Pumpkin Spice Focaccia with Cream Cheese Icing

Updated at: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 19:02:23 GMT

Step 1

You can of course use a premade pumpkin pie spice mix for this recipe, but if you don’t have it on hand, then simply mix together the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice (optional) and cloves in a small bowl.

Step 2

To make the dough, whisk together the pumpkin puree (it’s half a can), warm water, extra virgin olive oil, pumpkin pie spice, yeast and brown sugar. Stir in the bread flour and fine sea salt and mix until there are no dry patches of flour remaining. cover the bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. While the dough is resting, mix up the cinnamon sugar by combining 6 tablespoons brown sugar with the pumpkin spice mix and cinnamon.

Step 3

After 15 minutes, it’s time for the first set of stretch + folds on the dough. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar pumpkin spice mix on top of the dough and then perform the first series of stretch and folds. You do this by wetting your hand and grabbing one side of the dough and pulling it up and over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Repeat this on all sides of the bowl until the dough tightens up into a loose ball shape. Cover the bowl, wait 15 minutes and then repeat this exact process once more. You should have incorporated 4 tablespoons of the brown sugar pumpkin spice mix into the dough during the stretch and folds.

Step 4

Cover the bowl with a clean towel and continue proofing the dough for 1.5 hours at room temperature.

Step 5

Once the dough has finished proofing, line a 9x13 inch metal baking tray with non-stick parchment paper. You can use a slightly larger tray if you don’t mind your focaccia baking up a bit thinner (it will spread out more). Add about 1.5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the parchment-lined baking tray and spread it around evenly, making sure to get a little bit on the parchment paper lining the sides of the tray too.

Step 6

Tip the dough into the oiled baking tray and using oiled fingers, gently coax it into an even thickness that mostly reaches to the edges of the baking tray. You want a lot of surface area of the dough exposed as this is the point where you’ll be sprinkling the remaining brown sugar pumpkin spice mix over the top of the dough before folding it up for one final proofing session in the tray.

Step 7

Evenly sprinkle the remaining brown sugar pumpkin spice mix over the dough and then fold it up to encase it. Fold one side of dough towards the middle of the blob of dough. Repeat with the other side, a bit like folding a piece of paper into thirds (it will look a bit like a burrito). Rotate the dough so the length of it aligns with the length of the tray and then flip the dough so the seams from the folding are at the bottom and the smooth side is at the top.

Step 8

Cover with an inverted tray or an oiled piece of parchment paper and allow the dough to proof for another 1 - 1.5 hours at room temperature.

Step 9

When the dough has fully proofed, preheat the oven to 215C/420F and position the rack to the lowest position in your oven.

Step 10

Due to the additions in this dough, it will probably not spread out like a normal dough does in the tray. Oil your fingers with some of the extra oil on the tray and then slide them underneath the dough and gently pull towards the edges of the tray until the dough is in one even layer (filling up all the space in the tray).

Step 11

Melt 1.5 tablespoons of salted butter in the microwave, mix it with the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and then drizzle it evenly over the top of the dough and dimple it thoroughly

Step 12

Bake on the lowest rack for 20-24 minutes, or until the focaccia is a lovely golden brown colour. While the focaccia is baking, add all the ingredients for the cream cheese icing drizzle in medium sized bowl. Whisk together until the icing is smooth and is of drizzling consistency. If you need a tiny bit of extra milk to achieve this, add a little more in a half a teaspoon at a time.

Step 13

When the focaccia has finished baking, let it cool in the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. If left to cool completely in the tray, the bottom may steam and become soggy.

Step 14

Once it’s on the cooling rack, drizzle the cream cheese icing over the top. Use as little or as much icing as you wish to. The recipe is designed to have extra icing for dunking and spreading into the bread as it’s served. Note that if you plan to enjoy some of this focaccia on another day, leave that portion without icing so you can store it at room temperature instead of in the fridge (see more on storage and reheating below).

Step 15

You’ll find that that focaccia is much softer than other savoury focaccias you may have made. This is to be expected and is due to the addition of all the sugar and pumpkin into the dough.

Step 16

If you have left the icing off some of the bread, wrap any leftovers in foil and place them into a zip top storage bag. Store the bread at room temperature for up to three days and store the extra icing in a sealed container in the fridge. Place into a 180C/355F oven (still wrapped in foil) for 10-12 minutes and then peel back the top layer of the foil and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. Drizzle with reserved icing (you may need to mix in a touch of milk to thin the icing out as it thickens up over time in the fridge).

Step 17

The icing contains cream cheese so if you have a portion leftover that has already been iced, wrap it up and store it in the fridge. When you’re ready to reheat it, wrap the focaccia in foil, tenting the top part loosely so the icing isn’t disrupted and follow the same instructions from above.

Step 18

Be sure to search for my ‘Pumpkin Spice Focaccia French Toast’ recipe on here and try it with any leftover bread you may have!

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