These cinnamon roll focaccia bites are a great alternative to the classic cinnamon rolls. This recipe is beginner friendly and requires less amount of time to make, but with an amazing flavor. They can also be made ahead of time.
What will you need?
For the starter also called poolish:
Bread flour: highly recommend this over All Purpose flour because this recipe calls for a high content of water and long resting time. Bread flour contains a higher amount of protein which is necessary for this kind of recipe.
Water: depending on the season the temperature of the water will vary. In winter time we use lukewarm water, during summer the cold one is recommended. This recipe, like many of our focaccia recipes, calls for a high content of water and the term for this is “high hydration” dough. It yields soft and fluffy dough.
Yeast: whether you use “instant yeast” or “active dry yeast” it doesn’t really matter for this purpose. The main difference between the two kinds is that “active dry yeast” needs to be activated in warm water and sugar or honey prior to being used. Whereas “instant yeast” can be used right away.
Honey or sugar: yeast loves sugar, so whether you use active dry yeast or instant yeast, we recommend adding it so it feeds the yeast. To make it easy we simply dissolve the honey or sugar in the water.
Salt: for flavor since this is a savory focaccia.
Extra virgin olive oil: also known as EVOO or EVO oil. We recommend the extra virgin olive oil instead of the simple “olive oil” because it’s much flavorful. Depending on the brand, EVO oil is pure whereas simple olive oil is mixed with other oils.
Dough hydration: if you divide the total amount of water by the total amount of flour in this specific recipe, you will find out that the percentage of hydration of this recipe is 80%. Here is where the stretch and folds will be helpful: not only they help with gluten development but they will also make the dough easier to handle. So please do NOT add any more flour, otherwise you will end up with a more dense and drier focaccia bread.
Why do we let it rest for so long?
There are different reasons why we prefer it this way: first, it helps with digestion because we use less yeast and his makes for longer resting hours. Second, the flavor and texture improve much more when letting rest at least 12 hours.
What pan should you use?
Highly recommend a metal pan instead of a glass one, because it holds the heat differently and will yield a very crispy focaccia on the bottom. We used a 9x13inch.
How to store it?
The best way to store focaccia is to let it cool completely, then put in freezer safe ziplock bags. If you leave it on the countertop uncovered, it will dry out and harden.
To reheat the focaccia, you can go two ways. You can microwave on the “defrost” option for a minute or so. Or, alternatively, you can place it in the air fryer for 4 minutes at 360F.
Equipment
- 9×9inch metal pan
Ingredients
- Starter:
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons bread flour (150gr)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water (150gr)
- 1/2 tsp yeast (1.5-2gr)
- 1 tsp honey or sugar
- The day after:
- 1 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp bread flour (200gr)
- 4 oz +1 tbsp 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ice cold water (130gr)
- 1 heaping teaspoon salt (9gr)
- 1 tbsp cold butter salted, cut into very small small pieces or shredded (15gr)
- Cinnamon mixture:
- 1/3 heaping cup + 3 tbsp brown sugar (130 gr)
- 1 1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
- Mix all the ingredients well and set aside. Half of the mixture will be used on the Focaccia dough. And the remaining goes on top.
- Icing:
- 2 tbsp salted butter melted (30gr)
- 1 heaping cup powdered sugar (125gr)
- 1 tsp vanilla (10gr)
- 1/4 cinnamon
- 3-4 tbsp milk
- Coating:
- 2 tbsp salted butter melted in a medium size bowl.
Instructions
- Make starter simply by mixing bread flour, water, yeast, and honey. Cover and let rest on the countertop for about 5-6 hours.
- After it has tripled in volume and lots of bubbles on top, mix in the rest of the flour and the ice cold water and salt. Finally, add the extra virgin oil, no kneading required.
- Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Then do 1 round of stretch and folds, and add half of the cinnamon sugar mixture so it's incorporated and the pieces of butter : sprinkle some cinnamon sugar mixture and some butter pieces, then grab the dough stretching it out and then fold towards the center. Sprinkle some more cinnamon sugar, then fold.
- Flip seamside down and shape into a ball.
- The dough will be very wet and sticky.
- Place in the fridge overnight.
- The day after, take dough out of the fridge and leave at room temp for 2.5-3 hours.
- Slighlty grease metal pan with some olive oil making sure to get the sides too. Then layer with parchment paper and sprinkle some of the cimmanon sugar mixture (keep half for the top when dimpling).
- Melt 2 tbsp of salted butter in a medium size ball (not too big). You will need it for coating the dough bites.
- Divide dough into 25 pieces and roughly shape each of them into a ball. Grease them with the melted butter (I dip them quickly in the melted butter) then place in the pan making rows of 5×5. If you have leftover melted butter, set it aside. You will use some to grease your fingers for dimpling and the rest goes on the Focaccia before baking.
- Let the dough rest in the pan for about 1 hour (perform the poke test: gently but firmly poke the dough with your finger. If it springs back but it leaves a dent, it's ready. If it spring back right away without leaving a dent, it's underproofed and not ready yet. If it doesn't spring back at all, it's overproofed).
- Preheat oven at 425°F.
- Grease your fingertips, drizzle the leftover butterfly coating and sprinkle the rest of the cimmanon sugar among the 25 butes and dimple. Bake on bottom rack for about 8-10 minutes, then move on the middle rack and finish baking until golden crispy on top (about 5 minutes).
- Make icing: Mix all the ingredients adding the milk slowly until desired consistency.
- Take them out of the oven and and drizzle with icing while still warm.
- Let set for until they have cooled enough to be eaten and serve.
- Enjoy!