Focaccia is a delicious bread, but if it’s honey-roasted eggplant focaccia, then it’s the best focaccia in the world. This recipe is spectacular, honestly! It’s just SO GOOD. The eggplants or aubergines go into the oven with honey and olive oil so they can then top the focaccia. Also, I added red onion and mozzarella cheese because why not.
I have to say that I knew the eggplants would be nice but I didn’t expect them to be THIS GOOD! You can perfectly eat them on their own, add them to a salad or serve them as a side dish. Also, in the recipe for this honey-roasted eggplant focaccia, I tell you how to remove the bitterness from them if that’s something you don’t like about them.
The focaccia is an incredibly versatile bread. You can add all sorts of vegetables to it or even hams and it’s always delicious. I made it in small breads this time but you could also make it into a large focaccia. I had the idea of making these individual-sized focaccias from Uri Scheft. When I was in Israel with Vibe Israel, we met Uri who is the chef and owner of Lehamim Bakery. He was kind enough to send us off with a copy of his book which is about bread. There, I saw a similar bread to these and so I was instantly inspired.
If you want some reference on how the focaccia dough is made, you can check out my video for rosemary and sea salt focaccia:
Ingredients
For the eggplants/aubergines
- 3 medium – sized eggplants/aubergines
- 2 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp honey
For the focaccia
- 390 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 7 g instant yeast
- 220 ml lukewarm water
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil (you can also weigh it) + more to proof and bake
Other toppings
- 1 medium-sized red onion or half a large one sliced
- olive oil
- 50 g finely grated mozzarella cheese
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
For the eggplants/aubergines
- Remove the top from the eggplant and cut the rest in 1cm / 0.4in slices.
- Mix the eggplant slices with the salt and let them rest for 10 minutes. The salt will remove the bitterness from the eggplants.
- Rinse thoroughly the slices.
- Place the eggplant slices over a silicone mat or silpat or on baking paper.
- Mix the honey with the olive oil using a whisk and paint the mix on both sides of the slices. If you have a little extra left, it's fine. If you don't, it's also fine.
- Take them to a preheated oven at 200C / 390F for 30-40min, turning them halfway through. They should be nice and golden.
- As soon as they come out of the oven, paint them once again with olive oil and honey. If you don't have any mix left you can make some extra.
Other toppings
- At any moment when you're waiting for the eggplants to be done or while the dough if proofing, cook the onion in a bit of olive oil over medium heat until slightly golden.
For the focaccia
- Place the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, water and oil in a stand mixer bowl. If you don't have one just place it in any bowl.
- Mix everything up a bit with the hook attachment and then knead on high speed for 7 minutes. If you're not using a stand mixer, knead by hand for 15 minutes.
- Place a bit of olive oil in a clean bowl and let it proof covered with a kitchen cloth. Let it proof for an hour or until it doubles in size.
- Pour olive oil all over an oven tray. Divide the dough in 6 and stretch them out on the tray using your fingers in oval shapes. Make sure that they have about 3 fingers between each other so they can proof and bake without sticking. Cover them again and let them proof for another hour or until doubled in size.
- Dampen your fingers with olive oil and gently make holes in the focaccias.
- Drizzle them with olive oil and place some onion and mozzarella cheese on each one. The eggplant slices go at the centre. You can do one or two slices. Finish with a bit of coarse sea salt.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 230C / 446F for 10-15min or until golden.
