Christmas Focaccia with Chestnuts and Stuffing

Close up of Christmas focaccia loaf on a baking tray.

5 from 1 vote

Christmas Focaccia with Chestnuts and Stuffing

Full of festive winter flavours this Christmas Focaccia bread is super light and airy. Packed with chestnuts, stuffing and fragrant sage, one slice simply won't do!

Course Bread, Nibbles, Party Food, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Christmas focaccia

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Proving 3

Total Time 3 35

Servings loaf

Calories 2397kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

Bread dough

500 g strong white bread flour
2 teaspoon quick or easy dried yeast (7g sachet)
2 teaspoon fine salt
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
370 ml lukewarm water warm to touch, not too hot
olive oil for greasing your hands

Toppings

100 g stuffing homemade or ready made, shaped into small chunks/balls
75 g cooked chestnuts roughly chopped
10 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
sea salt flakes for sprinkling over and to serve optional

Instructions

In a large bowl mix together strong bread flour with salt and yeast.
***Quick Tip*** When adding salt and yeast to the flour, keep them separate to start with as salt might affect the yeast. Once they're mixed in, it's fine.
500 g strong white bread flour, 2 teaspoon quick or easy dried yeast (7g sachet), 2 teaspoon fine salt
Pour in lukewarm water followed by olive oil and start mixing them into the flour with your hand.
The mixture will be very sloppy to start with but keep mixing until all of the flour has been incorporated into the liquid. Bread dough will be very sticky at this point.
370 ml lukewarm water, 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Very lightly oil your hands, and with dough in the bowl gather part of the dough, stretch it and then fold on top.
Rotate the bowl 90 degrees to the right and do another stretch and fold, rotate the bowl again, stretch and fold the dough and so on.
Keep stretching and folding the dough for about 2 minutes.
***Quick Tip*** The dough will be tearing initially but the more you stretch and fold it the more elastic it will become as gluten develops.
olive oil for greasing your hands
After about two minutes, the dough will still be sticky but more manageable. Gather it into the middle of the bowl, drizzle a little bit of oil on top, cover and put somewhere warm to prove and roughly double in size.
***Quick Tip*** The proving time will depend on the temperature of your surroundings. In winter it usually takes longer than in the summer unless you put it somewhere warm like airing cupboard.
Roughly chop chestnuts and sage leaves and shape your stuffing mixture into small balls/chunks.
100 g stuffing, 75 g cooked chestnuts, 10 fresh sage leaves
Once dough is ready, line baking tray with some baking paper and drizzle over a little bit of olive oil.
Without knocking the dough back (we are trying to keep as much air in the dough as possible), tease it out of the bowl and onto a tray with your hand into an irregular oval shape.
Gently and with oiled hands smooth out the dough slightly so that its surface is pretty even.
Cover and put somewhere warm for about an hour to rest and puff up a bit.
Towards the end of resting time preheat the oven to 200C(fan)/400F/Gas Mark 6.
Sprinkle chopped chestnuts and sage over the surface of the focaccia and gently press your oiled fingers into the dough to create little dimples but also to push your toppings into the dough.
Last but not least, place prepared stuffing balls/chunks evenly on top of the dough and press them in gently.
Drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle over some sea salt flakes and bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, until golden.
***Quick Tip*** Depending on your oven, you might want to rotate tray with focaccia half way through baking so that it cooks evenly.
100 g stuffing, 75 g cooked chestnuts, 10 fresh sage leaves, extra virgin olive oil for drizzling, sea salt flakes for sprinkling over and to serve
Once ready, take focaccia out of the oven and onto cooling rack to cool for half an hour or so before slicing!

Notes

Nutritional information is per loaf, without extra olive oil for drizzling and oiling hands and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
Best eaten on the same day but can be stored for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. See 🥡 Storing for details.

TIPS:

For best results use kitchen scales when weighing out the dry ingredients, unless alternatives are provided (tsp, tbsp).

Use lukewarm or tepid water when making bread dough. It ranges between 36-43C or 98-100F but don't worry too much about it. As long as water is slightly warm and comfortable to the touch, it will be fine.

Hot water kills the yeast so do stay clear!

Do oil your hands whenever advised. Focaccia dough is very sticky from start to finish and oiling your hands will help immensely when handling it.

Good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil over the dough right before baking is essentialbut make sure you don't overdo it and flood the bread. You can always drizzle more olive oil over the bread before serving.

When it comes to toppings, you don't have to worry too much about quantitieswhich are provided as a guideline. Use more, use less, swap and change, you are in charge and basic focaccia recipe will work with any toppings you choose, Christmas or not.

Nutrition