Apple Streusel Focaccia made with Maple Oatmeal Bread

Yum. Delish....great for breakfast or dessert. Might be considered on the healthy side even. (if that's your thing. I'm trying to get there....)

This started as a wonderfully smelling incredible dough from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day called Maple Oatmeal Bread. The other part of our Sept. 15th assignment from Michelle at BigBlackDogs.net, the fearless, incredibly knowledgeable, and wonderfully sweet leader of HBin5 Bread Braid.

Soo....this dough smelled like a bowl of fresh oatmeal. I just wanted to stand there and sniff it while it rose. It of course contained rolled oats and maple but it also had cinnamon and buttermilk (everything baked with buttermilk seems to be better). I added 1/2 tsp barley malt syrup per cup of flour. (I am totally in love with that stuff!). I could've made a simple loaf and enjoyed it...and I do plan on making a few bagels this weekend but I wanted to make something different. Something to highlight the maple and oatmeal flavor. Btw....you can find the dough recipe on pgs 145-146 of the HBin5 cookbook by Jeff Hertzberg and Joe Francois. If you would love to make homemade bread but are afraid of yeast...I highly....HIGHLY recommend their books. Face your fear. Confront the yeast!

Of course you can use any dough you'd like just start off with a grapefruit sized ball (about a pound) of dough (after it's initial rise) and do what I did....

Apple Streusel Focaccia (Inspired by Quaker Caramel Apple Flatbread)
Printable Version

1 lb Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Dough (or your choice of dough)
1 medium sized apple, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon or so of cinnamon sugar (or to taste)
3/4 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup greek plain yoghurt
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Divide the dough in half and roll out into equally sized rectangles. Place a rectangle on a greased cookie sheet and spread the apples up to 1" from the edges. Sprinkle with your favorite cinnamon sugar mixture.

(ok, so my rectangles aren't equal in size....but it worked anyway..a little nudge here and a tuck there.)

Gently take the "empty" rectangle and place it on top of the apple covered rectangle and pinch the edges together to seal in all that yumminess

Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and let rest for about 30 minutes or so.

Preheat your oven to 400'F.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and yoghurt. Mix well. Once the dough has finished resting and hopefully rose a bit, spread the yoghurt mixture on top. You might not need all of it....that's ok. Don't force it. It will depend on how big your focaccia ends up being (yours might end up being bigger than mine and I didn't use all of the topping). Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the topping.
Bake for about 20 - 30 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

It's kinda like a fancy apple turnover. Or....apple oatmeal on bread. What ever it is....it's good! And it's making me a promise that fall is just around the corner.