Raisin Focaccia {focaccia con uva passa}

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day. I love the smell of espresso brewing first thing in the morning. It makes me smile a little even though the sun isn’t even out yet and I’d rather be back in bed under the covers.

We’ve been on a cinnamon raisin bread kick over here the last few weeks. The kids are eating it for breakfast and as an afterschool snack. I couldn’t wait to make a sweet focaccia for this months’ focaccia theme for #breakingbread. I thought raisins would be perfect addition to this soft and billowy dough.

Focaccia originates in the Liguria region of Italy. I’ve heard that the best focaccia can be found between the beautiful Cinque Terre and Genoa. A slice of raisin focaccia and a steaming hot cup of cappuccino is my idea of a dream breakfast.

I would also love my focaccia with chocolate chips or chocolate chip focaccia slices stuffed with a scoop of gelato…I may need to go to focaccia rehab pretty soon.

Breaking Bread Society was launched last week by Shulie, Marnely, and myself. We would love for you to join us #breakingbread every month. My first recipe was for a savory Caramelized Onion and Cherry Tomato Focaccia. This week I decided to go sweet and let me tell you, it is AMAZING! The turbinado sugar gives the crust a soft delicious crunch in every bite. Stuffed with juicy raisins…I had a hard time controlling myself from devouring half of the bread.

Whether you bake along with us every month or just once, we want to inspire you to love baking your own bread one loaf at a time. We encourage you to make the recipe your own. Check out Marnely of Cooking with Books and Shulie from Food Wanderings recipe ideas for inspiration. Be creative and add your own toppings or bake it as we did. Read all about our Breaking Bread Society adventures and let’s unite in #breakingbread together:

*If you really want to make this and don’t have the time to wait for the dough to rise, you could make the dough and leave it in the refrigerator over night (or place in the refrigerator in the morning and take out to bake at the end of the day). When you are ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and press into your oiled or parchment lined pan and let it rise before baking it.

*As mentioned in earlier in the post, you could use your own favorite focaccia recipe if you prefer. We just would love you to bake along with us!;)

Raisin Focaccia {focaccia con uva passa}
adapted from: How to Bake by Nick Malgieri
Copyright (c) Nick Malgieri 1995, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups warm tap water (about 110 degrees)
2 1/2 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons sea salt
2 cups raisins (I used dark raisins. You could use any kind of raisins)

Topping:
2-3 tbsp. turbinado sugar (coarse sugar)
one 101/2 x 151/2-inch jelly roll an or a 14-inch round pan (for my round one, I used a 9-inch cake pan and it was very fluffy.

In a small bowl, add the water and sprinkle the yeast on top of the water. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and whisk together. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, add the flour and 3 teaspoons of salt; whisk together or mix together on low speed in your mixer.

Add the yeast mixture and about half of the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until it is combined. Attach the dough hook to your mixer and add the remaining flour and the raisins. Mix on low speed for about three minutes. (If the dough seems to be too dry, add warm water a teaspoon at a time until you obtain a softer dough.)

It is a dough that is elastic and a little moist.

Form the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl (when I put the dough in the bowl I swish the dough around the bottom of the bowl and then flip it over so all of the dough is covered in a light film of oil). Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size (about 1-1 1/2 hours)

Place the dough on a parchment lined 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 (sometimes the dough can be moody). Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and let it rise again until doubled in size (about 40-60 minutes).

Set a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 425 F.

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 the remaining olive oil to the surface of the dough. Sprinkle on the turbinado sugar.

Bake the focaccia for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Lift the focaccia from the pan with the parchment paper edges onto a cutting board. You’re supposed to let it cool a little on a rack before serving. That never happens over here. Cut and serve.