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Cranberry Focaccia is super easy and mostly hands off.  It’s topped with roasted cranberries and shallots and perfect dipped in olive.

Focaccia is one of those breads I think anyone can make.  I say that because I’m not the best of bread bakers.  One day, I will make great bread, but it’s not today.  Yes, I realize that’s not the best way to start to post about making bread.  

But hear me out on this one.  Focaccia really is one of those breads that I think everyone can make.  There’s not a ton of kneading.  It’s simple ingredients that doesn’t require tons or prep work like making a sourdough starter or a polish.  Yes, I have baked a bread that calls for a polish.  And what’s the other one?  Biga I think it is?  Anyway, this bread doesn’t require that amount of effort.

 

In fact, the less you handle it, the better it is.

The longer you knead dough, the more gluten forms. At least I think that’s how it works. And while that’s great for some bread recipes, it’s not so great for those recipes that should have a large crumb, or lots of holes in the middle. Ciabatta is another recipe that you want to stay mostly hands off. I know, because I used to LOVE making it.

Those both have epically large crumb. And both are mostly hands off after the initial blending and kneading. The kneading in this focaccia is just a minute but it’s long enough to bring everything together. Just long enough to form the gluten, but not too long that you lose that tender large crumb inside the focaccia.

If you don’t have a dough scraper, I HIGHLY recommend getting one.

They’re not the same as a bench scraper. It’s usually pliable and made of plastic. It’s the best thing to get all the dough out of the mixing bowl. Yes, there’s rubber spatulas, but they’re not quite stiff enough to really get all that dough out of the bowl. Trust me on this one.

My stepfather apparently makes killer focaccia. I’ve never tried it. He’s never made it when we came to visit. And, knowing that my mother doesn’t actually read my posts, I’m sure that will remain true. She’ll read an obscure comment I made about paying for something on a game but not my blog posts. Go figure!

My mother is a whole other post entirely! She has been acting wacky as all get out lately. My sister and I can’t quite figure out what the deal is with her. She’s lost all this weight. Yay for her. It only took her about 60 years to get to her ideal weight. Good on her for doing it.

I just have scarred memories of the rice and fruit diet and being forced to sit in on the weight loss meetings where people complain they’re not losing weight. Well maybe you should be honest and track everything that passes your lips. I know what I need to do. My self-control is just gone on a binge lately. I’ll get back to it when life calms down. IF life calms down.  But being fat shamed by my mother isn’t going to help.

Okay, back to bread. Sorry for the real-life snippet there. Sometimes I just need to get some things off my chest. It’s not like I can really say that crap to my mother.

So, for someone who is not great at baking bread this focaccia came out pretty good. It was crispy on the outside and nice and airy on the inside. The crumb was very tender and soaked up so much olive oil. It was perfectly delicious. The shallots on top combined with the cranberries make for a very festive bread .

I had the biggest laugh when I went to take these pictures. Actually, the laugh came a few days after I took these pictures. I knew somewhere in the kitchen was a garlic grater that you used to, obviously, grate garlic. Then you pour olive oil over top and sprinkle with herbs, spices, and crushed red pepper to use as a dipping bowl. I searched high and low for that little ceramic piece of wonder and for the life of me could not find it. So, I grabbed this white plate which is very pretty. But not what I was looking for.

Fast forward a few days and – actually I think it was Tuesday – I grabbed the butter that I keep on the counter for buttering my ciabatta bun. And I stopped and laughed. Because sitting in front of me underneath the butter was that garlic grater that I was looking for. I knew it was in this kitchen somewhere I just couldn’t find it that day.

 

You see what I mean?

Those cranberries sitting on top along with those shallots just make this cranberry focaccia completely festive. And it makes it completely delicious.

But I will warn you, my cranberries were super tart. I mean SUPER tart. So please taste yours and you might want to adjust the recipe a little bit and maybe use some frozen cranberries. I think the frozen ones are not as tart as the fresh ones that I got. Just warning you.

Tuesday Cranberry Recipes

• Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Cranberries by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cranberry Baked Brie by Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog
• Cranberry Focaccia by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Cranberry Ginger Tea by Magical Ingredients
• Cranberry Moscow Mule by Our Crafty Cocktails
• Cranberry Pecan Sourdough Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Sausage Balls by Palatable Pastime
• Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Turkey, Cranberry Grilled Cheese by Our Good Life