Roasted Pumpkin Focaccia is the perfect fall bread. Unfussy yet delicious, it's great for everything from sandwiches to just swiping through dips or olive oil. And it would be right at home on your Thanksgiving table as well.This recipe makes 1 1/2 sheet pan (or jelly roll-sized pan) of focaccia. If that seems like a big commitment, you can either cut the recipe in half or bake two smaller loaves. One to keep and one to freeze, or one to keep and one to give to friends. All ounce measurements are by weight, not volume. Please use your kitchen scale!
For the Pumpkin (sub canned if you don't want to roast your own)
1small pie pumpkin
a little vegetable oil for brushing
For the Starter
6.5ozbread flour
5.5ozfiltered water at room temperature
¼teaspoonactive dry yeast
For the Focaccia
8ozpumpkin puree
all the starter
½teaspoonactive dry yeast
23ozbread flour
1Tablespoonpoultry seasoning
several grindings of black pepperto taste
12ozfiltered water at room temperature
½ozkosher salt
1.75ozextra virgin olive oil
To Finish and Bake
⅓cupextra virgin olive oil
Fleur de Sel or other coarse finishing salt
1-2Tablespoonsfresh rosemarycoarsely chopped
Instructions
For the Starter
In a large bowl, whisk the yeast into the flour and then pour in the water.
Stir until you have a shaggy dough and all the flour is moistened.
Cover and set aside for several hours so the yeast can multiply. You can make this the day before you bake and not even worry about refrigerating it. If you do want to refrigerate it, make sure it comes up to room temperature before baking.
For the Pumpkin (If Roasting Your Own)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Wash the pumpkin, cut it in half and scoop out all the seeds (reserve them if you'd like to make toasted pumpkin seeds later)
Cut the halves in half so you have 4 quarters. Brush the cut sides and empty cavities of the pumpkin with a bit of oil and place them, cut side up, on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Roast until easily pierced with a fork, between 30 and 45 minutes. They should also have some nice color on them and a lot of the liquid should have run out.
Scoop out the meat of your pumpkin and pass it through a food mill fitted with the medium die. It should be about the consistency of canned pumpkin.
If the puree seems loose and pourable, let it drain through a coffee filter or fine mesh strainer until the consistency is spoonable.
Cool to at least room temperature. You won't use all your puree in this recipe, so plan on making a pie or maybe some risotto or soup with the rest.
For the Focaccia
Add all your ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer in the order listed. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and allow all the ingredients to get incorporated on low speed.
Once the dough is fairly uniform in color and appearance, 2-3 minutes, increase the speed to medium low and knead for about 12 minutes. This is a wet dough and will stick in the bottom of the bowl a very lot. It will clear the sides of the bowl mostly, and the dough hook will eventually start pulling the dough in from the sides so it looks stringy. That's a good thing.
After the dough is nice and supple, pour some olive oil into a large bowl and swirl it around to coat. Then dump all the dough into the bowl--no need to worry about forming it into a ball. It will be fine.
Oil the top of the dough and cover.
Let rise in a warm, cozy part of your kitchen until about doubled, about 2 hours or so. If you have time, let it rise at room temperature. It will take a lot longer, but you will get a bit better flavor. Either way is fine.
Once the dough is nicely risen, glug about 1/4 cup or so of olive oil on a parchment-lined sheet pan and brush it around.
Scrape the risen dough--without punching it down--onto the pan and let it sort of ooze out.
Oil your hands and help it along. It will just about fill one 1/2 sheet pan. If it starts to spring back when you gently stretch it, cover it and let it rest for 5-10 minutes so the gluten can relax. Then continue to stretch it to fit in the pan.
Once the dough is all fitted into the pan and about 1/2" thick, use your fingertips to dimple the dough all over.
Liberally drizzle on more olive oil, allowing it to pool in the dimples. You can also brush it out so you use less oil. I drizzle with abandon, myself.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Cover the dough and let rise until it peeks above the edge of the pan by about 1/4". This will take an hour or so.
Uncover and sprinkle on the rosemary evenly followed by the coarse salt.
Bake on the center rack for about 20 minutes. If it is not browning evenly, rotate the pan and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or until the bread is a lovely golden brown and the internal temperature in the center is 200F.