It is cherry season in California. For a few short weeks in May or June fresh cherries appear at the Farmers’ Market in Berkeley. First there are Brooks, then Burlats. Later there are Bing cherries. I eat them all. Mostly, I eat them fresh, for a snack. Lately I have been sneaking them into my morning cereal: my current favorite concoction involves 1/3 cup blue cornmeal cooked in 1 cup of milk with a bit of salt, a small handful of raw almonds pounded in a mortar, a handful of stoned cherries and a couple teaspoons of shredded coconut. This is also good with rolled oats — if you use oats, use 1/2 cup.
Do any of you have binders full of recipes that you have clipped from the food sections of local newspapers? Do you have a lot of recipes you haven’t actually cooked? Me, too. Sometimes I try one and toss it out with a “What were they thinking?” gesture. Sometimes I learn something. Sometimes I just store them, loosely organized by main ingredient, in a huge binder that takes two hands to lift off the shelf, but I know they are there waiting for “someday” when I’ll cook them.
One such recipe was Ed Murrieta’s recipe for cherry focaccia. A Google search for the original publication date in the Contra Costa Times informed me that I have been saving this recipe since June 7, 2004. I saved it because it has an irresistible photo of a golden brown round focaccia, dimpled with cherries, cut into wedges, with a pile of fresh cherries in the center. It looks so pretty that I wanted to make it “someday.”
Well, folks, today was someday. I made a trip on the bus to the Farmers’ Market yesterday to buy more basil for more pesto and to buy cherries for this bread. Insert disclaimers here. One, I don’t generally like focaccia — it is too thick, too bland, with the wrong ratio of toppings to crust: I think of it as failed pizza. Two, I think chocolate-covered cherries are revolting. My Grandmother liked them: nasty, sickly cherries in too sweet milk chocolate. And cherry cordials, worse, if possible: bad chocolate filled with wet cherry filling that squirts you when you bite into it. Yuck. Three, my favorite cherry recipes involve sour cherries, either canned or dried, since fresh sour cherries are hard to come by in this part of the world. Four, I can’t stand anything cherry-flavored: cherry flavor reminds me of medicine. This includes cherry Starbursts (why, oh why?). The only exception I can think of is Royal Crown Sour Cherry candy — do they still make it anymore?
But this cherry focaccia was calling my name. First of all, it is a filled focaccia: you make two circles of dough. You put fresh, pitted cherries on top of the first circle, sprinkle it with chopped bittersweet chocolate, and put the second circle on top. Then you push more cherries into the top layer and sprinkle it with raw sugar before it goes into the oven. Plus, you need a starter to make this and I keep a jar of sourdough starter in my refrigerator at all times. I fed the starter yesterday and let it sit out on the counter while I went to the market and bought cherries.
I wanted to send you to Ed Murrieta for the original recipe, but when I Googled him the first thing I found was an article about how his entrepreneurial business had failed, leaving him to live on food stamps. Then I found some recipes including marijuana. Wherever he is now and whatever he is doing I wish him well and thank him for this gorgeous focaccia recipe. I could send you to the newspaper site, but they seem to want you to activate a free trial subscription to let you read the recipe. What can I do? I can rewrite the recipe — I did make a couple of changes.
Here’s the bad kitty confession. Murrieta’s recipe calls for bread flour. In my heyday when I had a regular job and regular paychecks I would have gone out and bought bread flour. I would have insisted on bread flour. Now I am not so proud or so picky: I use what we have on hand. I am an experienced baker and can handle sticky doughs and doughs behaving badly. So I will tell you that Ed Murrieta called for 2 and 3/4 cups of bread flour, plus additional flour on the board during the kneading and shaping phases. I winged it with unbleached flour and some whole wheat flour to give it a more rustic quality. I’ll show you.
