Fruit Focaccia

Mmmmm.... Tastes like Christmas!

The Fruit Focaccia got great reviews all around. Everyone I fed a piece to loved it, and offered up comparisons it to other Christmas treats (such as homemade fruit cake and Kringle). The final result was a fantastic bready focaccia, jam packed with raison and cranberry goodness.

I am really excited about the final result, as getting there was a bit strange. I started the recipe on Thursday evening with the overnight macerating of the fruit. Friday I was too busy to continue with the recipe. Saturday I opened the container of fruit and was completely turned off by the sight and smell. I figured I would continue on.

I don't have a stand mixer and I am extra gentle with my hand mixer after a stint of making marshmallows and listening to the poor thing chug. The next steps talked about consulting the manual of your mixer to see if it could handle the heat of mixing the dough. So I decided the best tool available was my hands and decided to mix the dough old school. Mixing the dough seemed to go well, it was messy, but I have no idea if it "pooled" in the bottom of the bowl or would have made "slapping" sounds.

There was a huge issue of smell. The mix of the macerated fruit and yeast was disgusting... Andrew had to leave the room.

Due to bad timing, not reading through the entire recipe, and busyness, chilling the dough for 24 hours spilled over into Monday morning. So in the wee hours of the morning (before work) I I completed the remaining steps. A total of four days it took me to get through the entire recipe, and the entire time I was worried the completed product would smell like ass.

I gave Andrew the first piece (I wasn't going to be the guinea pig) I couldn't believe by the time I turned around it had been devoured. The final product didn't taste like any of the smells along the way. I was thrilled. I was especially thrilled that it wasn't just good, but really delicious.