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Fig, Brie and Caramelised Onion Focaccia

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The very first time I had this particular combination focaccia was at Whole Foods in Boulder when I was running errands one day. The Whole Foods on Pearl St in Boulder is a thing of beauty. It is one of their bigger stores with a huge food court and bakery.

Shopping at this store, you are inevitably going to get hungry and want to nibble on something; it’s impossible to resist. There is every kind of food stall in their food court and you can get disoriented going round and round because of your inability to decide between pizza, sushi, Indian, Mexican and so on.

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My choice was made a little easier because I just wanted a snack and as I wandered around the food court, I found myself at the bakery. Whole Foods’ bakery is pretty awesome, just incase you haven’t tried them before. For a grocery chain bakery, they do a great job cranking out artisanal breads that are free of the undesired preservatives and conditioners.

Right as I was walking up to see what they had as a snack type bite, the guy behind the bakery counter was putting out a tray of this Fig, Brie and Caramelised Onion Focaccia. At the time I had no clue what was on it, only that it looked amazing, all ooey and gooey. Upon further interrogation, I found out what it was and requested a nice snack size portion to take with me.

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I made a couple of mistakes here when I dove into this delicious bread; not enough napkins and eating it in my car. Since I still had errands to run, I gobbled this up in my car, or tried to. The olive oil from the caramelised onions ran down my chin, my arms and dripped all over my pants. It was so insanely good though. The sweet from the fig preserves and the onions against the saltiness of the Brie with the golden crunch of the focaccia is perfect harmony.

Unfortunately, this focaccia is only available at the bigger stores with the larger bakeries. Since we live in Colorado, there’s a Whole Foods at every corner! Even though the Boulder store is only a few minutes from me, I will cross two other Whole Foods to get to that one. It just seems silly.

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I decided to just recreate this deliciousness at home because it’s really quite simple and much cheaper.

The true way to make focaccia is to use the biga or starter method. This is the way you get the perfectly airy and chewy inside and the crispy outside. It does take time and you do have to plan ahead. Great thing is, it can also be low maintenance because you can stick it in the fridge for slow rises and deal with it when you have time. Between the short days where we lose light to photograph and my hectic kids schedule, I think it took four days for me to make this! The dough sat happily in the fridge till I was ready for it.

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However, if you’re not worried about light for photography, then it will take you a few minutes one afternoon and then a few hours the next day. It can be ready for dinner, but if you want it for breakfast or brunch, you might have to give yourself an extra day and maybe park it in the fridge for the rises. You need to let the starters rest for 14 hours and then the actual focaccia dough has 2 short initial rises and then one last rise that takes 3 hours or so. So, plan accordingly!

Is it worth the trouble? Like I said, it’s low maintenance and if you’re not on a time crunch, yes it’s definitely worth the time and trouble. You will be rewarded with some amazingly airy, chewy and crunchy focaccia. You can use this base focaccia to create your own versions with fresh fruit or cheese and tomatoes. This focaccia dough recipe is adapted a little bit from the one I found at King Arthur Flour.

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Fig, Brie and Caramelised Onion Focaccia

Prep time: 

Cook time: 

Total time: 

Serving size: 10

Calories: 450

Fat: 20g

Crispy, golden focaccia topped with sweet fig preserves, golden caramelised onions and creamy Brie cheese.
Ingredients
Focaccia
  • 2 large onions, sliced thinly
  • ¼ cup/60ml olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
  • 12 oz jar good quality fig preserves
  • Brie, small wheel, thickly sliced
  • a 2-3 sprigs of thyme or 1 rosemary, optional
  • Focaccia dough
Starter
  • ½ cup/118ml cool water
  • 1/16 teaspoon instant yeast or 1/16 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 cup/150g all purpose/plain flour
Dough
  • all of the starter
  • ¼cup/60ml lukewarm water
  • ¼ cup/60ml milk, warm
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast or 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2 cups/300gall purpose/plain flour
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons, olive oil
Instructions
  1. Caramelise the onions by heating the oil and butter in a large heavy sauté pan on medium heat.
  2. Add the sliced onions and stir to coat with the oil and butter.
  3. Decrease the heat to medium low and cook the onions until soft and gold.
  4. This will take some time.
  5. Stir occasionally to make sure onions are browning uniformly and not burning.
  6. Add the sprigs of rosemary or thyme, if using.
  7. It took me about 30-35 minutes to caramelise the onions.
  8. I cooked them a day ahead and refrigerated them and warmed them up a little before using.
To make the starter
  1. Mix the water and yeast, then add the flour, stirring till the flour is incorporated.
  2. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; the starter will be bubbly.
To make the dough
  1. Combine the starter, water, milk and yeast. Stirring to combine.
  2. Add the remaining dough ingredients, and mix and knead into a soft dough.
  3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 hour.
  4. Gently deflate it, and allow it to rise for another hour; it should have doubled in size from its original volume.
  5. Lightly grease an 18" x 13" rimmed baking sheet (or two 9" x 13" pans) with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Drizzle olive oil atop the spray; the spray keeps the bread from sticking, while the olive oil gives the bottom crust great crunch.
  6. If you’re using the baking sheet, gently pull and shape the dough into a rough rectangle, and pat it into the pan.
  7. As soon as it begins to fight you and shrink back, stop patting.
  8. Let it rest a few minutes and shape it into the corners of the pan.
  9. Divide the dough in half if you're using smaller pans.
  10. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rise for 2 to 3 hours, till it’s very puffy, almost billowy.
  11. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400°F.
  12. Gently dimple the dough at irregular intervals with your fingers, pressing down firmly but not harshly, you don’t want to deflate it too much.
  13. Spritz heavily with warm water, and drizzle with olive oil from the caramelised onions.
  14. Bake the focaccia for about 15 minutes.
  15. Remove from the oven and spread the top with the fig preserve, add the caramelised onions and place the Brie slices over the top.
  16. Return to the oven until the Brie is melted and bubbling, another 10 minutes.
  17. Allow to cool a little before cutting and serving.
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Well, the big game is tomorrow and Denver is psyched! We are hoping for an orange win because I think we deserve it! Nothing special on the food front, though I’m making it a bit special because it is our team playing.