Murrieta called for a starter made of 1/2 tsp dry yeast, 2/3 cup of water and 1 cup of bread flour. You mix this up in a glass jar with a wooden spoon, cover it with cloth and let it ferment on the counter for at least twelve hours (and up to 36). I skipped this, and just added 2/3 cup of my sourdough starter to the dough. If you already have a starter, you are good to go. If you want an official sourdough starter recipe, go here.
Fresh Cherry Focaccia with Chocolate
Make the dough first. You can pit cherries and chop chocolate while the dough rises. You can even go to the store for cherries and chocolate while the dough rises if you don’t go on the once-every-forty-five-minutes bus.
Dissolve 1 and 1/2 tsp yeast in 1 cup warm water.
While the yeast proofs, stir together in a large bowl 2 and 3/4 cups bread flour, 3 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp kosher salt. If you do not have bread flour and are intrepid, start with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 3 and 1/4 cups unbleached flour (You will have to add more).
Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Add proofed yeast, 2/3 cup sourdough starter (or Ed’s starter, above), 1 cup lukewarm water and 3 Tbsp olive oil. Mix with wooden spoon until a light dough forms. If your dough is more of a batter than a dough, add flour 1/4 cup at a time.
Flour a bread board or other work surface and keep the flour handy! You might want to make sure your flour bin is at least half-full. Turn out the dough onto the board and attempt to knead it. If it sticks to the board badly, knead in more flour, dust more flour on the board, pry it up and try again. Eventually, you will work enough flour into the dough that it resembles roll dough and is smooth and uniform in appearance. If you are smart, you will oil the bowl before you put the dough back in it to rise. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and let it rise until double — 1 and 1/2 to two hours.
Now, go away and amuse yourself or clean your counters and put away your ingredients except the flour — you are not done with that. Before the dough is risen you will need to pit 2 cups (one pound) of cherries and chop four ounces of chocolate. I used a 70% Lindt bar that had cherries and chili in it.
When your dough is risen, put it on your floured board and let it rest for five minutes. You can use this time to oil a pizza pan or baking sheet.
Divide dough into two equal portions. Ignore one while you flatten, dimple and pull the other into a ten inch circle. See pizza-pulling instructions here. (Murrieta rolls out his). Transfer first portion to oiled pan. Spread 3/4 of your cherries on it and top with chopped chocolate. Flatten, dimple and pull the second circle into shape and place it on top of cherry-chocolate filling. Pinch the edges to seal the dough. Then decorate the top with the rest of the cherries, pushing them cut-side down into the dough at attractive intervals. Let the dough rest for thirty minutes while you preheat your oven to 400 and do a round of clean-up. Just before you put the focaccia in the oven sprinkle it with raw sugar.
Bake for forty-five minutes or until top and bottom are browned to your liking. Murrieta says to let the focaccia cool and then cut it into wedges. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I let it cool for approximately five minutes and then cut a small wedge, which I ate standing at the cutting board. Then I reached for the knife again, which was smeared with melted chocolate. I ate the second piece standing in front of the board. Then I cut a much smaller wedge. Then I stepped away from the cutting board, drank a glass of milk and made tea, which I took upstairs so that I did not stay in the kitchen eating focaccia.
It was that good. It was sort of like someone had taken my two favorite things, crusty bread and pie, and magicked them into a single entity. Crusty, gooey, chocolatey, not too sweet, with a fresh cherry taste on top.
Cherry season is short. If you like bread and pie, make this now. Now. And invite some friends over if you don’t want to stay in your kitchen eating the whole thing. You could just call it cherry Kryptonite.
Food notes. This recipe is perfect as is, once you get the flour right. But it is ripe for variations. Try other kinds of chocolate and other kinds of fruit: fresh figs? And then branch out and use almond paste or ricotta filling with cherries or peaches or blueberries. Yum.
Yay! It’s cherry season! The first of the sweet cherries were making their appearance at Saturday’s farmers market. We’re fortunate to live close to a major tart cherry producing region and they’ll start showing up in a few weeks. This focaccia of yours sounds delicious, Sharyn, and I like the idea of using almond paste with the li’l red beauties. I’ve a feeling I’m going to make a pest of myself with the cherry vendors again this year. At least I’m consistent.
