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.
Ingredients
Dough (see note 1)
- 300ml (1¼ cups) milk
- 1 egg
- 40g (1½ oz) Monterey Pepper Jack cheese (chopped into small pieces)
- 20g (1½ tbs) butter
- 420-470g (3½ - 4 cups) spelt flour (see note 2)
- 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 430g (3½ 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 very well-floured surface (the dough will be very sticky) work in just as much flour as you need to make a soft, pliable, but still a little tacky, dough.
Stand Mixer:
- Add the milk, egg, cheese and butter to your stand mixer bowl, and quickly mix together. If the butter is straight out of the fridge, it won't combine with the other wet ingredients too much, but that's okay.
- Add 470g (4 cups) flour and the remaining dough ingredients. The dough should be sticky, but if you need more flour, just add a little at a time. Be careful: too much flour will result in dry bread.
- Switch to a dough hook (if you have one) and allow the mixer to knead the dough for around 10 minutes, just until soft. The dough will still feel a little tacky to the touch, but will be able to slowly drop off the hook.
- Cover the dough and leave to proof (until it has doubled in size - usually about an hour).
- When the dough is ready, knock it back, and form 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 converted grams to cups/ounces/tablespoons using online converters. Although I have no reason to believe they are inaccurate, please be aware that I have not made this recipe with imperial measurements.
- 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.
