White Chocolate Focaccia Bread

This sweet and salty twist on a classic Italian focaccia features hidden pockets of white chocolate infused into the tender crumb and a bubbly, golden brown crust topped with flaky sea salt and crunchy turbinado sugar. It’s made over the course of 3 days/48 hours for a full flavor and extra bubbly crust, but with only 45 minutes of hands-on time required.

This unique focaccia can be made with instant yeast or sourdough (the method is nearly identical), and bakes into a crisp, bubbly, and golden brown focaccia with a sweet surprise hidden inside: pockets of molten white chocolate that almost caramelize in the high heat of the oven, melding with the tender crumb of the bread. It’s a sweet, salty, and sensational twist on focaccia that you won’t soon forget!

My sister and I have long been obsessed with this magical white chocolate bread we had at ClubMed in the 90s. You know how some flavor memories are seared into your brain? That bread is one of those things.

I made a regular loaf version of it based on the official ClubMed recipe a few years back, and haven’t thought much about it since. Until my sister fell head first into her own sourdough obsession (you’re only 6 years late, Robs) and set about making a sourdough loaf studded with white chocolate chips (in short: yum).

I’ve been leaning hard into focaccia lately, maybe because it feels like lazy-girl’s sourdough since you don’t have to deal with shaping or scoring or be overly concerned with proofing times. Despite making over a dozen loaves in the last few months, I’ve mainly stuck to basic flavors so far (dried fennel seed is my favorite focaccia flavoring, another throwback to our favorite date night restaurant in college). But I digress.

Despite baking so many loaves, I don’t have a solid go-to focaccia recipe just yet; it’s something I tweak and change pretty much every time I make it, and likely will continue to do so for some time. While I’ve shared same-day focaccia recipes in the past (this peach and thyme focaccia is a particular favorite), I’ve decided that I prefer the more complex flavors, exaggerated bubbles, and crusty exterior I get from an extended timeline.

So taking into account my focaccia fixation and my sister’s forays into white chocolate sourdough, you can see how the idea of white chocolate focaccia came to be. And it turned out fabulous if I do say so myself (not that I’d be sharing it if it didn’t, but still).

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from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/fyJMt6E