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Braschino – Sweet Focaccia Bread

November 18, 2013 by GG 34 Comments

Braschino With Raisins, Almonds And Chopped Peel

Braschino With Raisins, Almonds And Chopped Peel

On the last day of our holiday in Italy, Mr Glam and I were very aware that we had a long drive ahead of us with limited options for stopping, as we’d be heading towards switzerland and the St Bernard Pass.  The route would be motorway or mountain pass, a mixture of mundane and stunningly beautiful.  However we wouldn’t come across many restaurants for lunch or snacks.  The local market filled with it’s artisan pasta, precious fragrant olive oil and blueberry grappa was a wonderful place to buy ingredients for a fabulous meal but not one to eat in a car.  Just as we were about to give up, we spotted a pile of brioche type rolls stuffed with local salami and skewered with a cocktail stick in order to keep the contents under the beautifully golden lid.  Next to these was a sugared raisin bread, circular and flatish called Braschino.  Perfect for our car picnic and both, as it turned out, the perfect mixture of sweet and savoury.

Squares Of Braschino

Squares Of Braschino

Despite a lot of searching I haven’t been able to find a recipe for this delicious cross over of bread and cake, packed with dried fruit and nuts.  The top is crunchy with sugar whilst the dough is sugarless.  Armed with nothing more than an ingredients list of  ‘farina 00, olio, uova, sale, lievito, zucchero, noci, uvetta, burro’, I’ve created my version.  Because of the eggs, this dough needs a very long initial prove of 3 hours.

Braschino With A Crunchy Sugared Top

Braschino With A Crunchy Sugared Top

Braschino

Makes 1 large or 2 small

  • 500g 00 grade flour
  • 7g dried yeast
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 40mls extra virgin olive oil
  • 280mls tepid water
  • 150g raisins
  • 50g flaked almonds
  • 50g chopped candied peel
  • 25g unsalted butter cut into very small cubes
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Method

  • In a large bowl mix together the flour and the dried yeast
  • Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolks, olive oil and the water
  • Using your hands, mix all the ingredients until a dough is formed
  • Turn out onto a counter top and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough has changed from rough to a smooth texture
  • Tuck into a ball shape and place back into a clean oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to prove
  • After about 3 hours the dough should have just doubled in size and feel very elastic
  • Turn out and knock back, Pull into a rectangular shape and sprinkle with the raisins, nuts and candied peel
  • Fold the dough over the fruit and knead until the fruit and nuts are fairly evenly distributed through the dough.  Fold into three and replace in the oiled bowl, covered, for 30 minutes
  • After 30 minutes turn out and fold again in three, return to the bowl, cover and leave for a further 30 minutes
  • Preheat the oven to 220c
  • Remove from the bowl and repeat the folding for the last time. cover and leave for 30 minutes
  • Finally turn out and shape into either 2 circles or 1 rectangle and place on a baking paper lined baking sheet
  • Dot the top with half of the chopped butter and sprinkle with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar
  • Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the oven temperature to 200c
  • After a further 10 minutes dot the top of the loaf with the remaining butter and sugar
  • Return to the oven for a further 15 – 20 minutes
  • Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack
  • Slice and enjoy
Braschino

Braschino

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Filed Under: Baking, Recipes, Travels

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Comments

  1. Joanne T Ferguson says

    November 18, 2013 at 1:28 am

    G’day GG! Your photo looks UBER YUM and great!
    Wish I could try some now! WOW!
    Cheers! Joanne

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 12:57 pm

      It is very tasty and keeps quite well if you wrap it in plastic wrap. GG

      Reply
  2. Krista says

    November 18, 2013 at 2:27 am

    What a delicious bread you’ve made. 🙂 Good for you experimenting until you could make it just right. 🙂

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 12:59 pm

      It takes a while to make but, really, it’s worth it. GG

      Reply
  3. Hotly Spiced says

    November 18, 2013 at 5:39 am

    I do like the sound of your drive through Europe. To us in Oz, to be able to drive from one country to another seems so foreign. We are surrounded by water and to go overseas is to go ‘over seas’. I love the look of your sweet bread – I would love to try and make this. It must smell amazing as it’s cooking xx

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:02 pm

      It’s strange how we all view the travelling thing. Oz is so enormous to us in our tiny island, it’s almost unimaginable. As a Brit we have to get off our island too and it’s only the rest of Europe that has the luxury of driving through borders. However we don’t have to travel as far as you guys. We see Bali as exotic and you see Greece as exotic and for each of us they are relatively cheap holidays!!

      The bread does smell lovely when it’s cooking, it’s well worth giving a go. GG xx

      Reply
  4. denise@magnoliaverandah says

    November 18, 2013 at 6:33 am

    This looks perfect. Just the thing for car picnics.