Cherry season is so brief, and cherries are so lovely. Can’t wait to hear what you do with all of those tart cherries, John.
Oh man I love fresh cherry season!! We are so behind here in Vancouver…it should be weeks but it feels like it could take forever to come it is so cold! This looks so yummy Sharyn!
It is cool here, too, Shira, and may rain tomorrow (It’s not customary for it to rain in June). This is the most delicious new thing I have made in some time. I ate your lentil curry for dinner and am probably going to get another wee slice of focaccia and another glass of milk.
This cherry chocolate focaccia looks absolutely amazing, Sharyn! I’m so jealous of having cherries that are local to use for baking, cooking and eating. I saw some “fresh” cherries in the market the other day and they were $6.99 a pound, imported from CA. I like the suggestion of other fruits and almond paste…I could do that!
Here, where they grow, cherries range from $4.50 a pound to $8.50 a pound at the Farmers’ Market. Safeway may have them on special for less. To get them more cheaply, you have to find a farm stand on a highway somewhere or pick your own: I bought three baskets for $13.00 the other day — some for this, some for cereal, some to eat raw. Have to eat them while they are here. You have peaches already — we have to wait for those.
I do so love reading your recipes and descriptions of food, and as I read I pretend that I am cooking…
Pretend away, John!
This is the first year we must buy our own cherries, Sharyn! Our good friends owned a cherry orchard/family business and we had a constant wonderful supply in season. They sold the business this year and am I feeling the loss! But this is such a completely unique recipe. I am not a great baker…in fact, the most horrendous pie I ever made was a cherry pie! LOL! But I do a little better with breads…and this looks so good. I could make your cereal, which also sounds good, if I can’t manage! Love the paintings, too! Debra
Both the focaccia and the cereal are quite good, Debra. If you try the focaccia, you might want to go with bread flour — it is quite the sticky dough, but the finished bread has that wow factor.
Cherries are a rarity in winter here but a sweet focaccia is a must try – must find cherries 😀
Sounds gorgeous!
Cheers
CCU
I’m pretty sure you could make the filling with frozen cherries, CCU, or another fruit. Or you could work with something that is in season for you now. Or you could wait until spring in your part of the world.
I’m with you on the taste of cherries in drinks and sweets. Bleurgh! But give me fresh ones and I’ll be happy as punch. The shops have them in at the moment but they are from Spain and I’m waiting for the local ones to arrive before I buy, buy, buy.
And although I’m not such an experienced baker as you I wing it as well with the flours – we made flatbreads the other day and the recipe called for strong flour – well a mix of whole and unbleached worked excellently.
Your cooler climate puts your seasons a little behind ours, I think, Claire. You will have local cherries soon. Had I had bread flour I might have had to use less flour and might have had less of a mess, but I’ll never know: sourdough is often sticky.
this is a delicious focaccia sharyn. thanks for sharing the recipe.
the pics are telling me what a lovely focaccia it must have been 🙂
bookmarked to make this recipe. cherries are tough to find where i live. may be i will have to substitute some other fruit or berries.
Cherries require frost to grow well, Dassana, which might explain why they are hard to find in your part of the world. If you make it, I’ll be interested to see what fruit you end up using.
mangoes were on my mind sharyn…. but now its started raining here… in fact it is pouring cats and dogs… mangoes are almost out of season now here. so will have to think what to substitute.
Cherry and chocolate are a great combo of flavours that I’ve always liked (black forest cake); it makes me wonder what’s different about this that makes you like it since you seem to vehemently dislike it so much. Is it a dessert or bread? My mom used to make a cherry cake that was very tasty.
The painting is rather pretty.
