National Baking Week: Try our cherry focaccia

Have you been oohing and ahhing over the tantalising Great British Bake Off recipes week after week? Are you ready to try a simple (and delicious!) recipe? What better excuse than National Baking Week?

This recipe for a cherry focaccia is taken from Pumpkin Soup and Cherry Bread, which is full of nourishing, family-friendly recipes. We’ve included two recipe sizes below, so you can make a loaf for your family, or share with a whole room of children.

Cherry focaccia

To serve a family of four
450 g (1 lb) stoned cherries
1 tsp dry yeast
500 ml (1 US pint) lukewarm water
approx. 250 g (9 oz) plain flour
1 tbsp olive oil
50 g (1 ¾ oz) demerara sugar
salt flakes to sprinkle on the bread

To serve 40 children
• 4kg stoned cherries
• 4 tbsp dry yeast
• 4l lukewarm water
• c. 4.5kg plain flour
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 400g demerara sugar
• salt flakes to sprinkle on the bread

1. Mix the flour, water and yeast to a dough, knead and allow to prove for around 1 hour.
2. Push the dough into a suitable tin, distribute the stoned cherries evenly across the top.
3. Leave the dough to prove for another 30 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the sugar, salt and olive oil onto the bread.
5. Bake it at 180°C (350°F) for around 30 minutes, depending on size.

When your focaccia has turned a golden brown colour, take it out the oven to cool. Enjoy with a glass of milk or some hot tea.

About the book

Pumpkin Soup and Cherry Bread is a unique, beautifully illustrated cookbook designed for use in kindergartens. It includes over eighty seasonal recipes — nutritious, delicious, vegetarian and 100% natural — along with a wealth of advice on encouraging children to enjoy healthy food. All recipes can be fully adapted to serve either a family of four, or forty children.

Looking for a more savoury recipe? Then try our Autumn Bread with Squash.

If you try our National Baking Week recipe, let us know on Facebook or Twitter. Remember to tag your post with #NationalBakingWeek!