Sweet Grape Focaccia

I saw this recipe first on Smitten Kitchen. Then in the River Cafe book. Then here, there and everywhere and I thought – well, if all of these fantastic chefs think that it’s worth making, then who am I to judge? So a while back, I made it. I served to my family and it was gone within a matter of minutes. Success. The thing about this foccacia is the warm soft, chunky bread, with the crispy top, the sweet – almost winely – taste of the grapes, the salt and the rosemary, seem to have been created for this very moment. It’s no wonder it has been written about 39847293847 times. My dad (The best Italian critic) loved it anyway. That’s all that matters right? So today my amazing baking buddy came to visit London and chat life, love and weddings. (She brought flowers. She’s awesome.) We havent seen each other in so long, but it really doesn’t seem to matter. We have the best time just chilling out and eating our body weight in bread. So I offered to make her this Grape Foccacia and we decided to make a (rather large) meal out of it. We’ve been to Italy a few times on holiday etc and we both love Italian food to death. We share the view that there is nothing better than a perfect slice of Parma Ham, that ice-cream should be mandatory and that focaccia is as essential as breathing. So this was perfect. As you can see, i’d recommend serving it with a delightful style Italian plethora of goodness. Parma-ham, olives, Bresola, Rocket, Buffalo Mozzarella, Salami, fresh tomatoes and anything else you can get your hands on. If you are serving this as a snack at a dinner party it would be gorgeous with a full glass of red wine. But as today was so warm we had ours with a chilled glass of cider and some gelato. Perfetto. Sweet Grape Focaccia (Makes 2 small focaccia’s or 1 large one.) Adapted from Smitten kitchen and the River Cafe Cookbook. Ingredients Needed: 2 1/2 cups of Strong White Bread Flour 2 tbsp of dried yeast Olive oil 2 tbsp milk 1 level tbsp salt 1 level tbsp sugar 3/4 cup of warm water Dark grapes Fresh Rosemary Method Put the warm water in a large mixing bowl and add the sugar, salt, milk and yeast. Mix it in with your fingers so you can feel when all the grains have dissolved. Then whisk with a fork until a foam has appeared on the surface. Add in the flour and mix by hand, it will be exteremly sticky but start to try and knead the dough. Add in 2 tbsp of olive oil and keep going until a ball shape appears. Add a sheen of olive oil to the top of the dough and then cover the mixing bowl with a cloth and leave to rise for two hours in a warm place. Once risen, divide the dough into two and place onto a greased baking tray, adding finger dimples or knife dents into the dough. Leave for a further 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7 and prepare your dough. Add the grapes to the top, pressing them in (but not too far that it makes a hole) add some more oil, sea salt flakes and the fresh rosemary. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Go sit outside, drink wine, eat this and pretend you’ve created your very own Little Britaly.