Pumpkin focaccia with gruyere and pecannuts

Simone (junglefrog) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:54:30 +0000

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!

Delicious Pumpkin, Gruyere and Walnut Focaccia (from Foodjunkie, not junkfood)
(based on a recipe by myrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS for a large focaccia (30 x 35 cm)

Dough rising

200ml warm water (30 oC)
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

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 200 oC.

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.

3. Puree in the blender or with a fork. You need 220g of pumpkin puree.
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.

4. Add the pumpkin puree, salt and nutmeg to the risen flour mixture and stir until well combined. Add 300g (2 and 1/4 cups) flour and half of the cheese. Stir to incorporate then lightly knead in the bowl adding the rest of the flour (70g) little by little until you get an elastic soft and slightly sticky dough. Make the dough into a ball and brush with olive oil all over. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubles in size. To check doneness press two fingers on the dough and if indentation remains the dough is ready.

5. Cover a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper and sprinkle some flour on it. Shape the focaccia into a rectangle using your hands (you might need to sprinkle some flour on it too) measuring approximately 30 x 35cm. Brush with some olive oil and sprinkle remaining cheese and walnuts on top pressing them lightly to adhere. Cover and let rise for 15-20 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

Junglefrog Cooking » pecannuts

Pumpkin focaccia with gruyere and pecannuts

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