INCREDIBLE Kimcheese Focaccia

Kimchi, cheese and focaccia together? YES! This incredible fusion focaccia bread combines the flavours of Korean cuisine with Italian breadmaking. It was inspired by the Kimcheese focaccia at Pantry Story that has a cult following of its own. You can make a huge sheet of this focaccia and enjoy its cheesy, spicy, spongey goodness. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!no

When Laura and I went to Pantry Story many months ago our favourite thing was the kimcheese focaccia. It was so good that after we shared one slice we went back to buy another. But at around $10 a slice, I knew that I needed to find a better way to get my kim cheese focaccia fix (also we had to wake up early to get there and I try and avoid that if I can!) so I went about making a copycat recipe.

I made so many variations of this focaccia to get to this final recipe. There is Korean kimchi layered with caramelised onions, gochujang and two types of cheese all dimpled into the holes of my big bubble focaccia dough. All of my friends received some but the person that received the final batch was Laura who thought that it was pretty spot on. I think my version has more kim chi and cheese just because I prefer more topping. Theirs is more a brush of it and some kimchi and cheese within the dimples.

Tips For Making KimCheese Focaccia

1 - The main thing you need is patience. Big bubble focaccias are a result of two things: an autolyse right at the beginning and time in the fridge fermenting. Start this 3 days before you want to eat it.

2 - Use a bread flour which has a higher protein level than regular. I like using Caputo Manitoba Oro 0 flour.

3 - I just used kimchi and gochujang from a grocery store. There's no need to get super fancy I promise!

4 - There is not that much hands on time for this recipe and you can also make the kimchi topping up to 3 days in advance.

I've got a little update for y'all! Do you remember me telling you about my missing airtag last week? Well, about a week after Mr NQN sent a message for the guy that he sold his SUP board to, we got into the car to take the boys to Sydney park for a run. About 2 minutes into the drive the rain started falling in light drops on the windscreen and we both sighed. Teddy and Milo really needed a run. I picked up my phone and for some reason it opened on the Find My Phone app where the airtags are tracked. I saw our little lost tag was out and about. It actually at a beach which is where Mr NQN sometimes goes to wingfoil and SUP.

"Hey look, our airtag is at the beach you go to!" I said showing Mr NQN the map.

"OK we're going there now," he said turning the car sharp right instead of going left. "It's raining so we can't go to the park anyway," he said.

We arrived at the beach a few minutes later and Mr NQN asked me to sit in the car. "Now don't go crazy about your airtag," he said looking at me seriously before adding, "Stay in the car ok?". Of course I didn't stay in the car. I grabbed the dogs and we followed Mr NQN. The app was showing that the tag was in the car park and he spied the cover of one of the boards in the open back of a Ute.

"That's him there," he said pointing at a small figure in a wetsuit on the beach. "I'll have a chat to him," he said before adding, "PLEASE stay here" he implored.

Mr NQN ambled off into the distance and I watched him approach the guy on the beach. The body language on both was relaxed and I couldn't see any problems so I took the dogs for a walk. When we got back I saw them by the man's ute and Mr NQN was holding the airtag. The guy apparently had no idea what an airtag was and when he heard the tag ping (from me) he just assumed that it was one of his flatmate's items! Mr NQN was showing him how it worked and he was looking on in wonderment!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like the kimcheese flavour combo? And is there something delicious that you'd like a copycat recipe for?

Kimcheese Focaccia

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 3 days rising time

Cooking time: 1 1/4 hours (45 minutes + 30 minutes)

Cooking time: 25 minutes

• 500g/1.1lbs bread flour (minimum 12g protein per 100g or 0.4 ounce per 3.5ozs)
• 460g/0.9pint water
• 8g/0.28oz instant dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 9g/0.3oz fine salt
• 6-7 tablespoons olive oil

For Kimcheese topping

• 300g/10.6ozs kimchi
• 200g/7ozs yellow or brown onion
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 40g/1.4ozs gochujang red pepper paste
• 150g/5ozs grated mozzarella
• 50g/1.7ozs parmesan cheese

Step 1 - First mix the flour and water together in a large bowl making sure that there are no dry patches. Cover and sit for 30 minutes. Then stir in the yeast (I find it easiest to sprinkle this over) and sugar. Then add the salt and make sure that it is well mixed in with a dough whisk and there are no dry patches of yeast. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil on top and cover and sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Step 2 - Take the dough and lift it from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position. Then rest it for 30 minutes at room temperature. Then repeat this coil fold 3 times. Then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cover and keep in the fridge for 3 days.

Step 3 - Make the kimcheese topping. You can make this up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. Peel, halve and mandolin the onions. Place a frying pan on medium heat and add the butter and oil. Reduce heat to low and add the sliced onions. Stir the onions so that they get evenly cooked, it will take around 30-45 minutes to get the onions soft and caramelised. Then mix well with the kimchi and gochujang paste and set aside for topping.

Step 4 - Four hours before you want to bake it take the dough out of the fridge. Line a 28x22x7cm/11x8.7x2.7inch baking tin with parchment and drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over the base spreading it out. Do one final coil fold and place the dough into the tin. Cover with another high rimmed tin upside down (so that the dough won't touch the tin once it doubles in size). Spread out as much as possible and leave it in a sunny area of the kitchen for 3-4 hours.

Step 5 - When the dough has doubled in size it should have spread out to all of the edges. Preheat oven to 220C/440F fan forced. When ready, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top and dimple the focaccia (the fun bit!) creating bubbles and dimples with your fingers. Scatter the kimchi and onion mixture and then add the mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes (check at 25 minutes and if it is browning too much, reduce heat to 180C/350F). Allow to rest in the pan for 30 minutes and then slice up with a serrated bread knife.