This past weekend we enjoyed +11°C and it seems that the vegetation also enjoyed the warming temperatures! This lovely little hyacinth decided it had enough with winter and popped right up! There is still about ten inches of snow beside it but we’re hoping it will melt in the next few days.
Some time ago, my dear friend Charles (remember when we met in Paris last year?) made this wonderful Caramelized Onion Fakaccia and it got me thinking about the last time I made Focaccia in June 2012! Suffice it to say, we’ve gone long enough without this wonderfully flavourful Italian bread. Thank you Charles, again for the inspiration.
This is a recipe I diligently copied down in nineties in my late twenties from one of the first food shows I really got into: Biba’s Italian Kitchen. She had such a lovely accent and demeanor and I was instantly smitten with the show. I have been making this focaccia bread since then and it’s always been delicious. Today I share the same recipe but adding Charle’s beautiful inspiration for the caramelized onion. Once again, a hideous night-time photo but don’t let that fool you, it’s delicious!
Sweet Onion Confit Focaccia
Adapted from Biba’s Trattoria Cooking and Charles’ Five Euro Food Fakaccia
Makes one 12″ x 18″ sheet of focaccia
Sponge Ingredients:
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp quick rising dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water
Directions:
- Prepare the sponge by mixing the flour and yeast water together and knead for 3-4 minutes by machine. You want the sponge a lot softer and stickier than a normal bread dough.
- Allow to rise in a bowl wrapped tightly with plastic wrap for 2-3 hours (I proofed my sponge in the fridge overnight, cover lightly in olive oil).
Focaccia Ingredients second rising:
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 tsp quick rising dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup sweet onion confit, please click here for the recipe
- 3 tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil(, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 tsp salt
Directions:
- If you have proofed your sponge in the fridge like I did, you will need to allow it to come to room temperature.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the second rising in your mixing bowl with a dough hook attachment. Add the sponge and kneed energetically for about 5-7 minutes. After kneading, the dough should be smooth and pliable.
- Cover with a light drizzle of olive oil and tightly wrapped plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450°F for 30 minutes before baking. Lightly oil a 10″ x 14″ cookie sheet and roll out the foccacia until it is about 1/2″ thick or to the edges. Dimple with your fingers. Spread the sweet onion confit over the entire surface. Bake until focaccia is golden in colour.
- Serve warm with your best EVOO and balsamic vinegar.
Suggested uses:
- Base for quick pizza.
- Sandwich bread.
- Croutons for soup.
- Croutons for stuffing.
- Vehicle for dips.
I could probably eat that whole focaccia Eva! It looks fantastic! I can just imagine the sweetness of the onions. I really need to get over my fear of making bread.
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Hi Kristy, I’m very sure you would be very successful at making bread. JT has been making the no-knead bread for years and just a week or so ago I asked him to put together a Naan dough for pizza and it turned out fantastic.
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I did just make my first naan the other day. 🙂
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I am looking forward to seeing the blog about it, Kristy!
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Your focaccia is beautiful! I love the colour from the onion baking into the dough. Gorgeous!
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Hi Eva – thanks so much for the mention… I’m glad I could inspire! 🙂 Of course, you’ve done a fantastic job… your onions look so much better on the bread. I think the problem is when I make caramelised onions I usually don’t make them specifically for bread. As a result I do them all the way, and so when you add them to bread they tend to crispy up (and they’re harder to spread out in the first place too). I will remember to do it this way the next time around!
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Delicious looking bread!!! I remember that visit of yours with Charles, and this bread.
I always photograph at night, because during the day my gigantic windows throw in so much glare that my food looks totally unappetizing. I still need to learn how to moderate that.
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Thanks Minnie, at the studio, we pull a plain white cotton curtain over the windows so that there isn’t the glare. Surprisingly the best days to photograph with natural light are overcast days. Our photographer can even make the photo look sunny on a dull overcast day!
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I love Focaccia. And yours look delicious! I love the idea of having sweet onion confit on top. Really does give it texture.
