Light and airy focaccia, topped with cinnamon-coated apple chunks and all topped with a classic fritter glaze. A great Fall treat and a great way to enjoy all the flavours of apple fritters without the deep frying!
I love apple fritters and have a great apple fritter recipe. It’s a real deal, deep-fried apple fritter doughnut. And while deep-frying is the path to great apple fritter doughnuts, I know some are looking to avoid the whole deep-frying thing. If that describes you, this apple fritter focaccia is for you!
This focaccia is as close as you’ll get to all the best things about apple fritters without the deep fryer. As focaccia is baked in a generously oiled pan, the outside bakes up super crispy and almost fried in texture. The top is lightly crispy and sweetly glazed, while the inside is light and fluffy, all with the same glaze and apple mixture of my original apple fritter.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Bread Flour – Bread flour (aka Strong Flour) is highly recommended for focaccia for the best texture in the finished bake. In a pinch, you can use all-purpose flour, but you may need to use a bit more all-purpose flour to reach the proper dough consistency.
Yeast – Instant yeast, such as SAF, is recommended. If you only have Dry Active yeast, follow the instructions in the Recipe Card for proofing the yeast before adding to the dough.
Oil – While classic focaccia is made with olive oil, I have swapped the olive oil for regular cooking oil here to more closely channel the flavours of apple fritters. You can use any neutral-tasting cooking oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil or sunflower oil.
Apples – A firm tart or somewhat tart apple is the best choice here, as the tart apple pairs nicely with the sweet glaze and this type of apple will also hold its shape well when baked. You could go with the super-tart Granny Smith, but I prefer a red-skinned tart apple. I’ve used Pink Lady here. Other tart apples would be Empire or Cortland, Northern Spy, Braeburn or any apple you might use for an apple pie.
Lemon Juice – you will need a bit of lemon juice for the apples. Freshly-squeezed lemon juice is recommended.
Light Corn Syrup – There is a tiny bit of corn syrup used in the fritter glaze. Corn syrup is an invert sugar, so its role in the glaze is to prevent the sugar in the sugar syrup from crystallizing. Light corn syrup refers to the colour (it is clear). You could use dark corn syrup in a pinch. If you don’t have or don’t want to use corn syrup, you can substitute honey or golden syrup, though this will introduce a slight flavour addition to the glaze.
How to make apple fritter focaccia
Start by making the focaccia dough …
- Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix until well combined. The dough will be very wet! Cover and let it rest briefly.
- Do some stretches and folds in the bowl, then let it rest again.
- Add some oil to a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Add the dough and do some more stretches and rough shaping in the pan.
- The dough will not fill the pan at this point. Cover the pan and let it rest again.
While the dough is resting, make the apple topping …
- Cook the diced apple in a skillet until softened and until almost all of the liquid disappears.
- Remove the apples to a bowl and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Stir together well to coat and set aside.
Assemble and bake the focaccia …
- After the dough has rested, it should have expanded to fill much of the pan.
- Use your fingertips to make dimples in the dough, then scatter the apples overtop of the dough. Drizzle with a bit of oil before baking.
- After baking, the focaccia will be deep golden in colour.
Make the fritter glaze …
- Start the glaze by bringing some water, sugar and corn syrup to a boil. (The tiny bit of corn syrup prevents the glaze from crystallizing.).
- Add the sugar syrup to the icing sugar and stir together until smooth.
- Spread the glaze over the top of the warm focaccia and allow it to set before slicing.
Recipe tips!
Focaccia dough is very wet and will never be traditionally kneadable. Instead of kneading, you will do a series of stretches and folds right in the bowl. You don’t need to stress that you’re “doing it right” as it is a fairly forgiving process. Simply grab the dough around the edge, pull it straight up to stretch it, then lay it down over the dough ball. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat 3 more times. Done!
Making ahead, storing and freezing
This focaccia is best enjoyed on the day it is baked, but is still quite nice the 2nd day. Store at room temperature well covered.
