Crunchy Blue Grape Bread with Rosemary and Roasted Garlic

This is a pretty unique bread recipe. Not the idea of a grape bread; that concept has been done time and again. What’s unique about it is the combination of light, crunchy, golden bread that’s chewy where the grapes and garlic melt into the dough. It’s very thin, crisp, and rich with flavor and colour.

Blue grapes are an unusual grape too, and one that I jump on when I’m lucky enough to find them. These particular blue grapes are from the Niagara region, which is a very popular wine region in Ontario. I found these at Farm Boy in Toronto; a grocer who carries a ton of local produce. Blue grapes have a thick, intensely purple-blue skin, with soft, juicy insides. They don’t crunch at all, and instead explode with juice in your mouth. They smell like wine, especially when cooked. I much prefer to cook with these grapes than to eat them raw, but I enjoy eating them either way. If you can’t find blue grapes, use either black or muscat grapes.

The bread is also topped with globs of roasted garlic creamed with good olive oil. The texture of the dough is extremely wet and gloopy - it doesn’t hold together like a normal bread dough. That’s why I drop the garlic on in lumps instead of brushing it across the top. The added benefit of distributing the garlic this way is that it forms these chewy, moist little pockets that are a pleasure to sink your teeth into.

This bread would be a real hit on your holiday buffet table, as part of a charcuterie board, paired with a glass of wine, or brought along for a picnic or lunch.

Peanut free, nut free, dairy free, egg free, soy free

Ingredients
3 cups spelt flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil

1 full head of garlic, roasted
1 cup blue grapes
1 sprig of rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Add the flour and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Dissolve the yeast into the warm water in a small bowl, and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until it’s cloudy and the yeast is puffy and floating. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour it in, along with the olive oil. Mix until it starts to come together, then switch to using your hands to bring it together into a dough. Knead for about a minute, until it becomes more elastic, but is still very wet.

Grease another mixing bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm area for 2.5 hours. It should more than double in size. Then, punch it down and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread it out to 1/3 inch thickness. Let rise again for another 30 minutes.

To roast the garlic, wrap the entire bulb in aluminum foil and bake at 400F for 45 minutes - 1 hour. It should be creamy and golden inside. Let it cool, then slice the top off so you can squeeze out the insides.

Mash the squeezed out garlic with 2 tbsp of olive oil until creamy. When the dough has had its final rise, splatter the garlic mash all over the surface. Drop on the grapes and rosemary leaves. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Place the tray in a preheated 420F oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden and crispy. When cool enough to touch, cut into squares.

Makes 12 squares