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i love focaccia! Haven;t made my own in a while now! This looks fantastic
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Thanks Jessica, sadly it’s not gluten free, but if you can come up with an equally as wonderful gluten free version I will definitely make it for my best friend who is gluten intolerant.
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Hubby noticed that I have a thing for caramelised onions! It always makes both of our eyes water but we can’t help it! 😀
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Hi Lorraine, is it the cooking that makes your eyes water? I always use Vidalia Onions which are the large squat sweet onions, they seem to make my eyes water the least, plus they are so sweet you don’t need to add the sugar like most recipes add.
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I finally made a decent focaccia…and now I need to start playing with different toppings. Thanks to you and Charles for this delicious inspiration!
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Thank you kindly Liz, I love how chewy the sponge makes this recipe, and it seems light and airy too! The caramelized onion is a wonderful topping.
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The image is tremendous Eva…the middle of the focaccia looks like a painting. You could do a lot of fun things in photoshop or lightroom. 😉
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Thank you kindly Jed. Ah yes, the things you could do in photoshop. Do you have an iPhone? There is an app called PS Express and it’s pretty darn incredible in terms of capabilities. The only limitation is the size of one’s finger on the small phone screen. iPad would be better, but that would mean I’d have to transfer the photo over…too much work.
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Eva, have I told you I’m addicted to carbs? I mean delicious carbs, such as crunchy French bread, Indian naan, thin real Italian pizza or… focaccia! Your version with caramelised onion looks irresistible. I prepare onion confit (very similar to caramelised onions, I posted it last year I think) every autumn, so I always have several jars for the winter. I think I still have a jar somewhere…
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Thank you kindly Sissi, I do the same but I am not comfortable canning so I freeze little baggies of them. I shall go look for your recipe.
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If I had this as a pizza crust, it would officially be my FAVORITE pizza ever! Love the sound of your onion confit…YUM!
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Thanks SM, it’s a little thick for my taste for pizza, but we have used onion confit as a pizza base in the past and it’s absolutely lovely.
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I’m glad to hear you had some warmer weather although 11C is probably colder than it ever gets in Sydney. But…it does show Winter is coming to an end. I love caramelised onions on focaccia and this must have been really yummy enjoyed straight from the oven xx
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Thanks Charlie, our temperatures range for a very chilly -20°C in winter to +35°C in the summertime! I would love more temperate climate. We waited five minutes to slice and then couldn’t wait any longer.
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it’s great to know that you have warmer weather, here in Lyon it’s get warmer too, it’s finally spring ^^ anw your focaccia looks gorgeous, I can imagine the beautiful aroma in your kitchen when it’s baked 😉
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Thanks Trang, Lyon must be lovely in the spring, I just loved all your outdoor cafés. Yes the kitchen did smell wonderful with the bread baking.
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I still haven’t taken foccacia off my to bake list, and your onion variation looks mighty good to make! Hmm..
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You’ve always got my attention with a great bread recipe and the caramelized onions just add a great flavour punch in a concentrated form. 🙂
I can relate to the night time photography woes. I made a late night apple streusel coffee cake (from Maureen’s recipe on The Orgasmic Chef) and shortly before 11 pm took a picture of the still steaming slice drenched in caramel sauce cause I just HAD to share it. 🙂
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Thank you Maria. Fortunately the dark nights are numbered as we head into spring. I have a secret reflecting board that I often use for night photos (propped up against an incandescent light it reflects a reasonable facsimile of daylight onto the food) but I am not sure why I didn’t use it for this one.
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I do my night photography on the kitchen table (hence the blue flower tablecloth) under the light/fan combo. Sometimes I have to turn it off to avoid reflected glare, especially off soups, like in the wonton soup I made just before my coffee cake post.
That reminds me I still have to write up my ‘cream of leek soup on steroids’ recipe. 🙂
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What a coincidence, I just made a creamed leek and parsnip soup last night when my nephew came for dinner. It’s going to be posted in April sometime…I’ve got a lot of posts cued for the future…it’s so much more manageable since I’ve reduced my posting to twice per week.
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I am going to make a small loaf of Irish soda bread to go with the leek soup in celebration of St. Patrick’s day. Half the batch has already been frozen away for the future.
