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    Home » Recipes » Breads » Yeast Breads

    Cherry Chocolate Focaccia #BreakingBread

    Published by Melissa on May 18, 2012 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 30 Comments

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    Cherry-Chocolate-Focaccia-2-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

    Baking bread for Cherry-Chocolate-Focaccia-4-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

    Cherry-Chocolate-Focaccia-5-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

    Cherry-Chocolate-Focaccia-Barbara-Bakes

    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.

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    Cherry Chocolate Focaccia #BreakingBread

    Cook Time20 mins
    Total Time20 mins
    Course: Yeast Breads
    Author: Barbara Schieving
    Prevent your screen from going to sleep

    Ingredients

    • 3 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
    • 2 ¼ teaspoons 1 envelope rapid-rise instant dry yeast
    • 1 ⅓ 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

    Instructions

    • In large mixing bowl, mix together 2 ½ 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 ½ 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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    About Melissa & Barbara

    As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. CJ at Food Stories

      May 21, 2012 at 1:44 pm

      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).

      Reply
    2. WeLoveChicken

      May 21, 2012 at 10:06 am

      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!)

      Reply
    3. Cookin' Canuck

      May 21, 2012 at 8:38 am

      What a focaccia, Barbara! I absolutely love the idea of making it into a dessert with chocolate and cherries.

      Reply
    4. Lisa @ Sweet as Sugar Cookies

      May 21, 2012 at 12:56 am

      Oh my gosh, a chocolate focaccia? Yes, please!!!

      Reply
    5. Angie@Angie's Recipes

      May 20, 2012 at 6:28 am

      Looks delectable with chocolate spread!

      Reply
    6. Swathi

      May 19, 2012 at 3:42 pm

      Cherry chocolate Focaccia looks delicious. I love the sweet version.

      Reply
    7. Sarah, Maison Cupcake

      May 19, 2012 at 2:01 am

      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

      Reply
    8. Nina

      May 18, 2012 at 9:42 pm

      I love the nutella on the focaccia….looks so yummy:). Just got to know about Breaking Bread Society….great idea.

      Reply
    9. cookingrookie

      May 18, 2012 at 8:37 pm

      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 🙂

      Reply
    10. Lisa

      May 18, 2012 at 6:48 pm

      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!

      Reply
    11. CJ at Food Stories

      May 18, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Whoa, a sweet focaccia … love this … Happy Weekend 🙂

      Reply
    12. foodwanderings

      May 18, 2012 at 11:48 am

      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!

      Reply
    13. Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious

      May 18, 2012 at 11:26 am

      I absolutely love focaccia. And that Nutella topping is absolutely genius!

      Reply
    14. Lora @cakeduchess

      May 18, 2012 at 11:13 am

      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

      Reply
    15. Rocky Mountain Woman

      May 18, 2012 at 10:50 am

      That looks like my kind of breakfast! Love mixing it up and making a sweet version of focaccia…

      Reply
    16. Erin @ Texanerin Baking

      May 18, 2012 at 9:22 am

      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. 🙂

      Reply
    17. Rosa

      May 18, 2012 at 8:23 am

      It looks beautiful and so tempting! A very original focaccia.

      Cheers,

      Rosa

      Reply
    18. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

      May 18, 2012 at 7:30 am

      Yuummmm!! This looks so tasty!

      Reply
    19. sally @ sally's baking addiction

      May 18, 2012 at 7:24 am

      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!

      Reply
    20. patsy

      May 18, 2012 at 7:01 am

      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.

      Reply
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