For longer storage, this focaccia will freeze well for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Apple Fritter Focaccia
Ingredients
For the focaccia dough:
- 4 cups (500 g) bread flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 3/4 cup (420 ml) lukewarm water, about 105F
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) Instant yeast, *see Note 1 below for using Active dry yeast
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil, or similar neutral-tasting oil
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) honey or white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8 g) fine table salt
For the pan:
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
For the cinnamon apples:
- 2 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (*see Note 2 below)
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
For the fritter glaze:
- 2 cups icing/confectioners/ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup, or honey or golden syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) water
Equipment
- 9×13-inch metal baking pan
Instructions
- Tip! For best results, use a kitchen scale and weigh the ingredients with the weight measurements and a metric measuring cup for measuring the liquid.
For the focaccia:
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the kneading hook, mix together the lukewarm water, instant yeast, vegetable oil, honey and salt. Add in the flour and stir together until well combined. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let rest for 15 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough *see Notes below for how to stretch and fold). Cover the bowl again and rest another 15 minutes. Do another series of stretches and folds. Cover with the towel again and let rise for one hour.
- Add the oil to the bottom of a 9×13-inch metal baking pan and use a brush to evenly spread over the bottom of the pan. Pour the dough into the greased pan, then stretch and fold the dough in the pan, top over bottom, bottom over top, then flip it over so that the smooth side is out. Roughly shape the dough into a rectangle but don't stretch it to fill the pan. It will spread on its own as it rises. (**See step-by-step photos to see how much of the pan it should fill before it rises.) Use a large baking sheet placed on top of the baking pan as a cover and let the dough rise for an hour and a half. (Alternatively, cover the baking pan with plastic wrap.)
- While the focaccia is rising, prepare the cinnamon apples.
For the cinnamon apples:
- Place the diced apples, sugar and lemon juice into a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until all the liquid has evaporated and the apples are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl. Stir together the cinnamon and flour in a small bowl, then add to the apples. Stir to coat well and set aside.
For baking:
- Preheat the oven to 430F (non-convection) . After second prove, make lots dimples in the with oiled fingertips then scatter the cinnamon apples overtop. Drizzle with a bit more vegetable oil.
- Bake in the preheated oven 19-23 minutes or until deep golden. While the focaccia is baking, prepare the glaze.
For the fritter glaze:
- Add the icing sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla to a medium bowl and stir together. Set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the water and white granulated sugar to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 1 minute. Add the sugar syrup mixture to the bowl with the icing sugar and whisk until all the sugar has been incorporated and the mixture is smooth. (You don't want any lumps :) Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until needed.
- When the focaccia is out of the oven, allow it to rest for 5 minutes, then pour the glaze overtop. Use the back of a spoon to spread the glaze to cover the entire top of the focaccia. Allow the focaccia to cool further and the glaze to set before cutting into squares to serve.
Notes
More focaccia recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Made Kate afternoon, in the oven now, looks perfect. Additives? Thought, pecans, walnuts, soaked raisins, cardamom, mace?! Advice welcome!
Hi Pamela, I fashioned this one after my apple fritter recipe, so it is just the ingredients you might find in an apple fritter. That said, this focaccia is really a blank canvas for experimentation. I’ve been mulling over a cinnamon roll version myself :)
Have you tried to refrigerate the dough after spreading it in the pan and baking the next morning?
Tried the recipe and loved it, but would like to serve it fresh for a brunch.
Hi Jo and yes, doing the final rise in the refrigerator overnight should work fine. Just set it out in the morning to come to room temperature before baking.
This was just amazing. I substituted quartered prune plums for the apple pieces and my guests could not get enough. Fabulous dough. I also used butter on the top instead of oil.
So pleased you enjoyed it, Nicole! Thanks :)
Hi Jennifer, A few steps with time in between which made for a fun baking project on a cold rainy day. The end result was just as you said, light and airy with all the flavours of an apple fritters. My family loved it and the house smelled wonderful. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad to hear, Glenda! It’s a perfect rainy-day baking project and so rewarding in the end :) Thanks!