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Great idea! We’re going over to The Roy in Leslieville. It’s a friend’s Irish pub.
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Eva once again a bread recipe with so much promise I will have to try. I remember Biba, I too loved how she talked and cooked.
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Thanks Zsuzsa, I would add more caramelized onion to the top next time.
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This reminds me of German Zwiebel-Flammkuchen. Looks absolutely delicious, Eva.
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Thank you kindly Angie, I’ve not heard of that bread, I’ll Google it now.
I saw that you have one on your blog, it’s an interesting dough using baking powder instead of yeast. I may have to try your version one day, thank you.
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Your nighttime photo looks just fine. I love cutting this into little squares and serving with cocktails.
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Thank you Karen. We did just that last night, I prepared a batch of Naan and topped it with the caramelized onion and goats cheese. The Naan was not nearly as thick as the focaccia, but it still made a lovely treat with cocktails.
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So love the sweetnes and flavor of carmelized onions, topping focaccia with it, what a delicious treat. A glass of wine would pair well.
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Hi Norma, yes indeed it would. Thank you for your lovely words.
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Also, thanks for having me in your blog roll. I really appreciate it.
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Hi Tudor, it is my pleasure.
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Hi Eva! This weekend, I will be preparing some of your dishes. I want to have dinner party, and I will take some of your classic recipes and will post pics for results.
Your dishes are great for fancy dinner parties, and this last one, looks lovely, I love your foccacia, with some aubergines, some Italian meats, calamari and camembert cheese (and baked in a little pot), all on a platter. I think that is gonna be amazing.
Thank you for sharing Eva and I’m looking forward to your next recipe. Maybe another outrageously delicious dessert?
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Thank you Tudor, I’m very flattered that you are going to choose my recipes for your dinner party; I look forward to your versions of my recipes!
I don’t have a dessert for a bit, but I did make the Indonesian thousand layer cake on the weekend but I switched up the flavourings with hazelnut and chocolate layers. I also served it with hazelnut butter whipped cream, it was rather tasty, and very pretty. It’s an easy dessert to make, the hardest part is getting the layers the same thickness, which I’m still practicing. It’s a very rich dessert so I’m not sure when I’ll make it again.
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Eva, focaccia is my favorite and I have never had the expertise to attempt preparing it. The caramelized onion is something I always have wanted to prepare too, and haven’t. You are an inspiration. This looks and sounds delicious! The caramelized onion has to be amazing in this!
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Thank you so much Judy, yes indeed the caramelized onion was quite lovely, next time I think I’ll add more of it though.
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Carmelized onions it has got to be good. That would be one heck of a “vehicle for dip” . Yum
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Thank you kindly Bam, it was certainly very delicious. Next time I think I’ll add more onions to it.
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I have never seen this recipe before my friend, but it looks quite delicious 😀
Cheers
CCU
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Thanks CCU.
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Mom and Zia were 2 of Biba’s biggest fans. So many of her techniques were the same as they were taught and Zia still speaks of her. Although we’ve a version of focaccia, I’ve never tried making one with caramelized onions. It sure does look good, Eva, and I bet it must taste even better. How could it not? Thanks for today’s inspiration.
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Thank you John, you just made my day to know that your Mom and Zia loved Biba too, puts me in exceptional company! We make her gnocchi too; a version without eggs.
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This is quite interesting, Eva. I haven’t really seen focaccia been made in 2 steps (the sponge, then the 2nd rising). Does this give the focaccia a special texture? Or is it just a method used “because you can”? 🙂
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Hi Fati, it’s supposed to give a spongy texture; it’s the only way I’ve ever made it!
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Perfect timing Eva, we were just enjoying a shop bought focaccia yesterday. I mentioned there must be other versions to the salt and rosemary one. I’ll make this one this week. For us silly metric people how much does a cup of flour weigh? Also, is your yeast fast action dried or just dried?
Thanks Eva.
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Hi David, it doesn’t really matter with the yeast because you’re proofing twice. One cup of all purpose flour is about 125 g.
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