Several weeks ago, we had our fall progressive dinner and our lovely neighbours Tom and Iona chose Pomegranate as the theme! What a coincidence for JT and I, since we were just there in September! (Please recall that Granada means pomegranate in Spanish!). JT and I served hors d’œuvres and appetizers; the hors d’œuvre was a delicious pomegranate guacamole with homemade fajita chips and the appetizer was a cob salad with a corn and pomegranate mix and a pomegranate syrup dressing.

And because I don’t extend myself enough, I decided to make a sourdough pomegranate, date and rosemary focaccia. Although the dates did certainly added some sweetness, the perfumy flavour of the rosemary increased the savoury aspect without being overwhelming. The recipe below is a modified version of this recipe, which I originally made at the cottage.

Pomegranate, Date and Rosemary Sourdough Focaccia
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Makes one focaccia 28 cm x 36 cm (11″ x 14″)
Ingredients:
- 265 g (1 cup) fed, sourdough starter
- 300 g (1 1/3 cup) warm water
- 100 g (1/2 cup) olive oil, divided
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 8 g (1 packet) instant yeast
- 8 g (1 tbsp) milk powder
- 500 g (3 1/2 cups) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 70 g (~1/2 cup) loosely packed dates, sliced in half, lengthwise
- 75 g (~1/2 cup) pomegranate seeds
- 4 g (1 generous tbsp) roughly chopped rosemary
Directions:
- In the large bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine sourdough starter, water and 50 g (1/4 cup) olive oil and mix well. Sprinkle the yeast into it and mix well.
- Whisk to combine the salt, milk powder and flour and add in batches to the liquid ingredients. Combine and then knead with the machine for 5 minutes. This dough is quite sticky
- Pour remaining 50 g (1/4 cup) olive oil into a clean bowl and turn the dough into it. Roll the dough around in the olive oil to coat, cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm dark place for 1 hour.
- Pre heat oven to 190° C (375° F). Turn the dough out onto the baking sheet and with your fingers, press dough evenly to create a rectangle about 28 cm x 36 cm (11″ x 14″).
- Gently press the sliced dates, pomegranate seeds and rosemary into the dough, making sure they are spread evenly. Drizzle the olive oil remaining in proofing bowl over the raw dough. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature is 43°C (190° F).
- Cool slightly and cut into portions. Serve warm with your best extra virgin olive oil and pomegranate syrup or Ice Wine Syrup..

