Fall

Shakshuka Focaccia

January 21, 2016
4.3
3 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

Here's an all in one breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Breads Bakery in New York City makes shakshuka focaccia: individual rounds of dough with tomato sauce or spinach spooned in the middle and a runny egg nestled in. This version is a little simpler: Create nests for the sauce and eggs in a sheet pan of focaccia dough, then cut the finished bread into squares, each with an egg. The focaccia recipe is Saltie's and the shakshuka Balaboosta's (the most flavorful recipe I've found), but you could use any recipes you like. For Saltie's Focaccia, I would start with 6 1/4 cups of flour and add up to 1/4 cup more if your dough is exceptionally sticky. It should be sticky, but not a liquid. —Ali Slagle

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 recipe Saltie's Focaccia dough, not cooked: https://food52.com/recipes...
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
  • 1 large jalapeño chile, cored, seeded, and chopped
  • 7 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground caraway
  • 8 large eggs
Directions
  1. At least 8 hours or up to 2 days before you plan to bake, make step 1 of the focaccia recipe—up until the dough rises in the fridge.
  2. Make the shakshuka. This can be done up to two days before you bake.
  3. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the bell peppers and jalapeño and cook just until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and sauté for another 2 minutes.
  4. Slowly pour in the tomatoes. Stir in the bay leaf, sugar, salt, paprika, cumin, pepper, and caraway and let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes. This mixture can also be made 2 days in advance.
  5. When you're ready to bake (or the night before brunch), oil an 18 x 13-inch baking sheet. Remove the focaccia dough from the refrigerator and transfer to the prepared pan. Using your hands, spread the dough out on the prepared pan as much as possible, adding oil to the dough as needed to keep it from sticking. Place the dough in a warm place and let it rise until it about doubles in bulk The rising time will vary considerably depending on the season. (In the summer, it might take just 20 minutes; in winter, it can take an hour or more.) When the dough is ready, it should be room temperature, spread out on the sheet, and fluffy feeling.
  6. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Use your knuckles to make a well in one corner of the dough. You'll be making eight wells total, so make sure to allow enough space for them all. Add a heaping 1/3 cup shakshuka sauce into the well you've just massaged. Continue until you have 8 sauce-filled wells. Sprinkle with salt.
  7. Bake the bread for 15 minutes, until the bread is just starting to brown. Crack an egg in a bowl with a spout and gingerly pour the egg into the shakshuka. Repeat with the remaining 7 eggs. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and freshly ground pepper and put the pan back into the oven until the eggs are set, about 5 minutes.
  8. Allow the bread to cool until you can touch it, then cut into 8 squares.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Micki Balder
    Micki Balder
  • Marian Bull
    Marian Bull
  • cori
    cori
  • fricky1
    fricky1

6 Reviews

cori May 4, 2016
Does this have to be refrigerated when stored?
 
fricky1 April 19, 2016
There's a problem with the headnote in this story. It says to start the focaccia with 3.25 cups FLOUR and add more as needed, but that really should be 3.25 cups of water.
 
wietje April 15, 2016
Great, and I'm thinking maybe I can use different fillings for diiferent wells to get a combo. Eggs in two wells, cheese in another two, then spinach, smoked salmon...
 
mustardaddict March 29, 2016
I made it for easter brunch yesterday and it is delicious!
 
Micki B. February 20, 2016
I could eat this every day. So good!
 
Marian B. February 19, 2016
i want.....to live......inside......this recipe.....