Breakfast Fruit Focaccia

This is focaccia in name only. It is closer to an Italian schiacciata, the breakfast fruit flatbread you find in Tuscan bakeries, made absurdly easy by starting with thawed frozen bread dough instead of mixing your own.

Stretch the dough into a 10 by 15 inch pan, let it puff for 45 minutes, then press in sliced plums (or apples, or fresh figs) like jewels across the top. A brush of melted butter and a heavy dusting of cinnamon sugar tops the fruit before it goes into the oven.

Baking on the bottom rack is the move. The bread dough cooks from below so the bottom crisps before the fruit on top gets overcooked. You want the edges deep brown and the bottom crackly when you check with a spatula.

Serve warm, torn into wedges, for breakfast or brunch. Coffee on the side. That is the whole experience.

Pro Tips

• Use firm-ripe plums. Soft fruit weeps too much juice and turns the dough soggy underneath.
• Do not overlap fruit slices. Single layer only, so the dough between gets that classic dimpled focaccia caramelization.
• If the dough resists shaping, walk away for 5 minutes. Cold or overworked dough fights back, but a short rest lets the gluten relax.
• Sprinkle cinnamon sugar generously. Most of it dissolves into the fruit juices and forms a thin syrup on top during the bake.

Variations

• Swap plums for sliced pears in fall or fresh apricots in summer.
• Add a scatter of toasted sliced almonds before baking for crunch.
• Drizzle with honey and torn fresh rosemary instead of cinnamon sugar for a savory-sweet version.