Annabel Crabb

Annabel Crabb Instagram – Jet lag plus cold equals middle-of-the-night baking inventions.
Item: Sour cherry and black pepper focaccia.
At 2am, rise from fitful slumber and put three cups cups of plain flour in a large bowl. Drain a large jar of sour cherries (mine was 670g) and reserve the juice. Add half a teaspoon of yeast to the flour and stir through thoroughly. Add two cups of cherry juice and a cup of water or apple juice and stir until a ragged but undeniable dough is formed. Needs to be wet, but not batter. Now stir through a tablespoon of salt and add many many grinds of black pepper and a handful of the drained cherries. Pour 3tbsp of olive oil over the lot and install an airtight cover.
Watch Veep till around dawn.
By the afternoon, your dough should be bubbly and expanded. Scrape it into a baking tin – I used the standard slice tin – lined with baking paper and drizzled with oil. Let it rise again for another two hours (preheat your oven to FF 190C about halfway through) then dimple with oiled fingers (this just means poking your fingers into the dough to make holes) and poke some cherries into the holes. Drizzle the top with olive oil, another few cracks of pepper, salt flakes, then into the oven for approx 30min.
You wind up with a sweet/sour/salty bread that is delicious on its own but would I imagine be terrific for a sandwich with ham@and green olives and provolone. If our rosemary hadn’t succumbed to winter I ABSOLUTELY would have used rosemary. | Posted on 24/Jul/2024 04:01:29