Pumpkin focaccia

Calling all those ripe pumpkins you’ve got on Halloween or Thanksgiving: it’s time to make some magic and turn them into... a pumpkin focaccia bread! This very simple recipe makes for a great appetizer, but serve it with a side of ham and broccoli and you’ll have a nice family meal. All you need is a little patience because, as all bread recipes, it requires a couple of hours of proofing. The good news is: your children won’t argue they don’t want to have their veggies, because all those good vitamins are just perfectly hidden in there. So, as my son would say: let’s make “orange bread”!

#pumpkinfocaccia #pumpkinrecipes #focacciabread #vegetarianmeals #veganrecipes #vegandinner

Ingredients

Dough

• 300 g water, room temperature

• 200 g cooked pumpkin (about 1/2 a small green pumpkin)

• 600 g strong bread flour

• 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

• 11 g active dry yeast

• 15 g table salt

Topping

• 1 tsp rock salt

• 1 branch rosemary

Method

1. Mash cooked pumpkin* with the help of a fork, then mix it with water and yeast and let this mixture rest for a couple of minutes;

2. Add in 300 g of flour, 1 Tbs of olive oil and keep on mixing while adding in more flour, little by little, until the dough comes together and forms a ball. This is very quick and easy if you have a food processor: it will require 5 minutes on medium speed. But you can totally work the dough with your hands too, it’s fun, you just need a little more patience, that will take about 10/15 minutes;

3. Grease a big bowl with a little oil. Place dough in the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rest at room temperature for about 2 hours (the dough is ready when it’s three times its original size);

4. Spray a cooking pan with olive oil or cover it with parchment paper, then use the tip of your fingers to spread focaccia dough on pan. Cover again and let rest for 30 more minutes or until the dough doubles in size;

5. Use your fingertips to gently draw some holes on your focaccia dough without going all the way down to the bottom. Then brush top with the remaining spoon of olive oil and top with rock salt and rosemary;

6. Bake at 190 C on the bottom rack of your oven for about 10 minutes, then move it to the middle rack for 20 more minutes and finally broil for 3/5 minutes or until top is golden.

*If you haven’t cooked your pumpkin: no worry! It’s very easy. Just cut it into quarters, scoop the seeds out, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and microwave on high for 6/8 minutes. Remove the skin and you are all done.