Fig & Rosemary Focaccia

Written By Sophie Stokes

Does it feel like EVERYONE is holidaying in Greece and Italy this year?

And how about all the food that’s popping up, particularly the fresh produce and especially fresh figs are starting to appear.

Secretly, I am wishing I was there, soaking up the sun, getting my teeth into a chicken souvlaki and licking the honey off my fingers after indulging in a baklava.

Oh well I am consoling myself with the fact that we are planning for a Greece Foodie Tour next September 2023.

In the meantime, I headed to my local supermarket and found some fresh figs and despite the hefty price tag because it’s not the season for them, I purchased a few and came home to make a delicious fig and rosemary focaccia.

I was super happy with my figs, they were soft but not mushy and the skin was unbroken. Because figs don’t last long, I only purchase them if I am going to use them straight away. These figs were in good shape so I got to work preparing my focaccia dough. This recipe includes mashed potato, making it a fluffy and moist bread. And the addition of topping it with fresh figs takes it to the next level of deliciousness.

Here’s the recipe:

3 cups bread flour

1 cup fine semolina

14g dry instant yeast

1 tablespoon honey

Pinch of salt

4 tablespoons EVOO

1 cup mashed potato

1 1/2 cups warm water

TOPPING

4 figs, stems removed and cut into quarters

Rosemary leaves

Salt

EVOO

  1. Combine flours, yeast, honey and salt in a large bowl and mix well.

  2. Make a well in the dry mixture and pour olive oil and warm water. Mix to bring together. Dough will be sticky.

  3. Fold through mashed potato making sure it is evenly distributed and bringing it all together.

  4. Remove dough from bowl and lightly oil bowl. Return dough to bowl, cover and set aside in a warm spot for 1 hour.

  5. Preheat oven to 200*C. Smother a 32cm x 22cm x 5cm baking tray with olive oil and drop the dough in, stretching it to fill the tray. Cover again and set aside for 30 minutes.

  6. Remove cover from baking tray, poke dough deeply a few times to create dimples all over.

  7. Press fig quarters all over dough, pushing them down into the dough. Sprinkle rosemary leaves on top. Drizzle olive oil all over surface of dough finishing with a sprinkle of salt.

  8. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack but don’t wait too long before eating because those juicy figs are out of this world eaten warm.

Sophie Stokes
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