Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia #BreadBakers

A little bit sweet and a whole lot savory, this Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia makes a great brunch, lunch or snack with drinks. 

A while back we had a friend visiting for a few days and I knew we’d be out and about showing her the sights of this beautiful island. I wanted to prepare something that could be made ahead then baked when we got home. 

This sourdough focaccia is perfect for that. It can have its last rise in the refrigerator and is very forgiving if you leave it a little longer before baking. 

Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia

Start at least one day ahead of when you want to bake this to allow for overnight proofing. This recipe was inspired by one on the Good Food website. I’ve since made this three times and it never fails to please!

Ingredients

For the base: 

1 cup or 240ml water

1 oz or 28g bubbly active starter

2 2/3 cups or 332g strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the topping:

2 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 purple onion

2 garlic cloves

4-5 fresh figs,

3 1/2 oz or 100g serrano ham slices

2 1/2 oz or 70g feta

flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

freshly ground black pepper

Method

In your mixing bowl, mix the starter with the water. Stir the starter and water loosely together just to lift the starter off the bottom of the bowl.

Next, add the 332g of strong white bread flour to the bowl, and the 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Mix it all together loosely, so that it’s pretty ragged but all the flour and water is mixed; I use a Danish whisk for this first rough mix but you can use your hands, if you prefer. I follow this up using a bowl scraper to clean round the bowl and make sure it is all nicely roughly mixed together.

Cover the bowl with a shower cap or cling film, and leave it for an hour or so on the kitchen counter. 

After an hour, remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it about 20-25 times maximum, until it is a smooth ball.

Please note: you will only need to perform this many pulls and folds on this first occasion; after this, far fewer pulls and folds will be required to pull the dough into a ball before covering and leaving it again. You do NOT need to perform 20-25 each time. At this point the dough will be at its stickiest, from this point it will become less sticky with each handling.

Cover the bowl again with your same cover, and leave it out on the kitchen counter.

Over the next few hours, perform sets of the pulls and folds/lifting and folding actions 2 to 4 more times; these do not need to be done at fixed time periods apart, as long as you fit in sufficient sets during that time, that’s the key. Aim for 4 sets in total. The dough will not be starting to grow at this stage.

Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that is the dough telling you it has had enough handling at that stage.

Complete the final set, pulling the dough into a nice firm ball, then re-cover the bowl, and leave it on the counter overnight. This is often called the “bulk fermentation” period.

The ideal temperature for this is between 64°F- 68°F or 18°C – 20°C for 8-10 hours. If it is a lot colder than this, it will take longer, just give it a few more hours. 

The next morning, the dough should have really grown within the bowl, to at least double, with a smoothish, slightly domed surface. There should be a nice structure to the dough, it does not need to be bubbly, just grown. 

Prepare a large baking tray by lining it with parchment. 

Using a bowl scraper or your hands, gently ease the bubbly risen dough from the bowl and let it fall onto the parchment. Gently stretch it out. 

Pour over about half of the olive oil. Cover loosely and leave it on the counter to prove again for 1 1/2 – 2 hours. If you won’t be home to bake then, you can pop the dough in the refrigerator for a longer rise time. 

When you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. 

Slice the onion as thinly as possible. Remove the stems and quarter the figs. Crumble the feta and mince the garlic. Pick the thyme leaves off the stems. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Tear the ham into bits. 

Use your finger tips to firmly press dimples all over the dough. Toss the thyme leaves, onion, garlic, figs, ham and feta with one tablespoon olive oil, then scatter these over the top. 

Use your fingers to press the toppings into the bread a little, and spread the bread to fill any gaps. 

Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 20 minutes more until it has puffed up.

Drizzle over the remaining oil, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, and bake for 30 mins until risen, golden and crisp on top. 

Leave to cool in the pan for 15 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut into rectangles to serve. Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which means it’s the day my fellow Bread Bakers and I share our recipes, this time for sourdough bread. Many thanks to our host Radha of Magical Ingredientst.

• Food Lust People Love: Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia
• Sneha's Recipe: Quick Sourdough Discard Burger Buns
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Seeded Bread with Tangzhong
• A Messy Kitchen : Hot Honey Sourdough 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sourdough Multi-Grain Bread
• Zesty South Indian Kitchen: Sourdough Jewish Rye Bread

 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia!

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Tattie Scones #BreadBakers

A traditional part of a full Scottish breakfast, savory tattie scones are easy to make and even easier to eat, dipped in sunny-side-up egg yolks.

We have very good friends who are from and live in Scotland so we get there to visit as often as we can. Breakfast out at a café means ordering a “full Scottish” which includes not only tattie scones but a slice of black pudding, two eggs, bacon (usually middle bacon, not streaky), a square patty called lorne sausage, grilled tomato and mushroom, baked beans and fried bread or toast.

One of those big plates will set you up for the day, not just the morning! I must confess that sometimes I bring a little baggie in my purse because I cannot eat it all and will save the bacon and/or sausage for later. 

