Cinnamon Sugar Focaccia with Bourbon Cream Cheese Glaze

Instructions

Mix the Flour and Water (Autolyse)

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour with all but 1 tablespoon of the warm water. Stir until no dry spots remain — dough will be shaggy.
2. Cover and let rest 20 minutes. The dough should look rough and shaggy, but fully hydrated with no dry flour spots. It won’t look smooth yet.
3. Meanwhile, sprinkle yeast over reserved 1 tablespoon warm water in a small bowl; let dissolve.

Add Salt and Yeast

1. Sprinkle salt evenly over the dough. Pour in dissolved yeast.
2. With damp hands, stretch and fold dough: reach under, stretch upward, fold over top. Rotate bowl and repeat 4–5 times.
3. Squeeze dough gently in several spots to help incorporate salt and yeast.
4. Repeat stretch-and-fold a few more times until dough is slightly smoother. The dough won’t be perfectly smooth yet, but it should start holding together and feel a little stronger and stretchier than it did before.
5. Cover and let rest at room temp for 1 hour.

Final Fold + Bulk Fermentation

1. Give dough one more set of folds.
2. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl, smooth side up.
3. Cover and let rise 5–6 hours at room temp, or until doubled with lots of visible bubbles. The dough should be airy, jiggly, and full of bubbles around the edges. If you nudge the bowl, it should wobble like a soft pillow.
4. If your dough still looks dense and not bubbly by hour 6, give it another 30–60 minutes as rise times can vary depending on kitchen temperatures.

Pan & Proof

1. Grease a 9×13-inch metal baking pan with softened butter.
2. Gently transfer dough, stretching toward edges without deflating. If the dough slowly relaxes and spreads on its own, that’s a good sign. You don’t need to force it to every corner right away. Overworking the dough will burst the bubbles in the dough.
3. Cover and let rise until puffy and bubbly, 1–2 hours. The dough should look noticeably puffier, with large, visible bubbles just under the surface.

First Cinnamon Sugar Layer (Gooey Base)

1. In a bowl, combine cinnamon, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and pinch of salt.
2. Drizzle 3 tablespoon browned butter evenly over dough surface.
3. Sprinkle two-thirds of cinnamon sugar (about 7 ½ tablespoons) over top. Reserve the remaining amount.
4. Lightly oil your hands, then use your fingertips to gently press straight down into the dough all over the surface. You’re not poking holes — just making little indentations so the dough looks bumpy and uneven. This helps the focaccia rise evenly and gives the cinnamon sugar somewhere to settle during baking. Make sure you cover the whole surface with dimples, but don’t press so hard that you deflate the dough.

Bake, Then Add Second Layer

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. Bake focaccia for 14 minutes. The surface should look set and lightly golden around the edges, but still pale in the center. The cinnamon-sugar will look melted and glossy.
3. Remove from oven, quickly drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon browned butter.
4. Combine remaining one-third cinnamon sugar with turbinado sugar; sprinkle over top.
5. Return to oven and bake 10–12 minutes more. The focaccia should be deep golden at the edges, with bubbling sugar on top that looks caramelized and crisp. The center should no longer look wet, but the very top may still look glossy from the caramelized sugar. That’s normal.

Make the Glaze

1. In a bowl, whisk cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Whisk in vanilla, lemon juice, bourbon, and salt.
3. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth.
4. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until pourable. The glaze should fall off the whisk in a slow, steady ribbon. If it disappears into the bowl immediately, it’s a little too thin.

Finish & Serve

1. Slice into squares or strips. Serve glaze alongside for drizzling or dipping if desired.