Aged Cheddar & Apple Focaccia
Servings
14
Servings
14
Ingredients
Dough
Topping
Finishing
Instructions
Dough
  1. In a large bowl or the bowl, combine the warm water & honey & stir well. Sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
  2. Add 2 cups of the flour, the salt & thyme leaves & knead in. Continue adding the remaining flour in small increments, as needed, until well incorporated. Dough will be moist & may look a bit sticky still.
  3. Generously flour a work surface. Remove dough to work surface & lightly flour the top of the dough, then form into a ball. Cover with a tea towel let stand 10 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with a large sheet of parchment paper.
  5. Gently press dough in to prepared baking pan, using your fingertips to stretch & push it so it fills the entire pan. Work as gently as possible so you don’t remove all the air from the dough. Cover dough with a tea towel & let stand 15-20 minutes.
Toppings
  1. Meanwhile, prepare the apple slices. Using a very sharp knife or a mandolin, slice the apples super thin. I wanted to have round slices so I sliced the apples thinly then cut out the centers with a miniature star cookie cutter. Grate cheese. Set toppings aside.
Assembly
  1. Use your fingertips to make some indentations in the dough. Scatter dough with 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Top with sliced apples. Place 3 thyme sprigs randomly on top of apples. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
  2. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven & scatter remaining cheese on top. Return to oven for a further 3-5 minutes, or until cheese has melted. If desired, pop under the oven broiler for a short time to brown cheese a bit. Remove from oven. Allow to stand a couple of minutes, then loosen from pan and slice focaccia on to a cooling rack. While warm, top with a sprinkling of flaky salt & a scattering of a few fresh thyme leaves.
  3. To serve, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut in to serving pieces. Drizzle with a bit of honey to serve, if you wish.