Find my Easy Same-Day Focaccia recipe on Samsung Food (search ‘Easy Same-Day Focaccia’) or copy and paste this link:

Mix the dough as stated in the dough recipe, cover the bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes. While the dough is resting, mix up the cinnamon sugar by combining 6 tablespoons granulated sugar with 1 heaping tablespoon of ground cinnamon in a small bowl.

After 15 minutes, it’s time for the first set of stretch + folds on the dough. Evenly sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar on top of the dough and then perform the stretch and folds as instructed in the focaccia recipe. Cover the bowl, wait 15 minutes and then repeat this exact process once more. You should have incorporated 4 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar into the dough.

Cover the dough and continue proofing the dough for 1.5 hours at room temperature.

Once the dough has finished proofing, line a 9x13 inch metal baking tray with non-stick parchment paper. You can use a slightly larger tray if you don’t mind your focaccia baking up a bit thinner (it will spread out more). Add about 1.5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the parchment-lined baking tray and spread it around evenly, making sure to get a little bit on the parchment paper lining the sides of the tray too.

Tip the dough into the oiled baking tray and gently coax it into an even thickness that mostly reaches to the edges of the baking tray. You want a lot of surface area of the dough exposed as this is the point where you’ll be sprinkling the remaining cinnamon sugar (3 tablespoons) over the top of the dough before folding it up for one final proofing session.

Evenly sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar over the dough and then fold it up to encase it. Fold one side of dough towards the middle of the blob of dough. Repeat with the other side, a bit like folding a piece of paper into thirds (it will look a bit like a burrito). Rotate the dough so the length of it aligns with the length of the tray and then flip the dough so the seams from the folding are at the bottom and the smooth side is at the top.

Cover and allow the dough to proof for another 1.5 hours at room temperature.

When the dough has fully proofed, preheat the oven to 210C/410F and position the rack to the lowest position in your oven.

Melt 2 tablespoons of salted butter in the microwave and then drizzle it evenly over the top of the dough. Sprinkle the coarse Demerera/Turbinado sugar over the top of the dough and then dimple the focaccia thoroughly.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the focaccia is a lovely golden brown colour. While the focaccia is baking, add all of the ingredients for the cream cheese icing drizzle in medium sized bowl. Whisk together until the icing is smooth and is of drizzling consistency. If you need a tiny bit of extra milk to achieve this, add a little more in a half a teaspoon at a time.

When the focaccia has finished baking, let it cool in the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. If left to cool completely in the tray, the bottom may steam and become soggy.

Once it’s on the cooling rack, drizzle the cream cheese icing over the top. Use as little or as much icing as you wish to. The recipe is designed to have extra icing for dunking and spreading into the bread as it’s served. Note that if you plan to enjoy some of this focaccia on another day, leave that portion without icing so you can store it at room temperature instead of in the fridge.

You’ll find that that focaccia is much softer than other savoury focaccias you may have made. This is to be expected and is due to the addition of all the sugar into the dough.

If you have left the icing off of some of the bread, wrap any leftovers in foil and place them into a zip top storage bag. Store the bread at room temperature for up to three days and store the extra icing in a sealed container in the fridge. Place into a 180C/355F oven (still wrapped in foil) for 10-12 minutes and then peel back the top layer of the foil and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. Drizzle with reserved icing (you may need to mix in a touch of milk to thin the icing out as it thickens up over time in the fridge).

The icing contains cream cheese so if you have a portion leftover that has already been iced, wrap it up and store it in the fridge. When you’re ready to reheat it, wrap the focaccia in foil, tenting the top part loosely so the icing isn’t disrupted and follow the same instructions from above.