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:08 pm

      Perfect for a car picnic, except you need a sugar catcher!! GG

      Reply
  5. David Crichton says

    November 18, 2013 at 8:05 am

    I’m sure the scenery on your drive would have been so amazing, you probably forget to eat. What a delightful snack to have on standby.

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:13 pm

      The scenery was absolutely amazing, waterfalls, glaciers, forests of pines and green, green low lying pastures. It’s always reassuring to have a tasty snack in the bag! GG

      Reply
  6. Angie@Angie's Recipes says

    November 18, 2013 at 8:59 am

    Love your sweet version of Italian classic. Perfect for breakfast and picnic!

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:14 pm

      How right you are, the Glam Londoner loved it; he took about half back to uni with him. GG

      Reply
  7. Choc Chip Uru says

    November 18, 2013 at 9:17 am

    Your experimenting paid off definitely my friend this looks so delicious 😀
    The raisins are popping out at me!

    Cheers
    CCU

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:15 pm

      It did! It’s always rewarding when the trials work out. GG

      Reply
  8. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says

    November 18, 2013 at 9:42 am

    Aren’t you clever developing this recipe when you couldn’t find one! This is a bread that I’d love, I love it when there is lots of fruit 🙂

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 1:16 pm

      This is packed with fruit and the crunchy sugar topping makes it really tasty without being too sweet. GG

      Reply
  9. Karen (Back Road Journal) says

    November 18, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    It sounds like your picnic lunch during your drive was terrific. I’m happy that you could recreate the bras chino as it sounds wonderful.

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 8:44 pm

      It was fab and the drive was amazing too. GG

      Reply
  10. Choclette says

    November 18, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    That looks so good. I do like a good fruit loaf, but find ones I buy usually far too sweet. Not having any sugar in the actual dough sounds like the answer. How did your recipe compare?

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 9:40 pm

      The one I bought in Italy was slightly flatter, thinner. This recipe could be as thin as that if you rolled the dough out a bit more. GG

      Reply
  11. Lizzy (Good Things) says

    November 18, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    GG, I love this. Absolutely love it! Bookmarking now for baking later! Thanks so much for sharing.

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 18, 2013 at 9:45 pm

      Let me know how it goes. GG

      Reply
  12. Nazneen|Coffee and Crumpets says

    November 19, 2013 at 4:57 am

    That looks so good! Like a flattened panettone. I love these kind of breads and will definitely keep this one in mind to try soon. Hope you and Mr Glam had a great holiday, seems like you did with all these tasty treats!

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 19, 2013 at 3:26 pm

      Thank you, I was delighted with how it came out. Let me know how it turns out. We did have an amazing holiday, Thank you. GG xx

      Reply
  13. Ameena says

    November 20, 2013 at 1:26 am

    This looks absolutely amazing. I want to go to Italy for about 1,000 reasons. And now it’s 1,001. 🙂

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm

      Whatever the reasons, you have to go to Italy. It’s amazing. GG

      Reply
  14. nancy@jamjnr.com says

    November 20, 2013 at 1:47 am

    Looks amazing – and quite Christmassy too so great timing.

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 20, 2013 at 9:48 pm

      You’re right it is quite Christmasy. Perhaps I should add it to my Christmas baking list. GG

      Reply
  15. Totally Heavenly says

    November 20, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    Wow, that is an absolute stunner. This is one of my favourite types of things to eat, maybe with a hot cup of tea and some cheeky honey (cause sugar is never enough LOL). I imagine that this would take a bit like pannatone, which i completely adore.
    *kisses* H

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 20, 2013 at 9:46 pm

      Thank you. It is a bit like pannetone, but more breadlike. I love it. GG

      Reply
  16. Louisa, Eat Your Veg says

    November 21, 2013 at 11:00 am

    Oh this looks like a very tasty Italian styly fruit loaf! Obviously oodles more sophisticated than the British version. I reckon this would be a lovely Christmas bake too, packed full of all that gorgeous fruit. Heaven in a slice!

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 22, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      It’d make a great Christmas bake. GG

      Reply
  17. Kumar's Kitchen says

    November 22, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    wow….never heard of a sweet focaccia before…looks beyond delicious…a must try 🙂

    Reply
    • GG says

      November 22, 2013 at 4:02 pm

      This was my first encounter with a sweet focaccia type bread. The eggs make it a little denser than regular focaccia. GG

      Reply

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Glamorous Glutton

Hi! I’m GG and I write a Food and Travel Blog based in the UK. I began my blog in 2011 after years spent in the fashion industry, travelling the world. Finally I had time to think and indulge in my passions for writing, travel, food, and photography, in my own time.♥
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