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Three pieces of grape focaccia on a wooden board.
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4 / 2 votes

Grape Focaccia

Grape focaccia, or Schiacciata All'uva, is a magnificent Tuscan tradition sometimes known as winemakers' focaccia that's homemade flatbread with a smattering of black grapes that's roasted until it creates a wondrously jammy sweetness. Here's how to make it.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes
Course: Appetizers
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8 to 10 servings
Calories: 392

Ingredients

For the focaccia dough

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond kosher salt, (or 1 teaspoon Morton's kosher salt)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh yeast or 1 envelope (2 1/2 level teaspoons or 1/4 ounce or 7 grams) active dry yeast
  • 1 2/3 cups lukewarm water
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the pan

For the grape focaccia

  • 21 ounces concord grapes, (you can substitute another black grape variety, seeded or seedless, but DO NOT try to substitute red or green seedless table grapes)
  • 1/3 cup superfine sugar
  • confectioners sugar, (optional)
  • coarse sea salt
US - Metric

Instructions

Make the focaccia dough

  • Dump the 4 cups all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond kosher salt into a large bowl, stir to aerate it, and create a well in the center.
  • In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in about 1/2 cup (4 1/2 ounces | 125 ml) of the lukewarm water.
  • Add the yeast mixture to the well in the flour and mix with your hand or a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the water, little by little, working the dough well after each addition to allow the flour to absorb all the water.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the dough and combine. This will form a wet, sticky dough. Rather than knead it, you may need to work it with a wooden spoon or with well-oiled hands for a few minutes until it's smooth.
  • Loosely cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour. (Alternatively, you can stash the bowl in the fridge and let it rise overnight or until double in size.)

Make the grape focaccia

  • Separate the 21 ounces concord grapes from their stems. Rinse the grapes and pat them dry.
  • Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
  • Generously slick a 8-inch-by-12-inch (20-cm-by-30-cm) baking sheet or round pizza pan with olive oil. Using well-oiled hands, divide the dough into 2 halves, one slightly larger than the other. Place the larger half onto the oiled pan and, using your fingers, spread the dough out evenly to cover the pan or so that it's no more than 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.
  • Place about 2/3 of the grapes on the dough and sprinkle with half the superfine sugar followed by about 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce/30 ml) olive oil.
  • Stretch the remaining the dough to roughly the size of the pan and place it on the grapes, continuing to stretch it as needed to cover the grapes and dough beneath.
  • Roll up the edges of the bottom layer of dough from the underneath to seal the edges. Gently press down all over the surface of the dough to create little dimples. Arrange the rest of the grapes on the dough and evenly sprinkle with the remaining superfine sugar and 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces/45 ml) olive oil.
  • Bake until the dough is golden and crunchy and the grapes are oozing, 30 to 35 minutes.
  • Let the grape focaccia cool completely. Cut it into squares. (If you like, you can dust it with confectioners sugar or coarse sea salt just before serving—although this isn’t exactly traditional, it is rather nice.) This is best served and eaten the day of baking.

Notes

Grape Focaccia Variation

Aniseed Grape Focaccia
There are rarely adaptations made to this traditional recipe, but often you can find the addition of aniseed–a typical Tuscan flavoring for sweets. It’s a good addition, one that brings extra perfume to this bread. When you incorporate half the grapes into the dough, add 1/2 teaspoon aniseed. And when you add the remaining grapes to the surface of the focaccia, sprinkle with another 1/2 teaspoon aniseed prior to dusting with the sugar.
Blueberry Focaccia
If you can’t get concord grapes or wine grapes, or it’s the wrong season, try replacing them with about 18 oz (500 g) blueberries. It’s completely unorthodox, of course, but it’s a very good substitute, giving you a much closer result than using regular table grapes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 392kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 7mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 20g