Eva, I think that it falls somewhere in between dessert and bread: some people might eat it for breakfast. I think the chocolate puts it in the dessert camp, or as something that you would eat with a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon or at a brunch. Of course, I ate it for lunch the other day. Why do I like it so much? Well, the cherries on top still taste like fresh cherries because they are three-quarters embedded in the dough. The dough itself is slightly sweet, just enough so that if you get a bite without chocolate or cherries it still tastes good. And I like filled focaccia because it is thinner than the regular thick stuff. I might use an even darker chocolate the next time (as usual, I used what I had). I’ll have to make it with almond paste to know whether it is the chocolate that puts it over the top, but I suspect it is the slight bitterness of the chocolate with the cherries that does it: most chocolate-cherry sweets I have had are cloying.
Hm… I don’t think I ever saw a “sweet” focaccia before… they’ve always been rather delicious looking things with oil and herbs, but why not, right? I personally love cherry and chocolate together – I bet this was fantastic… it certainly looks rather delicious!
Thank you, Charles. It is good. I had to hide it from myself so that I didn’t eat any for breakfast (I made my blue corn porridge instead), but I’ll be having some with my tea later. Regular focaccia is too thick for me: not flat enough to be a flat bread, not high enough to be bread you can slice. I did like the split effect of this recipe, so, eventually, I may do a savory filled focaccia with sundried tomatoes and feta or something.
I have had a grape focaccia which was good but since I love cherries this sounds better.
In a word….Yum. Cherries are my favorite fruit and can eat them in anything. This sounds absolutely yummy.
Thanks, Jane. It’s outrageously good — I think I’m about to have another wedge. Reheating it in the toaster oven makes the chocolate melt and re-crisps the crust.
This is the first time I have had focaccia with fruit, other than tomatoes, Karen. Was the grape one sweet or savory or some of each?
I know no one who write out a recipe with the level of clarity that you do. I love your writing (and I have said this before); it makes me feel as if I am standing in the kitchen beside you while you pull, flatten, and dimple your focaccia bread. I do have bread flour, and we have cherries appearing in markets in London now. I’m off to NYC for a week but I would love to try this when I return.
Thank you, Susan. I’m sure you will eat well in New York. Have a good time!
I could almost smell it while reading about your first taste so fresh from the oven. Your disclaimers made me laugh as there are some flavors I avoid because they taste like medicines from childhood.
Thanks, Nancy. Medicine ruined some things forever…
Amazing looking and sounding focaccia! I’m impressed you were able to wing it without the bread flour– I would not be able to do that. Yours looks so good, I’m sure I could stand there with you eating it all. 🙂
Thank you, Melissa. It was a sticky mess for awhile — I just kept adding flour, prying it up, trying again: a good test of patience and determination.
Sharyn, your recipes tempt me to eat things (like cherries) that I would usually never consider. You are a food temptress.
You don’t like cherries, either? Well, I shouldn’t talk, with all of the foods I don’t like…
“Food temptress,” says Bob. He is right. I want to revise the contents of my cupboard, refrigerator and grocery list every time I read one of your recipes! I especially enjoy foods that offer a variety of textures and complimentary flavors. Good for you for walking away. I do not have that power. In fact, in my imagination, I am standing at your kitchen counter, staring at a bare slicing board!
We ate the last of the focaccia today, Granny, at my friend Elaine’s, toasted up in the toaster oven. She said we should make it with fresh apricots and white chocolate. “Ginger in the white chocolate,” I said.
She said, “I was just going to say that,” and she hasn’t even read the blog post yet. But I did not originate this recipe — the credit goes to Murrieta — I just amped it up a little bit with the chile-cherry chocolate.
I love the idea of a sweet focaccia. And cherries are just perfect. I might give this a go with rosemary and raspberries and a little sprinkle of sea salt. Hmmmm….You’ve got me thinking!
Raspberries and rosemary sound exotic, Urvashi, both sweet and savory. Mine was just sweet, both fruit sweet and bittersweet from the chocolate.
Thank you for the shout-out. This is the photo you referenced: http://bakerschoice.blogspot.com/cherry_foc.jpg
Thank you for the wonderful recipe, Ed. I hope things are going well.