A beautiful raspberry focaccia
What to do with a punnet of luscious Scottish raspberries? My Japanese friend Ryoko came for dinner last Friday, and I wanted to do something with raspberries that are everywhere at the moment - raspberries being one of the few berries that really thrive in the Scottish climate.
And then I saw this recipe in the August 2006 issue of the Finnish Pirkka magazine. Nicky's recent post about focaccia had left me longing, and this recipe seemed to fill the gap. I had all the ingredients in hand, so I rushed to the kitchen, rummaged in my cupboards, measured ingredients into a bowl, kneaded, waited, tried to be artistic with raspberries, waited some more, and finally emerged with this beautiful raspberry focaccia.
If you serve it with Brie, then you're also combining the pudding & cheese courses, so it's a lovely ending to any dinner party.
Raspberry focaccia
(Vaarika-focaccia)
(Click on the photo to enlarge)
300 ml lukewarm milk (or water, if you prefer)
25 grams fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp runny honey or sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom (seeds from approximately 20 pods)
4 Tbsp olive oil
700-800 ml plain flour (I used Doves Farm organic)
Topping:
300 ml fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 grams butter
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm liquid, then add salt, honey (or sugar) and ground cardamom. Add flour in 2-3 batches, mixing with a wooden spoon as you go. When you've added all the flour, pour the olive oil onto the dough and knead with your bare hands for 7-10 minutes, until the dough doesn't stick onto your hands and the bowl too much. You may want to sprinkle some more flour, but don't go overboard, as then you'll end up with a tough bread afterwards. Less is more!
Cover the bowl with a clean towel or clingfilm and leave to rise in a warmish corner of your kitchen for about 30 minutes, until the dough has almost doubled in size.
Dip the raised dough onto a slightly floured surface, knock out the air and form into a flat uneven circle. Lift onto a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Make indentions with your fingers, then scatter raspberries on top, pushing them into the indentions (click on the photo to enlarge). Sprinkle with sugar and vanilla sugar, dot with butter.
Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes, until focaccia is lovely golden brown.
The bread was wonderful & amazing - very soft-textured, with a wonderful cardamom scent, tasty with just a hint of saltiness, and the sweet, yet tart, raspberries giving a nice juicy burst. I served it with some Brie cheese (we used Organic Cornish Brie ), as recommended by the magazine, but it would also be lovely on its own.
It must have been good, because Ryoko treated me to an one-hour reflexology* session in return:)
* She's very good! She does home visits in the Edinburgh area, so if any of you is interested, then drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with her.
And then I saw this recipe in the August 2006 issue of the Finnish Pirkka magazine. Nicky's recent post about focaccia had left me longing, and this recipe seemed to fill the gap. I had all the ingredients in hand, so I rushed to the kitchen, rummaged in my cupboards, measured ingredients into a bowl, kneaded, waited, tried to be artistic with raspberries, waited some more, and finally emerged with this beautiful raspberry focaccia.
If you serve it with Brie, then you're also combining the pudding & cheese courses, so it's a lovely ending to any dinner party.
Raspberry focaccia
(Vaarika-focaccia)
(Click on the photo to enlarge)
300 ml lukewarm milk (or water, if you prefer)
25 grams fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp runny honey or sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom (seeds from approximately 20 pods)
4 Tbsp olive oil
700-800 ml plain flour (I used Doves Farm organic)
Topping:
300 ml fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 grams butter
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm liquid, then add salt, honey (or sugar) and ground cardamom. Add flour in 2-3 batches, mixing with a wooden spoon as you go. When you've added all the flour, pour the olive oil onto the dough and knead with your bare hands for 7-10 minutes, until the dough doesn't stick onto your hands and the bowl too much. You may want to sprinkle some more flour, but don't go overboard, as then you'll end up with a tough bread afterwards. Less is more!
Cover the bowl with a clean towel or clingfilm and leave to rise in a warmish corner of your kitchen for about 30 minutes, until the dough has almost doubled in size.
Dip the raised dough onto a slightly floured surface, knock out the air and form into a flat uneven circle. Lift onto a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Make indentions with your fingers, then scatter raspberries on top, pushing them into the indentions (click on the photo to enlarge). Sprinkle with sugar and vanilla sugar, dot with butter.Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes, until focaccia is lovely golden brown.
The bread was wonderful & amazing - very soft-textured, with a wonderful cardamom scent, tasty with just a hint of saltiness, and the sweet, yet tart, raspberries giving a nice juicy burst. I served it with some Brie cheese (we used Organic Cornish Brie ), as recommended by the magazine, but it would also be lovely on its own.
It must have been good, because Ryoko treated me to an one-hour reflexology* session in return:)
* She's very good! She does home visits in the Edinburgh area, so if any of you is interested, then drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with her.
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