Piece of life
I looked at my Instagram feed a few days ago, I faced the recipe of sweet focaccia with cherries and thyme from Carine of the “Chic, Chic, Chocolat” blog. As you know, I recently fell in love with focaccias, but I had never seen a sweet version of it. My curiosity was piqued, and I started to snoop around.
I found that the sweet focaccia originated from a village in Italy, Alexandria, in the Piedmont region (northern Italy). The recipe is simply a version of the classic focaccia, to which milk and sugar have been added.
About the Sweet Focaccia with Lemon
The recipe is really simple. It consists of a classic yeast dough with its regular rising time. I followed the recipe on the RAI (Italian TV channel) website. The only variation I made was to add the lemon zest (green lemon) in the brine that covers the top of the focaccia, but you can ignore it or replace it with other flavours. And rightly so, let’s talk about this brine! It allows the focaccia surface to caramelize, giving it a crispy and tasty crust, a delight.
Do you need some inspiration?
If you love focaccias, I recommend this basic recipe that you can customize according to your taste.
Sweet Focaccia from Alexandria with Lemon Zests
Ingredients
- 500 g flour
- 4 g fresh baker's yeast
- 150 ml warm water
- 150 ml warm milk
- 20 g sugar
- 25 g olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Pour les finitions
- 12 g olive oil
- 12 g water
- 50 g sugar
- 1 zests green lemon
- semolina (or flour)
Instructions
- Mix the water and the milk. Dissolve the yeast (the liquid must not be too warm or it will deactivate the yeast)
- In a salad bowl, pour the flour and the salt. Mix then add the sugar, the oil and the liquid mixture (water/milk/yeast). Mix coarsely and transfer the dough to a floured surface.
- Knead the dough with your hand palm, no stop, during around 10 minutes.
- Cover it with a clean cloth and set it aside for 1h30 in a warm place.
- Oil the dish and flour it with the semolina (or flour). Place the dough and gently stretch it to the edges.
- Prepare the brine by mixing the oil, the water, the sugar and the lemon zests.
- Brush the dough surface with the brine then make small cavities with your fingertips all over its surface.
- Cover it again and set aside for 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Bake the focaccia for 20 minutes, or until it is well golden.
