I wanted to make this for quite some time, I went to Vancouver in June 2012 and stopped by Terra Breads.. one of the most memorable items I got was the apple tart focaccia. I've been baking focaccia for many years and never thought of topping it with apples, but the combination was genius, as was the sticky sweet glaze (salted caramel is definitely one of my favorite sweets flavors!) What I found interesting about this pastry was that the combination of sweet and savory, I used my go-to focaccia recipe and topped it with lightly sautéed gala apples with a bit of butter, thyme, sugar (and a splash of white wine.) The addition of thyme really gives that great twist, and added with a sweet and salty caramel on top... wow. I just wish I covered it with more apples and caramel! I love bread so I didn't make this flat like the bakery, but next time I might pull the dough a bit thinner and make multiple servings instead of one large one. This bread stays moist and soft for a few days when kept under a dome ( I kept mine in my dutch oven.)
Recipe (Roughly:)
Salted Caramel Glaze:
( I made this a few days before and kept it in the fridge, it keeps very soft even when cold, but I microwaved it for about 10 seconds to get it to a thinner consistency) - sauce is great with cold brew, and hot chocolate!
Focaccia: (my go to recipe!)
Focaccia
Bread:1 cup warm water
1.5 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp sugar
3 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp Italian seasonings
3 tbsp olive oil
2.5 cups bread flour
1. Add all of the bread ingredients to the bread machine except the flour. Add the flour on top of the mixture. (or as specified by your bread machine.) Select dough setting.
2. Once your dough setting is complete, punch the dough down, remove from machine. Lightly oil (olive) a large dutch oven or cast iron skillet that you have a lid for. Dump the dough into the dutch oven, and stretch it out. Cover it with a lid and let rise until double.
3. Add desired toppings
4. Preheat oven at 450 degrees. Place dutch oven ( with lid on!) into oven, and let bake for 20 minutes with lid on, 5 minutes with lid off, and then broil on low until top is nice and golden brown.
( Alternatively you can remove the dough and stretch it out on a pan or lined baking sheet, let it rise until double, top it with everything and bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes)
Apple: (this is for half of an apple)
- Peel apple ( or leave skin on if you like it ), melt 2 tsp of butter on a pan over med- lo (brown the butter if you'd like,) add apples sauté until soft with a pinch of sugar if your apples aren't too sweet, sprinkle 1/4 tsp of dried thyme, add a splash of white wine to "steam" the apples, this process should around 5-7 minutes (don't worry if your apples aren't completely cooked, it will be baked for another 30 mins in the oven!)
To Top the Salted Caramel Glazed Apple Thyme Focaccia :
Pinch off a piece of the dough (made the remaining into my normal super cheesy caramelized focaccia) , flatten it out on a piece of parchment paper, arrange sautéed apples on top, cover loosely with plastic wrap, let rise until doubled, bake on a baking sheet or cast iron skillet (preheated would work out well!) in 450 degrees oven for 25 minutes, brush on caramel sauce ( if it's too thick add a few drops of hot water) sprinkle with some sesame seeds, return to oven, bake, for 5 more minutes, when it comes out of the oven, brush on more of the caramel sauce.
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| Apple Tart Focaccia from Terra Bread, Vancouver BC |
There are a lot of private posts that I've made of my travels, I like to look at them from time to time to get some inspiration... here are some of the places I went to in Boston.. what I found after graduation is that I'm young. I get that a lot.. too much actually, and to many it's a compliment, but to me.. it's.. kind of conflicting. I find myself now slathering on the anti aging creams at night to keep those wrinkles away, but walking into stores and picking out clothes that will make me look old. One dentist actually told I need to age a lot more to gain credibility... *sigh* I know I'm young, I got to where I wanted to be right on the schedule I set out for myself. I am in a wonderful place in my life... the real start of my adult life. The last few months have been so different. Searching for jobs and being an adult is nothing like my student life. However, I did find myself with a lot of down time. I spent a lot of that time (a lot pre-licensed) traveling. I probably spent over 45 hours in an airplane.. step foot in 4 countries (Bahamas, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia).. and 3 states (Florida, Oregon, Mass.) ... and... thoroughly drove ALL over the bay area and beyond in my job search. this may be it... I'm done... for the year at least... I thought I'd make it to Texas.. but I can't seem to find a good deal / pick which city I want to visit... hmmm maybe for the holidays?
Boston
Sorry for a really repetitive post...
Sorry for a really repetitive post...
- Mike and Patty's - We got in early after our red eye... got to the hotel around 7am and check in wasn't for a few more hours, thankfully they expedited the process and we were able to nap in our room at 12. We wandered the oh so cold streets of Boston, it was in the mid 30's. I haven't experienced this temperature.. especially in the daytime, in SO many years! We were both shivering.. and finding ways to warm up.. thankfully the sunny areas were a lot warmer.... so what were we supposed to do at this time? We found this place via yelp.. and walked over.. it was a very short walk from our hotel and through an adorable neighborhood.. we were their first customers.. we both had the North South Classic - "North South Classic - fried egg, american, peameal bacon, collards on an english muffin 5" it was delicious. It even inspired me to go out and buy collard greens to place into sandwiches this week :)
- Dunkin' Donuts- America runs on this? Well, doesn't seem California is a part of America... I wish we had one closer, I get too excited when I see that my travel destination has one ... now if only white castles were easier to find... anyway, we frequented this place a lot.. we went to the one by Emerson college, the train station (on our way to Salem!) and at the airport. Had the boston scream pie, pumpkin pie donut, red velvet ( NOT red velvet!!) and a cream filled donut with green icing on top? To drink, I had the iced coffee ( pretty good!) and salted caramel hot chocolate..
