Monterey Pepper Jack Spelt Focaccia Bread (with Tomatoes and Rosemary)
Made with spelt flour and Monterey Pepper Jack cheese, this spelt focaccia bread recipe is studded with tomatoes and flavoured with rosemary. As always, the spelt flour can be replaced with all-purpose (regular flour), and there are instructions to make dough in either a bread machine or a stand mixer.
Baking an unauthentic focaccia bread
Firstly, a confession. This spelt focaccia bread is not authentic. Not at all.
There are many recipes out there featuring authentic focaccia, but this isn’t one of them. In fact, this version is nothing like how it should be. Authentic focaccia bread isn’t round, isn’t made in a skillet and it certainly isn’t meant to have pillow-y soft dough like this one does.
However, I don’t care much for following the rules. If we all followed the rules of baking, we would never create new recipes. However, I do care that people might think this is what you’d find on a traditional Italian table, because it isn’t.
So, you may be asking, why bother calling it focaccia bread at all? Well, because I pushed my thumb in to make the classic focaccia indentations, that’s why. Sounds like a fair reason to me.
While I am on with confessing, I have another admission. I don’t know anything about Monterey Jack. Other than it is delicious, that is. Mind you, what cheese isn’t? When Googling to find out more, it appears that it varies a bit – some are lighter in colour, whereas others are more orange. Some have peppers or chillies (Monterey Pepper Jack) like the one I used in this spelt focaccia recipe.
I picked up some in our local Lidl when it was Mexican week, and it is so incredibly spicy and flavourful, with a semi-hard consistency. My thought its amazing spicy bite would go so well with soft, doughy bread. Kerrching. I was right. Success!
My whole family loved my spelt focaccia bread. It was light, doughy, cheesy and spicy all in one mouthful. I used a fairly small skillet, but it was more than enough to feed a family of four (even when those four snaffled it down like there was no tomorrow). I hope you love it as much as we did!
Can I substitute Monterey Pepper Jack with another cheese?
Although the spicy hit of the cheese was a winner, you could substitute it with something else. Absolutely. A strong cheddar would taste amazing. Perhaps feta? You could even use mozzarella, but I think a stronger, tangier cheese would work best.
The dough for this spelt focaccia bread recipe can be prepared in a bread machine or stand mixer, but I am sure it can be adapted to make by hand (I just haven’t tried it personally). It makes an amazing side dish for pasta, barbecues and salads. You could even dip it into tzatziki or Greek yoghurt feta dip.
The recipe calls for dried yeast, what do you mean by that?
Here’s the thing: up until very recently, I didn’t know there was anything other than dried or fresh yeast. This doesn’t seem to be true in the US. I found this out after someone left a review for my ebook, Baking with Spelt. The reviewer was from the US and felt my book was poorly written. It’s all good. Each to their own, and all that. However, I was most perturbed by them stating that I hadn’t clarified which dried yeast to use in my recipes: baker’s, fast acting or active. Say what?
We only have one kind of dried yeast readily available here in Sweden. We add the dried yeast to warm liquid, allowing it to proof, but we also add the same dried yeast straight to flour. Wanting to get to the bottom of this (so that I can make sure my transatlantic readers have success with my recipes), I did a little research. According to Martha Stewart’s not at all poorly written article on the differences in dried yeasts, it appears my friendly reviewer isn’t quite as au fait with the terminology, either: the two dried yeasts are active dry and instant.
From what I can gather, the only real difference is that active dry yeast works a little slower. More importantly, instant and active dry yeast can be used interchangeably. Phew. As for baker’s yeast? Well, it seems that baker’s yeast is just an umbrella term for all yeasts used in baking.
I love creating recipes, and I get a huge amount of pleasure when people try them. However, it is so important to remember that I am in Europe. I do all I can to ensure I offer options and alternatives, but the simple fact is that oftentimes, we do things differently here.
Monterey Pepper Jack Spelt Focaccia Bread (with Tomatoes and Rosemary)
Ingredients
Dough (see note 1)
- 300ml (1¼ cups) milk
- 20g (1½ tbs) butter
- 1 egg
- 420-470g (3½ - 4 cups) spelt flour (see note 2)
- 40g (1½ oz) Monterey Pepper Jack cheese (chopped into small pieces)
- 7g (2¼ tsp) dried yeast (see note 3)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Topping:
- Approx. 100g (3½ oz) Monterey Pepper Jack (chopped into small pieces)
- a handful of cherry tomatoes (chopped)
- swig of olive oil
- sprinkling of rosemary
- sea salt
Instructions
Bread Machine:
- Add the milk, egg, cheese and butter to your bread machine pan.
- Then add 440g (3⅔ cups) of flour and the remaining dough ingredients. Take care to keep the yeast and salt separate as much as possible.
- Set your machine to make dough.
- On a well-floured surface (the dough will be sticky) work in just as much flour as you need to make a soft, pliable, but still a little tacky, dough.
Stand Mixer:
- Gently heat the milk in the microwave until just lukewarm (around 37–40°C / 100–105°F). Stir in the butter (it will soften nicely).
- Add the egg and cheese to your stand mixer bowl along with the milk mixture, and quickly mix together.
- Then add 420g (3½ cups) of flour along with the remaining ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Gradually add extra flour as needed one tablespoon at a time, allowing it to incorporate fully before adding more. You may not need the full amount stated, or you could need more. Be careful not to add too much, as this will make the bread dense.
- After a few minutes, the dough will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may notice your machine working a little harder (mine starts to make a clumping sound). The dough will still be sticky and will slip easily from the paddle.
- Using a spatula, scrape the dough from the paddle. Add a little more flour and continue kneading until the dough pulls completely away from the sides of the bowl and most of the bottom. It will no longer drip from the paddle but should come away easily when pulled. The dough should feel tacky, but not stick to your fingers.
- Cover the dough and leave it to proof in a warm place until it has doubled in size, usually 60–90 minutes.
- Knock back the dough on a lightly floured surface and form it into a rough ball.
Both methods:
- Grease a small skillet pan with olive oil and place the dough inside.
- Using your fingers, press and manipulate the dough until it has been smoothed out and covers the whole skillet. A good dough will fight you tooth and nail every inch of the way, so if it refuses to cooperate, it’s a great sign. I recommend doing the above, leaving for five minutes, then come back and repeat.
- Using your thumb, press indentations all over the top of your dough.
- Place tiny bits of cheese and tomato in the indentations. Again, a good dough will bounce back quickly, so just make sure everything is pushed into the bread (if your thumb is sticking, use a little flour on it to make the job easier).
- Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rest for a further 15 minutes or so.
- Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC (430ºF).
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the rosemary and sea salt.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for around 15-18 minutes. It will be ready when the top is very firm and nice and golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Slice then eat warm or cold with your favourite pasta dish or with a barbecue.
Notes
- I have made the dough using both a stand mixer and bread machine with identical results. I have not made the dough by hand, but I see no reason why you couldn't do so!
- You can use spelt or regular flour for this recipe (just use the same amount).
- In Sweden we have something called dried yeast. It is used both in warm liquid to proof and also added directly to flour. I am aware that the US has two options for dried yeast, and I believe instant yeast is the most similar for the purpose of making this particular bread.
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