Vegetables are more fun with dough

I have a weekly vegetable box delivery. It helps us eat more varied vegetables and more vegetables generally. However, it is a bit like a war of attrition; vegetables arrive on Friday and by Wednesday I’m sweating about the next box, looking for a way to use up the vegetables in hand. Soup and salads are great responses but once in while I feel the need to change it up. Butternut squash seems to appear week in and week out and there’s only so much squash soup we can eat.

I decided it was either a vegetable topped focaccia or I was going to make squash ravioli. I dislike making pasta because it’s a lot of handwork for not much value add, in my opinion. The outcome just isn’t worth the time required with filled pasta. I went with focaccia and from the first test bake, it has become a favourite and I’ve started experimenting with other topping combinations. Some suggestions for other combinations below but let’s cook.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 10 grams instant yeast
• 300 mls lukewarm water
• 15 grams sugar
• 60 mls olive oil, plus extra for baking
• 500 grams strong white bread flour
• 10 grams coarse salt flakes
• 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary (I grow my own so I’m profligate with it)
• I large butternut squash (1 kilo or larger), peeled, seeded and cut into 2 cm cubes
• 200 grams of feta cheese, crumbled
• salt and pepper

Method

1. The recipe is 3 processes: make the dough, prep and roast the squash, prepare the focaccia for baking. Sugar and lukewarm water accelerate the first rise of the dough.
2. Combine yeast, water and sugar until foamy. Leave for 5 minutes to allow the yeast a head start.
3. Put the flour, salt and 60 mls of olive oil in the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attached and stir. Add the yeast mixture and knead for 10 minutes on medium low speed. You can also hand knead this dough but try not to let it pick up too much spare flour. Oil your hands, knead on a stone surface or very smooth formica; remember dough sticks to dough. Once kneaded, cover and let it double in size. The dough should feel very smooth and plastic.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C or 400F. Peel the squash and cut into cubes. Don’t let the cubes get too big – remember, you’re going to be eating this like slices of pizza or toast. Coat the bottom of a roasting tin with olive oil, salt, pepper and a pat of butter (not mandatory, keeps the oil from smoking). Get tin hot then add the squash cubes (turn and coat well in oil) and cook for 20 minutes. Turn them at least once during cooking.
5. Remove the squash from the oven, drain in a colander and cool to be able to handle.
6. Put a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet with raised edges. Coat liberally with olive oil and press the dough flat and to the edges. The dough will fight back, be prepared to handle it firmly. You don’t need to worry about a raised edge, the toppings will take care of that.
7. Top the dough with the squash cubes, crumble the feta cheese and distribute across the bread. Clean the rosemary, sprinkle across the top and press firmly in place. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with additional olive oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and give it a second raise of 30 minutes or so. This helps it develop a nice edge.
8. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C (400F). I put the rack in the lower third of the oven and put my baking stone on it. This helps the bottom of the focaccia firm up without scorching the toppings. It needs 15 to 20 minutes of baking time. Keep an eye on it – you can cover it loosely with foil to protect the toppings but bake through. I test the centre with thermometer, it should be at least 90C or 200F.
9. Cool and enjoy.

Use your imagination with other toppings. We enjoyed this so much I’ve since made it with cherry tomatoes (split) and caramelised onions and topped it with mozzarella. I also did a version with mushrooms, bacon and spinach. I would avoid watery vegetables like courgette (zucchini). Anything crunchy like broccoli, cauliflower or kale needs to be pre-cooked. Also, onions need pre-cooking or they scorch and give off water.

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