Pumpkin focaccia
Having bought two pumpkins at the farmers market on saturday, of which we used only half for this lovely stew, I had to ofcourse come up with other things to make! Luckily Jo from Foodjunkie (she has fabulous recipes at her blog, so you should really check it out!) came to the rescue with her recipe for pumpkin focaccia which used quite some pumpkin and makes a major focaccia…
Charlotte
I had a lot to cook yesterday as Charlotte was coming to dinner (yes, yes, I told you I would mention it!! 
) and she reads my blog too, so I better be careful what I say… lol.. and I thought that the focaccia would be perfect for dinner. The recipe is quite easy to follow and because I loved the ingredients I followed it pretty much except for the addition of pecannuts where Jo has used walnuts. No walnuts to be found in the supermarket yesterday. And then thinking it is actually walnut season.. Go to the market and you can find them everywhere! But noooo, not in Almere. I think I need to move if only for the sake of finding ingredients that I need.
Since I also bought a new panini toaster yesterday as well, I am sure that the rest of the bread will be put to good use very soon!
As for the rest of the dinner; the starter was good (a little chanterelle pie with blue cheese and pecorino in puff pastry), the main was a bit disappointing (can’t tell you more about that until a much later date though!) and I didn’t make dessert (what??!! No dessert?) I did tell Charlotte she would be the guinea pig, so she was forewarned that we might have to go and visit the local snackbar if it all failed. That was not necessary thankfully, but I gotta figure out a way to improve on the main we had… More to follow on that… (I am building up the suspense here..)
Fresh walnuts we did not buy at the farmers market
Back to the focaccia; as you can see the bread turned out quite yellow, which is thanks to my pumpkin. I would maybe add a little bit more cheese next time, but then only if I know Tom is not eating it and I know he will eat this.
Here is the recipe!
(based on a recipe by myrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS for a large focaccia (30 x 35 cm)
Dough rising
30g brown sugar
1 package dry yeast (8g)
500g strong (bread) flour
45g butter, melted
500g fresh pumpkin or butternut squash (for 220g cooked pumpkin)
1 tsp salt
1/4/ tsp ground nutmeg
50g grated Gruyere or other hard cheese
60g chopped pecannuts or walnuts
2. Clean the pumpkin from seeds and cut into large chunks, skin on. The skin is easier to remove once the pieces are cooked.In a bowl toss the pumpkin with olive oil, salt and pepper until all pieces are covered. Place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or silicone mat and roast until tender and slightly browned, 30-40 minutes. The pieces need some space around them, otherwise they will boil, not roast. If your tray cannot hold them all together roast them in two batches. Let pieces cool down and remove the skins.
Combine water, yeast and sugar in a rage bowl. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Add 135g (1 cup ) flour and the melted butter to the yeast mixture and mix until it has been incorporated. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 oC and bake for 30 minutes or until the focaccia is browned on top and the cheese has melted. You might need to cover it with foil half way through so that it will not burn. Cool on a wire rack, slice and enjoy!
Gizmo wondering what I am doing... dough rising in the background
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
MMMMMMMMMMMMM,…the foccacio looks scrumptious!!
Beautiful pictures too!! Lovely!
Oh Gosh this is amazing, I have never thought of this!!!
YOU MADE IT! I baked another one today as I prepared a pumpkin dish and had left over roast pumpkin. I’d like more cheese in it too, but I prefer to add it later in the sandwich
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Mmmmm…this is so perfect Simone…Love the pumpkin!
This is so creative, I just love it! And Gizmo looks exactly like my cat~Whiskie
What a unique recipe, great for autumn days. You photo’s and blog are beautiful!
Your focaccia looks great! The gruyere and pecans sound fantastic in this.
Yet another innovative use of pumpkin!
This sounds(and looks) SO GOOD!!! I’ve got to try it before fall ends! Thanks for sharing!
Hey, I used to have a cat called Gizmo a few years ago! He was a Siamese.
Thank you for visitng my blog, which gave me an oportunity to come and visit your beautiful blog.
The focaccia sounds great! I never made one and just bought a squash yesterday. I’ll give this a try.
Gizmo is half Siamese!! I will let you know once I post the little mushroom pie!
Oh, and let me know wehen/if you post the recipe for chanterelle pie with blue cheese and pecorino in puff pastry? It sounds sooo good.
I need to start cooking with pumpkin pretty soon. I am seeing all these lovely recipes and I can smell them in my mind. I just love pumpkin. Great recipe!
Pumpkin focaccia, looks terrific…pumpkins everywhere and I still haven’t started to use them
Simone, what a great idea to put pumpkin in the focaccia. I would love to try this one day – and by the way, as usual, your pics are gorgeous!
Wow pumpkin in focaccia, gorgeous! Gives it really nice colour.
Pumpkin foccacia?! Who knew! Sounds really good.
When I come here, I just drink in your pictures & get intoxicated. what a beautiful color! ( I see the tomato basil pasta at the header which you had mentioned. )
Cute cat! Not to mention the focaccia – Yum!!
What an unusual and delicious recipe! I am definitely trying it out when I get leftover from my second pumpkin!
This is such a unique focaccia! It sounds really delicious with all those Fall flavors. Gizmo is so cute!
Great minds think alike, huh? Love your version, sounds like a great combination of flavors and textures.
Lekker beest die Gizmo!
En, ik krijg honger van je blog =’)
Haha… ja Gizmo is echt een schatje…
Gizmo is adorable! That bread looks great too:)
i think it’s need to be more moist.
It was really moist enough and quite perfect in structure. Maybe the photo just looks that way!
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