Chocolate Cherry Focaccia with Rosemary and Orange Glaze

Chocolate Cherry Sourdough Focaccia with Rosemary and Orange Glaze

Chocolate Cherry Focaccia with Rosemary and Orange Glaze

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 30

Proof the dough twice and cold retard:: 14

Total Time: 14 40

Servings: servings

Calories: 235kcal

Author: Marvellina

This chocolate cherry focaccia is soft, chewy, and lightly sweet with rosemary, dark chocolate, tart cherries, and a bright orange glaze. Made with either sourdough starter or instant yeast for an easy, flexible bake.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

If you use sourdough starter:

600 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
180 g active starter (100% hydration)
468 g water
10 g honey
18 g oil
12 g salt

If you use instant yeast because you don't have sourdough starter:

690 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
1 tsp instant yeast
558 g water
10 g honey
18 g oil
12 g salt

Filling:

80 g dried tart cherry
6 sprigs of fresh rosemary finely chopped
100 g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Orange glaze:

100 g powdered sugar
1 Tbsp orange juice or more as needed

Instructions

Soak the cherries: (do this the day before you plan to bake)

This recipe can make one 8 x 8 inch square and one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf (or use 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, but it will be shorter) OR two 8 x 8 inch focaccia, or one 9 x 13 inch rectangle.
I used dried tart cherries. Place them in a bowl and add some gold or dark rum to cover the cherries. Cover and let them soak overnight. You can just use warm water and let them soak overnight

Prepare the dough:

Place all ingredients for the dough in a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Give it a stir to roughly moisten the flour so it won't fly all over the place when you start the machine.
Mix on the lowest speed for 1 minute to combine everything and then increase the speed to medium and beat until the dough sort of wrap around the beater and clear the sides of the bowl, still sticky, but very elastic. This shows that the gluten has well-developed
I divide the dough into two and place in two separate container that I have oiled lightly. Cover and let them proof at a warm place, about 78-80 F (26-27 C). They should double in volume. This takes about 3 hours or so if you use sourdough starter and about 1 - 1 1/2 hours if you use instant yeast
Rub some oil on the surface of the dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover and put this inside the fridge overnight. It won't rise much anymore after this

Shaping:

Drain the cherries and gently squeeze out any excess liquid
Oil your baking pan and line with parchment paper. Oil the parchment paper on all sides as well
Oil your work surface and tip the dough out. Oil your hands and gently press the dough out into a rectangle.
Spread 1/4 of the chocolate chips, 1/4 of rosemary, and 1/4 of the soaked cherries (I forgot to include the cherries in this step-by-step photo) on the center of the rectangle.
Fold 1/3 of the dough over to cover and then spread another 1/4 of chocolate chips, 1/4 of rosemary, and 1/4 of soaked cherries on top.
Fold the other 1/3 of the dough over
Fold the top of the dough down into 1/3 and then fold the bottom over.
Flip over and put inside the 8 x 8 inch pan or 9 x13 inch pan (if you are making one large focaccia). Let it rest for 5 minutes and then use your fingers to gently coax the dough to cover the pan corner to corner. If the dough resists, give it a rest and then do it again
For the loaf pan, it's the same shaping method. Put inside the prepared pan and gently push the dough to fill up the loaf pan

Second proofing:

Let the dough proof at a warm place until they are really puffy and double in volume. This take about 2-3 hours at 78-80 F for sourdough starter and about 45 minutes to 1 hour if you use instant yeast

Dimple the dough:

30 minutes before the end of proofing time, preheat the oven to 430 F (220 C)
When the dough is done proofing and the oven is already preheating, Drizzle the surface of the dough with oil, then oil your fingers and then gently dimple the dough with your fingers, pushing all the way in. Try not to deflate the dough in the process. Because I forgot to include the cherries during shaping, I have put the cherries on top of the dough and then dimple the dough
Since I have some Oreo crumbs leftover, I sprinkled some on one of the dough and include some white chocolate chips for contrast. It's just a last minute decision LOL!
Do the same thing with the dough in a loaf pan. With the loaf pan, I dimple the dough more gently by using just one or two fingers, instead of all ten fingers

Baking:

Once the dough has been dimpled, it needs to be baked immediately. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown or the internal temperature is 200 F.

Cool down:

Remove from the oven and immediately remove the focaccia from the pan by grabbing on the parchment paper and place on a cooling rack. Then use a metal offset spatula to loosen the bottom and remove the parchment paper. This is to keep the bottom of the focaccia from getting soggy

Prepare the glaze and serve:

Combine the powdered sugar with orange juice. You want the consistency to be thick but still pipeable. Only prepare this while the focaccia is cooling down a bit
Pipe the glaze on the surface of the focaccia. This is not a whole lot of glaze because I don't like it with too much glaze. If you prefer a generous glaze, you can double or triple the recipe for glaze
Serve immediately or at room temperature

Nutrition