Tattie Scones

This recipe is easily doubled or trebled if you need more tattie scones. Just cook the circles of dough one at a time and if you aren’t frying them again to serve, keep them warm in a slow oven, wrapped in foil. I used one large baking potato for this. If you have smaller ones, try to choose ones that will give you the approximate weight below. Do not peel!

Ingredients

For the dough:

10 1/2 oz or 300g floury potatoes, unpeeled

2 tablespoons or 28g butter

63g plain flour, plus extra to dust

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch fine sea salt 

For optional frying:

2 teaspoons butter

Method

Put the potato in a pan, cover with water, salt generously and bring to the boil. Simmer until cooked through, then drain well on a cutting board. Peel off the skin as soon as you can handle it. Leaving the skin on keeps the potato from being waterlogged which helps make it fluffier.

If you have a potato ricer, push the peeled potato through it then add the butter and stir gently to incorporate the butter as it melts. If not, add the butter and mash with a potato masher. 

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the potatoes and mix well to form a thick dough. 

It may look like it’s not going to hang together but if you take up a small handful and squeeze it, you’ll see that it will. 

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 in or 5mm thick. You can cut around a plate to shape it into a circle but I hate to waste dough so I just push the sides in a little to make them less uneven. It’s a rustic look but that doesn’t bother me. Don’t let it bother you. 

Dust lightly with flour and prick all over with a fork. I completely forgot the fork pricking so I did it when I had just transferred the tattie scone to the pan. 

Heat the remaining butter in a griddle or large heavy based frying pan over a medium-high heat.  

Fry the dough circle until golden on both sides (about 5-6 minutes). 

Cut into triangles and serve immediately, or cool in a tea towel for later.

Several recipes I found said to let the tattie scones cool then fry them again in more butter for serving. Since I made them one afternoon, I did that the next morning for breakfast with some bacon and eggs. 

I highly recommend doing this. The double frying is worth the time and effort.

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share recipes for our chosen theme of scones. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu. Check out the links below. 

• Filled Ginger Scones from A Messy Kitchen
• Fresh Peach Scones from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Gingerbread Scones from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Irish Scones from Cook with Renu
• Onion Cheese Scones from Sneha's Recipe
• Preserved Lemon Scones from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tattie Scones from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Tattie Scones! 

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Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread #BreadBakers

A slightly sweet tender loaf, this steamed cranberry pecan honey bread is wonderful sliced, even better toasted, buttered or not. We loved it all the ways! 

When this month’s Bread Baker’s host proposed “steamed breads” as our theme for July, I thought, excellent! No turning the oven on when it’s roasting outside. 

Gently steaming something on the stovetop sounded ideal.

A lot of the recipes I found online were either Asian in origin, or called for steaming in a coffee can. It just so happens that I have a couple of coffee cans saved for exactly such an occasion. Just not where I currently am! And rare is the coffee that comes in a can these days. 

Time to adapt. You can steam this in a well-oiled 1 lb coffee can or use a small loaf pan like I have. Mine is 8 1/2 X 4 1/4 in or 21.6 x 10.8cm. 

Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread

You can easily switch out the cranberries and pecans for other dried fruits and nuts. This very versatile recipe is adapted from one on Mother Earth News. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup or 95g fine yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup or 83g all-purpose flour

1/3 cup or 40g whole wheat flour

1/3 cup or 25g bran flakes, slightly crushed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml honey

1/3 cup or 55g dried cranberries, plus extra for topping, if desired

1/3 cup or 40g chopped pecans, plus extra for topping, if desired

Canola or other light oil for greasing the loaf pan

Method

Combine the cornmeal, the flours, the bran flakes, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. 

Give the cranberries and pecans a quick splash of water and stir them well to dampen. 

Toss them in the dry mixture to coat. This should help them not all sink to the bottom as the loaf steams. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and honey. Keep whisking until the honey is completely dissolved. 

Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Top with extra cranberries and pecans, if using. 

Then cover the pan with foil, set it on a steamer basket or metal cookie cutters inside a large pot with just enough water in the pot to submerge the bottom the pan.

Bring the water to a boil. 

Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for two hours. Check the pot now and then to make sure that all the water isn’t boiling away. Add a little hot tap water as needed.

At the end of the steaming period, remove the pan from the pot and carefully remove the foil. 

When it’s cool enough to handle–run a knife around the inside and turn the loaf out gently onto a wire rack to cool. 

When completely cool, slice to serve.

The sliced bread is delicious spread with cream cheese, butter or just plain!

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month – kind of snuck up on me this month since July 1st was a Tuesday! – and that means it’s time for our Bread Bakers group to share their recipes for steamed breads. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below 

• Bao Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Dessert Bao (Chocolate Steamed Buns) from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Chinese Steamed Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Paczki na Parze (Polish Steamed Donuts) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Buns {Sheng Jian Bao) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread! 

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Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes

Also known as dangela, these Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes are made with dhokla flour: a mix of rice, chickpeas, pigeon peas and lentils. The fermented yogurt batter is traditionally cooked on a tawa or griddle.

