Sweet Date and Pistachio Focaccia

 

This recipe is Joseph's focaccia recipe that I made my own by turning it sweet and putting tasty sweet things in it. He uses it as a canvass for all sorts of savory things. My favorite is the roasted squash, gorgonzola and walnut with herbs. 😚

My baker and his taste tester 

But this recipe was born out of an impending snow storm. My mother-in-law always makes cinnamon rolls during a snowstorm. I have tried cinnamon rolls a bunch of times. I actually have a cinnamon roll recipe here on the blog. But I have always been unhappy with the dough of my cinnamon rolls. I knew that my boys would be out shoveling lots of snow during this storm, and I wanted to make cinnamon rolls to help sustain them...but I wanted the dough to be soft and pillowy and dslicious. I realized I really wanted to make a sweet fococcia. I also wanted there to be some substance, not just sugar and bread. I went with what I had which was dates and pistachios, but I look forward to trying this with some other options sometime soon. 

Joseph did make a gulten free focaccia for me over Christmas, and it was incredible. This version was for the boys, and I did not feel the need to make it gluten free, so I will create a separate post for that recipe. 

Sweet Date & Pistachio Focaccia

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt (5g)

3 1/2 - 4 cups water (110 degrees F)

2 packages of yeast (5 teaspoons)

1/2 tsp sugar

Toppings:

10 whole dates, pits removed

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil

Cinnamon & Cardamom to taste

A satisfied customer 

Directions:

1. Sift flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Add your warm water and mix the dough until combined. The dough should be wet and sticky.

2. Rub the top of the dough with olive oil then tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place to ferment for at least 6 hours. You can ferment overnight and up to 24 hours, depending on how sharp you want your dough to be. 

3. Fold the dough every quarter of your ferment time. To fold the dough, grab one side of the dough in the bowl, pull gently and lay it on top. Go around the bowl and continue to grab and lay on top until you have gone all the way around. 4-5 folds.

4. When the dough is done fermenting, line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and  generously rub with coconut oil. (if you are making a savory fococcia, you can use oilve oil here) Place your dough in the pan and gently stretch it, pushing to to the edges of the pan. Cover the dough again with plastic wrap and leave it to prove for an hour.

5. While the dough rests, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and prepare your toppings. For this sweet recipe, pulse dates and pistachios until they are a fine crumb. Add the sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon and cardamom to the food processor and pulse to combine. I used about 2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp cardamom. 

6. Remove the plastic from the dough. Sprinkle the date and pistachio topping over the dough, then push the topping into the dough, forming a dimple effect. You can actually pinch the dough to get the topping down inside more too if you like that. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

7. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, or until the loaf is golden and springs back when poked. Remove from the overn and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container...that is if you have any leftovers!