- Boston Chowda Co. - Sorry, the west coast chowders I've had were so much better than this joint's, it was creamy, not enough clams or veggies, the corn chowder was better, but I prefer my Boudin's chowder (and the best sourdough bread bowl!)... and also the Pike Place Chowder..
- Mike's Pastry- had the pistachio cannoli, loved the filling, I'm personally just not a fan of the cannoli, it was so difficult to gracefully eat in public.. their latte was pretty good too.
- Peach Farm - out eating schedule was completely off, so we ate dinner around 10. I had the lobster with ginger and onions, it was wonderful, and at a great price too.. $16.50 for an entire lobster.... amaaazingg
- Phobasil - the walk down Newbury was very nice, the weather was around 10 degrees warmer but kind of sprinkling, I just love all the brick buildings.. I can never get enough of those .. Had the jungle curry, it was good and spicy, not sure what was jungle about it, just it had beef and chicken? .. I prefer my normal red curries with coconut milk, this one didn't have it.. also, a shady thing happened when paying, they definitely lost my trust by "accidentally forgetting" to put my card back into the slot after swiping... and keeping it in their cash register... um... shady??
- Georgetown Cupcake- EXCELLENT, just the right amount and consistency of frosting, red velvet was very good (Sprinkles is still better ...) but the size and price of the cupcake finally made sense... cupcakes lately have been skyrocketing up to $4 a piece.. yikes. these were at a very cool $2.75.... loved its location and having cupcakes and tea on a cold fall day while people watching on Newbury.. was just perfect.
- Giacomo's - We called in and had a reservation, I don't know if that helped, but we still waited, thankfully the weather got better and it was kind of nice being outside.. the World Series were going on down the street so maybe that's why we didn't have to wait too long. Had the butternut squash raviolis.. Great value, pretty good but nothing too extraordinary. I think I prefer a lighter sauce with that type of filling.. anyway, bread was good and so was service so I can't say that this was not worth the hype.
- Barracuda Tavern - burger and pumpkin beer ... on Halloween... my favorite holiday :) This was our first stop before heading to Salem. The food and beer were both good, can't really mess up too much with those two.
- Island Creek Oyster Bar - We figured out the T.. and made it here, it was right next to the entrance so that was a nice short walk. We only road the T once in Boston.. walked everywhere else! Had the milk stout and lobster roll . Lobster rolls .. I like lobster rolls for the lobster, never for the bread. The lobster was very good...I was too afraid to tackle the oyster menu since my knowledge of oysters is basically 0. We walked back to our hotel which was almost a mile away but it was a beautiful Halloween night.. almost warm.. even!
- Au Bon Pain - We passed by this cafe a lot since it was connected to our hotel, and noticed the sign that pastries are 50% off from 8-10pm... nice. Snuck in right at 10pm.. grabbed a pastry to go.. perfect cheap pre- halloween party snack :) went back to our room and got ready to head out... well we just chose the bar next to this cafe.. haha.. way too much walking during the day anyway and the Halloween party was definitly going on there!
- Wagamama - last day in Boston.. we finally found the mall!!! by accident.. it all started with... finally seeing a Lord and Taylor, and exploring it... then noticing it connected to a mall.. awesome way to spend the last day and afternoon since we had an 8 pm flight out... had the spicy ramen (wasn't spicy enough, and I've never had grilled chicken in my ramen.. the smokiness of the grilled chicken did not go too well with the ramen... was not impressed.. ) their beer selection was quite limited esp with so many options in Boston.. best part about that ramen experience was the soup spoon.
So..
- this was a last minute trip...and it was a toss up between NYC and Boston.. the computer chose Boston, glad I got to see a new city especially during the fall. The leaves were beautiful... the parks were well taken care of .. Price for one week in advance ? $ 260 R/T perfect flight times, and non stop on JetBlue... sweetness.
- Red Sox - somehow we chose the week where the World Series were playing in the same city (hotel prices were ridiculously high!!)... thank goodness they won, but for us SF-ers , we chose to sleep early that night.. we celebrated enough last year with the Giants winning.. too bad they didn't win it at home..
- Salem - ahhh brings back memories of my favorite halloween movie - Hocus Pocus! can't believe it's been that long... wow I'm old.. and yet.. I still dress up and get excited for Halloween.. people were definitely more scary than the west coast.. kudos to the many people who went ALL out..
- Costume - I probably could have been much more creative since my best friend seems to be the sewing machine these days.. but I thought it was unique.. and warm.
- We never finished the Freedom Trail.. whoops. I think we got half way and that was on the first day right after a red eye ... but I love how there's a red line to follow.. seems like there a red line in Salem too for something.. I kind of like that because I don't have to keep taking out my phone to figure out if I'm in the right spot.. one day I'll finish the trail, probably with my kids... we'll both be learning history together!
- Food scene in Boston? Just like any city.. with the emphasis on lobster... however, I didn't have anything too unique.... things I'll be recreating : salted caramel hot chocolate, and collard greens in a breakfast sandwich :)
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