Recipe: Apple Cheddar Focaccia with Sage and Brown Butter

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This sweet-savory focaccia is perfect for when you want a fall baking project that isn’t a dessert. There’s no pumpkin spice here but there are a couple of tweaks from your typical focaccia that make this a unique treat, like the pieces of apples on top that will make your house smell amazing as they bake up in the oven.

I bought a variety of apples and cut them into fall leaves to make the apple decoration for this focaccia. Actually, these apple leaves were leftovers from an autumnal charcuterwreath that I made; you can find the recipe for that one here.

To make the apple leaves, I used cookie cutters to get the shape and a sharp paring knife to carve in the “veins”. Here are links to the cookie cutters that I used: oak leaf, maple leaf.

You definitely do not need to do this to bake up a delicious fall focaccia. It will definitely taste just as good if you cut the apple into slices and place those on top when indicated in the recipe below.

The other thing that makes this focaccia recipe special is the use of brown butter instead of olive oil. I did not taste such a crazy difference in the bread itself that makes this is an essential part of the recipe, but brushing the brown butter over the apples before baking did work some magic to make them smell extra delightful and a lot like apple pie, even though there were no pie spices.

Here is how you make brown butter:

Bring a stick of butter (I prefer salted) to room temp , then cut it into a few smaller pieces. Place them in a light colored pot or pan so you can easily see the color; a dark pan is not recommended. Cook the butter on medium-low heat, swirling or gently stirring occasionally until it starts to get foamy. Once it is foaming, stir constantly for 2–3 minutes, watching the color. Once the color starts to change, take it off the heat and keep stirring until all the foam subsides. The color should be like amber. If it is still too light, place it briefly on low heat again, remove, stir, until you get that amber-like color. Keep in mind that once heated to the right temperature, the color will change quickly and the fat solids in the butter could get overcooked very quickly if you are not vigilant about stirring and watching.

How to Make Apple Cheddar Focaccia with Sage and Brown Butter

Ingredients

1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp brown sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
2–3 oz white cheddar, cubed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp brown butter
12–14 apple “leaves”
sage leaves

Procedure

Combine yeast, sugar, and water and let sit for 10 minutes or until foamy.

Whisk together flour, salt, and rosemary in a mixing bowl. Pour in liquid. Reserve a few cubes of cheddar for the top if desired and the rest to the mixing bowl. Fold bowl ingredients together slowly with a spatula until all the dry ingredients become moist; dough will be very sticky.

Add olive oil to a container with a lid (at least 4x larger than the dough ball). Grease interior then roll dough ball around until completely slicked in oil. Cover with lid to prevent dough from drying out and refrigerate overnight (or for 2 nights).

On baking day, line a 6–8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Brush about 1 tbsp of brown butter onto the interior of the dish.

Fold edges of dough in towards the center to deflate dough and form a ball again. Place in prepared cake pan and let rise, uncovered at room temp, until dough looks jiggly and is filling most of the baking dish (2–4 hours).

Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush a layer of brown butter on top. Arrange sage, apple pieces, and reserved cheddar gently on top of the dough, then when ready, press each item in firmly. Drizzle half of the remaining brown butter over the top.

Bake for 30–35 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Drizzle or brush the rest of the brown butter over the top.

Cool slightly before removing from the baking dish and slicing up to enjoy.