Celery Root Focaccia Bread

Celery Root Focaccia Bread

Don't expect the flavor of celery root to jump up and down, screaming its name with each bite of toasty focaccia bread. In fact, you might not even be able to identify the presence of its deep earthy taste.  Like most potato based breads, the flavor given up by the root vegetable will just be a subtle suggestion. A hint, if you will, of something slightly unique.

Using a straightforward potato focaccia bread recipe as a guideline, I subbed in a cup of my celery root and potato puree for the plain mashed potato that the recipe called for.  I also swapped all-purpose flour for Italian 00 flour (a super fine Italian-style flour), of coarse not a necessary substitution but I found that it yielded a nice tender bread. For the top, I helped accentuate the earthiness of the celery root with tendrils of rich caramelized onions, crushed rosemary, shreds of sharp provolone cheese and then finished everything off with coarse Maldon sea salt and a light shower of olive oil.

Once I laid the round of dimpled dough onto the hot pizza stone in my oven, it wasn't long before my apartment was perfumed by the aroma of fresh baking bread.  The bread itself had such a beautifully natural scent, I wished I could have bottled it up to save for later. Fresh out of the oven, the bread was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside with slight hints of something special.  The topping was a great sweet and salty compliment to the bread.  Cut into a big square, this focaccia would make a terrific panini or r it would make a great addition to a fresh salad or a hot bowl of soup.  You could even take it one step further by cutting it into little cubes and toasting it to make flavorful breadcrumbs.  Or, if you're like me, you can just enjoy it plain and simple, fresh and hot from the oven.

Check out the recipe after the jump!


Celery Root Focaccia Bread
Recipe adapted from Serious Eats

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, or Italian 00 flour, plus extra for kneading and shaping
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine kosher salt or sea salt
• 1 cup celery root and potato puree

Topping

 

     2 medium sized onions, thinly sliced

     1 cup sharp provolone cheese, or other cheese 

     2 TBS unsalted butter

     1 tsp dried rosemary

     Maldon Seas Salt (to taste)

     Fresh ground pepper (to taste)

     Extra Virgin Olive Oil for drizzling

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, and stir until creamy. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, and make a well in the center. Add the celery root puree and the yeast, and, using fingertips, bring in a little of the flour. Gradually add 2/3 cup warm water and bring in the remaining flour as you go along. Knead briefly to make a rough ball of dough.  Dust a work surface with flour. Sprinkle the ball of dough with a little extra flour and knead for 8-10 minutes or until dough gets very smooth and elastic.  Let rise, covered, in a warm area until doubled in size. 

Meanwhile, warm a pizza stone in a 425 degree oven.  Punch down the dough and then roll it into a flat and round circle. Cover dough loosely and let rise again until double in size. Use your thumb to make dimples in the dough and generously brush with extra virgin olive oil. Transfer the dough to hot stone. 

For the topping, caramelize the onions slowly in a low heat pot with two TBS butter.  Once very soft and brown (this will take a while, approximately 45 minutes - hour) add the rosemary.  While the dough is hot from the oven, sprinkle cheese on top then add the onion-rosemary mixture. Sprinkle salt and pepper, drizzle olive oil and eat when warm.