Chocolate Sourdough Focaccia with Tart Cherries and Sugared Rosemary

Finally back from a lovely vacation.  I did a Locum for the past week and finally had a chance to bake.  I haven’t baked a chocolate bread in ages, I love chocolate and tart cherries, so this chocolate sourdough focaccia with tart cherries and sugared rosemary was born.  This is a variant of my recent focaccia, however, it has unsweetened cocoa powder, semi sweetened dark chocolate chunks, dried tart cherries and a small amount of sugar in the dough.  Surprisingly the sugared rosemary is actually quite yummy and goes well with this focaccia.  I took photos of the focaccia with sugared cranberries I made, however, they weren’t served with the focaccia.  They were made for a cake I will be baking later,.

Dried Tart Cherries 82 g

70% cacao semi sweet dark chocolate baking bars, roughly chopped, divided 114 g

Use about 98 g of the chocolate in the dough and the rest to top the focaccia

6 sprigs of rosemary, leaves pulled off in small clusters

1.5 tablespoons turbinado sugar

¾  teaspoon flaky sea salt

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Levain build overnight

Mix starter, water and then flour and ferment at room temperature 74°F the night before.

Method

Mix

To the bowl of your stand mixer add water, sugar and salt, mix to combine.

Add the levain and break into small pieces.  Add the flour and cocoa and mix until the gluten is well developed. (hold back the olive oil until later in mixing). 

Next, turn the mixer on to a low speed and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl while mixing until the olive oil is well absorbed.

Add the dried tart cherries and 98 g of the chopped chocolate to the bowl and mix until well incorporated.

Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.  Ideally, use a rectangular pan for bulk.

Bulk Fermentation

Allow the dough to rise, you may do a few coil folds if the dough wasn’t very strong after kneading.  Otherwise allow to rise until about 25-40%

Proof

Using oiled hands transfer the dough to a 9x13” pan or divide it in half and into two 9” rounds that have been lightly greased with olive oil. If you don’t have a pan with a silicone liner, make sure to moderately oil the pan’s interior so the focaccia doesn’t stick during baking.  Do not go too heavy with the olive oil otherwise you may end up shallow frying the dough.  Gently stretch the dough to fill the pan. if the dough contracts allow the dough to rest 10-15 mins and repeat

The dough will naturally spread out during this proofing period, so it’s unnecessary to spread the dough aggressively. Once the dough is mostly spread to the edges, cover the pan and proof until the dough has had a total rise of 185% or so.  It should be very bubbly at the time of baking.

About 30 minutes before you anticipate the sourdough focaccia dough being ready, preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C) with a rack placed in the bottom third. Aim to bake when the dough has reached 170% rise.

Top & Bake

First, dimple the unadorned dough with wet fingers. Make sure the dimples are evenly spaced and go all the way down to the bottom of the pan being sure to press down any cherries on surface. Go over the dough twice. Arrange rosemary sprigs on top, if using. Sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar and flaky sea salt.  Then, drizzle on 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with chopped dark chocolate and coarse sea salt. If using other toppings, add them now as well, press them into the dough gently.

Bake the focaccia in the oven at 450°F (232°C) about 30 minutes. Rotate the pan front-to-back halfway through this time. Keep an eye on it during the last 5-10 minutes and pull it out if it’s coloring too quickly, or leave it in longer if you’d like it a little darker.

Let the focaccia cool a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. It’s fantastic warm from the oven, and best on the day of baking, but it’ll keep well for a couple days loosely wrapped in foil (reheat under the broiler before serving).

While it is still hot, you can decorate it with sugared cranberries and rosemary placing them in the still warm melted chocolate.

This is quite a yummy bread that isn’t too sweet, the sweetness really just comes from the semi-sweet dark chocolate chunks.  If you want to reduce the sugar just use unsweetened dark chocolate instead.  However, I think it is more balanced with the sweetness of the sweetened dark chocolate.

Happy Holidays.

Benny