Mushroom and Spiced Garlic Focaccia
Like many others since the pandemic began, we've taken a liking to making fresh bread at home. This mushroom focaccia turned out outrageously good (as most things with mushrooms do), and is deceptively straightforward. Smoky, Umami and wonderfully aromatic, this dish will help bring some warmth to these cold winter days. We topped ours with a bit of Hakka-ish Chilli Crisp for that extra bit of Zing. Try it, trust us - you wont be disappointed.
Serves 2
Prep time: 30 minutes (plus rising time)
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 350g all-purpose flour
- 5g dried yeast
- 280ml lukewarm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 200g smoked mozzarella
- 8 cremini mushrooms
- 8 oyster mushrooms
- 1 jalapeno
- ¼ red onion
- 2 tbsp Mogambo Spiced Garlic Spread
- 1 tbsp Hakka-ish Chili Crisp (optional)
Method:
- First, make the dough. Dissolve the yeast in the water. Mix the flour and salt, and then add the water and mix. Knead for 10-15 minutes, until smooth and you can feel it tighten up as gluten forms. This is a pretty high hydration dough, so it will be sticky, but it’s worth it in the end. When it’s kneaded, cover and leave sit in a warm place for approx 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Go and live your life for an hour.
- Grease your baking dish, cast-iron pans (approx 8”) work particularly well if you have one. Put the dough into the pan, and push out to the edges, while not knocking out all the air. Use your fingertips, not your palms, little dimples are a good thing! Cover and leave aside while you prep the toppings, this will let it get one last rise.
- Grate the cheese, slice the jalapenos, slice the onions, slice the mushrooms, and tear the oyster mushrooms in half down the centre.
- Spread the Mogambo over the base. Remember those dimples we spoke about? They make great little pockets for the Mo’, they’ll give you little pops of garlicky goodness when you bite into them. Spread the cheese on top all the way to the edges, then the veg, then put the mushrooms on top.
- Place on the middle rack of an oven heated to 425f, and cook for 20-25 minutes. You want to see a wonderful caramelization here. If the top doesnt have enough colour, give it a couple minutes under the broiler.
- Cut into slices, and finish with Hakka-ish if you enjoy the spice. Why are you using jalapenos if you don’t like it spicy anyway? Put the Hakka-ish on, it’s delicious.
Notes: We used cremini and oyster mushrooms, but you can use whatever mushrooms you have access to, or have in your fridge.