the risen focaccia using your fingertips (if it’s too sticky, dip your fingers in olive oil before dimpling the bread).
- Brush on 3 tablespoons olive oil to the surface of the dough. Sprinkle on the turbinado sugar.
- Bake the focaccia for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Lift the focaccia from the pan with the parchment paper edges. Cool on a rack before serving.
Notes
*Adapted from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri Copyright (c) Nick Malgieri 1995, All Rights Reserved
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I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
I’m in love with this focaccia! I’ve only made savory versions, but can totally see this being a wonderful addition to a brunch or a special treat for a weekend breakfast.
focaccia bread is one of my favorites. and adding chocolate to it just makes it over the tip! Barbara, your recipes are so divine, creative, and the photography is beautiful! You need your own cookbook!
Yuummmm!! This looks so tasty!
It looks beautiful and so tempting! A very original focaccia.
Cheers,
Rosa
A bread baking society sounds incredibly fun. I’ve tried a lot of different focaccia recipes but never a sweet one. I need to change that! This looks and sounds lovely and I love that you added Nutella to the top.
That looks like my kind of breakfast! Love mixing it up and making a sweet version of focaccia…
I have been craving your focaccia since I saw it on Twitter this morning;)LOVE your version, Barbara. The dried cherries and chocolate chips make it the most amazing breakfast or snack idea. But then your hubs slathered on Nutella…crazy good! Thank you for participating in the Bread Baking Society:)xx
I absolutely love focaccia. And that Nutella topping is absolutely genius!
I was sitting on the the front stoop watching my dog in the yard, when I got to the third pic I loudly gasped! I never imagined a sweet focaccia to be this attractive to me the savory gal! I wish I had it with my coffee! We are thrilled to have you #breakingbread with us Barbara! What a creation! You made all this effort so worthwhile!
Whoa, a sweet focaccia … love this … Happy Weekend
I think you officially knocked focaccia out of the park with the chocolate chips,cherries, & crunchy turbinado topping,but when you spread it with nutella, that sent it to the moon! Gorgeous too,Barb!
Wow, this is brilliant! I alwasys thought of focaccia as a savoury bread. And you made it sweet! Love this recipe! How can any recipe go wrong with chocolate and cherries
I love the nutella on the focaccia….looks so yummy:). Just got to know about Breaking Bread Society….great idea.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sweet focaccia before but it seems so perfectly suited to the dough I’m really surprised we don’t see it more often. Genius chucking those cherries in! x
Cherry chocolate Focaccia looks delicious. I love the sweet version.
Looks delectable with chocolate spread!
Oh my gosh, a chocolate focaccia? Yes, please!!!
What a focaccia, Barbara! I absolutely love the idea of making it into a dessert with chocolate and cherries.
OMG Barbara! It looks so delicious. I love the traditional focaccia and your sweet version sounds fantastic – I love innovations, new ideas. I cannot wait to try it (with a cup of coffee… yummy!)
Barbara … You have been nominated for my NEW Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling. Check out my site for the details (foodstoriesblog dot com).
I love your creative take on foccacia bread, Barbara! This looks absolutely delicious and unlike anything I’ve seen before – love it! Thanks for sharing. Also, I’m having a ChicWrap giveaway today that you should enter!
Just seeing an explosion of foccacia bread on the blogosphere but this is the most unique and creative – great idea! Looks delicious!!
I have never seen a sweet foccacia like this – yum! I bet the Nutella would taste great – esp. with the cherry flavor in the bread.
I love sweet focaccia! Cherry and chocolate sounds divine. What an irresistible combination.
Mmmm…. melty chocolate chips! You have sooo many delicious baking ideas. Your family must love coming home to the smell of fresh baked goodies.
this is over the top! Best focaccia I have ever seen. Love the idea of using cherries in it! just beautiful
This focaccia looks amazing, even without the Nutella!
What a great combination! I would ahve never though to make a sweet focaccia – I love it.
this is just brilliant and sounds amazing!! I wish I was sitting right in your kitchen when you made it
This looks delicious Barbara!! How did you stop yourself from eating the entire thing???