I hope those of you who watch The Super Bowl have your desired outcome, though I hope you’re all rooting for The Broncos! Have a great Super Bowl Sunday! Go Broncos!


Comments

  1. Oh wow, this looks like my kind of snack! Yum!! I understand the Boulder WF dilemma! I am sure you already know but just in case, the Boulder WF sales $3 bottles of wine. It is nothing fancy, of course, but they are fun to stock up on to have around the house for a cheap addition to your meal 🙂
    Lilly Sue recently posted..Top Favorites for Denver Restaurant WeekMy Profile

  5. What an excellent vision I have of you enjoying this is the car 🙂 This looks totally delicious, and I’d probably eat that whole tray.

  7. That is some awesome looking focaccia Nazneen. Looks beautiful and would’ve tasted good.
    I have not used brie like this ever, I am quite interested in making this.
    The lighting and routine with kids, I so hear you. Hubster is travelling, between the teen giving his tests for highschool and the little one keeping me very busy, I haven’t gotten a chance to work on my post in a week.
    Ash-foodfashionparty recently posted..SAVORY WHOLE GRAIN WAFFLESMy Profile

  12. OH MY GOD!!!
    Are you kidding me, this would be so LUSH!!!
    I can’t imagine just how good it would be, so many delicious flavours!
    I am pinning this now, I wish I were cooking it today 🙁 …maybe a trip to the store is in order 🙂
    GourmetGetaways recently posted..Wharf Rd Restaurant & BarMy Profile

  17. Dear Nazneen, you know what is quite wonderful – every time I come here for a visit to your lovely blog and look at your pictures and recipes, I think that you are preparing exactly the kind of food/baked goods that I so enjoy. I adore this recipe with the caramelized onions, figs and brie – all so delicious but even better when put together in this mouth-watering recipe of yours! And all your pictures are “formidable”!
    Have a wonderful Superball tonight! Will keep my fingers crossed for your favorite team!
    TheKitchenLioness recently posted..French Fridays with Dorie – Paris-BrestMy Profile

  18. Yeah, Whole Foods is awesome! We have a couple in London now. They always have lovely goodies. Speaking of goodies… wow! That is some beautiful foccacia. That melty brie looks sooooooooooooo yummy!
    *kisses* H

  22. Nazneen – this sounds incredible! I am got sure if our Hole Foods has a bakery big enough to carry this, but I will ask. And it is time for me to make focaccia at home, too. I have never done it and your explanation makes it so reasonable. Funny coincidence – I caramelized 6 onions yesterday to make Pissaladière for lunch today! I tried a new method where they finish the caramelization in the oven. It worked pretty well! Good luck today! Not a huge sports fan (is this the round ball or the pointy ball?) but I totally get how important this is to fans! So, for you… “GO BRONCOS!!!!” ~ David
    David recently posted..The Kindness of StrangersMy Profile

  23. Hi Nazneen. I actually knocked up a focaccia yesterday. It took me an hour and a half! How come, well I found a great thread on these one day. As it’s a very wet dough, too wet to handle, it will stretch perfectly well on its own. Here’s what I do.

    500g Plain Flour
    2 Packets(14g) Fast action dried yeast
    10g salt
    2 Tbsp Oil
    450ml water.

    Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add first 400ml of water, beat as hard as you can with a wooden stick to combine. It should be loose enough to do this, but also look too wet to handle but not watery. If not add another 50ml of water.

    Set aside as normal to prove for an hour. After this, heat the oven to 180c Fan. Carefully place dough on an oiled baking tray. Don’t knock it back. Flour finger tips and prod the dough to make some holes. Then sprinkle another teaspoon or two of salt and rosemary.

    Bake for 30-35 mins. I’m trying to attach a photo but it won’t let me. I’ll send it to your email address.
    David Crichton recently posted..Tomahawk Steak with a Tarragon Salsa Verde.My Profile

  26. This looks and sounds amazing, Nazneen! That combination of toppings must be so good and I bet your homemade version is even better than the Whole Foods original. : ) I do know what you mean about Whole Foods – I have been inspired there myself and I often stop by their salad bars and look at the prepared food for inspiration. I love their salads and the combinations they put together. Enjoy the Super Bowl!!
    Monica recently posted..Palmiers with orange zest (and a little dark chocolate)My Profile

  27. Sounds delicious! Nazneen, the next time you go to the Boulder store, say hello to Mia in pizza or prepared foods.
    She has a thick ponytail and a sweet face and is very personable. She loves her job. Maybe you have met her. SHE’S MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER and I am very proud of her.

  29. Oh my God..I made a beetroot focaccia yesterday:-) I can see how much fun we would be having if we lived in the same city. This one has such a fantastic combination and looks out of the world. No wonder it caught your eye (i.e if it looked like this one). It will be over in seconds in my house. Yummm!
    Hope you have a great time tomorrow!
    Sugar et al recently posted..Bouillabaisse- French Seafood SoupMy Profile

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