I first read about these wonderful savory pancakes on my friend Mayuri’s blog, Mayuri’s Jikoni. I had never heard of dhokla flour but I am often looking for ways to up our protein intake and a flour containing legumes sounded like an easy, tasty way of doing that. 

Fortunately, my favorite Indian market in Houston, Subhlaxmi Grocers, carries it! There are a lot of recipes online that start from scratch, grinding the various ingredients to make the flour first so, if you are so inclined, you can certainly make it yourself. Mayuri says the ratio to use is 2 parts rice, 1 part split chickpea (chana dal) and 1/4 part urad dal (split black gram aka white lentils.)

Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes

The batter requires time to ferment so start this recipe in the morning to make the pancakes in the afternoon or evening. Or start in the evening and leave it to ferment overnight. The weight of the vegetables given below is what I used. You can add more or less, according to your taste. You can find the original recipe with Mayuri’s notes here. If you can't find ajwain seeds, Google offers this advice: Ajwain seeds have a distinctive flavor that is similar to thyme and cumin. When a substitute is needed, thyme, caraway seeds, or a combination of cumin and oregano can be used. 

Ingredients  

For fermenting the batter:

1 cup or 220g dhokla flour

1/4 cup or 60ml warm water

1/4 cup or 61g plain yogurt

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

For adding to the fermented batter:

1 medium (about 5 0z or 142g) zucchini

1 medium (about 2 1/2 oz or 71g) carrot

2 good handfuls (about 1 2/3 oz or 47g) fresh baby leaf spinach

1/4 medium onion

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon ajwain seeds

1/4 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne

1 small knob ginger, grated on a microplane

2 small green chili peppers, finely minced

For the tarka, to further season the batter:

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

generous pinch asafetida

1- 2 tablespoons water, for rinsing the tarka pan

For cooking the savory pancakes aka dangela:

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Canola or other light oil

3-4 teaspoons sesame seeds for topping

Method

Measure the flour into a large bowl that will fit the rest of your batter ingredients later. Add the warm water, yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds to the flour.

Mix well. Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight.

If the weather is warm, the bowl can be kept on the kitchen countertop. If the weather is cold, put the bowl in your oven (with a pilot light, if it’s gas) or turn just the light bulb on. 

During the fermentation time, finely grate your zucchini and carrot. Leave both to drain on paper towels to get rid of some of the excess liquid. 

Pinch the stems off of the spinach leaves and discard.

 

Chop the leaves.

Then mince the onion.

When the fermentation time is up, add grated carrot, grated zucchini, chopped onion and spinach to the batter. Mix thoroughly.

Add the salt, sugar, turmeric powder, garam masala and cayenne pepper. Mix again to combine.

Grate the ginger and mince the green chili peppers. 

Add them to the batter. Rub the ajwain between your palms and add it to the batter. Mix the batter well.

If it appears a bit dry then add normal tap water, little at a time. I found that the more I stirred, the wetter it got, no doubt courtesy of the chopped spinach, so I didn't add any water. You want a batter thick enough to be spooned into a pan but one that will spread out a little of its own accord, perhaps with a little help from your spoon.

Finally, we’ll make the tarka to finish seasoning the batter by lightly frying the tarka ingredients in a little oil. Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pan over low to medium heat. Add the fenugreek seeds. When they begin to sizzle add the mustard and cumin seeds.

Add the pinch of asafetida. 

Give the tarka a quick stir then immediately pour it into the batter.

Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the hot pan. Give it a swirl and add the water to the batter. Stir well.

I almost missed this step! When you are ready to make the dangela, add the baking powder to the batter and give it another good stir. Now you are ready to cook! 

This will make four nice thick pancakes so I eyeballed the batter in the bowl and scored the top in an effort to make them come out relatively even. 

Wipe out your tarka frying pan then heat it over medium heat.

Drizzle in some oil. Add about one-quarter of the batter to your pan and give it a little shake and use your spoon to spread it out into an even circle. 

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds over the top of the batter.

Drizzle a little more oil around the pancake.

Leave it to cook for about 3-4 minutes over low heat or until it seems set enough to turn.

Carefully turn it over with a big spatula.

Drizzle a little more oil around the dangela and cook until it is golden on the other side. Put it in a low oven in foil to keep warm while you cook the other three. 

Repeat the process until you have four savory pancakes to enjoy. My husband and I ate the first two as snacks with mint chutney. 

Then the next morning, we enjoyed the last two, warmed, with a fried egg each on top. Lovely snack and lovely breakfast. Highly recommend either way! 

It’s already the second Tuesday of the month – how is it June?! – so that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to share their recipes for this month’s theme: Indian breads. Many thanks to our host, Renu from Cook with Renu. Check out the links below. 

• Butter Naan from Passion Kneaded
• Cheese and Garlic Naan from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Gulachi Sanjyachya Polya with Whole Wheat Flour from Sneha's Recipe
• "Instant" Appam from A Messy Kitchen
• Khamiri Roti from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Litti Chokha from Cook with Renu
• Magical Avocado Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes!

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