It's been well over two years now since the hungry writers at Bay Area Bites mentioned Big Sur Bakery. I figured it was time. Now, I can't quite pin down the exact moment I became obsessed with Big Sur Bakery. It was well before the recent Bon Appetit mention and even before the stunning My Nepenthe cookbook came out. I feel like it's always been this legend-like place that I've been trying to get past relationships, friends, and family to tag along and try. But most folks always have the same reaction:

You want to drive 5 hours round-trip to go to a bakery? In one day?
And I usually reply something like this: No, no. Clearly these people are missing something. It's not just a bakery--it's a cafe as well. With real food, too.
Oh, sorry. Let me get this straight: So you want to drive over five hours to go to a cafe?

And then I met my friend Danielle. She and her husband drove down Highway 1 on July 4th and had a chance to join in the Big Sur Bakery's special festivities (Danielle swears she's never enjoyed baked beans until she'd tried theirs). Oh and did I mention they did it in one day just for the heck of it? Reason #1 why I like Danielle. Reason #2 came to light when she mentioned how we should drive down and eat lunch there someday because she hadn't had a chance to try the normal, non-holiday menu. I didn't need much convincing. I'd found the best mini road-tripping, foccaccia-loving, landscape-gawking, jelly-donut eating companion ever. Our friend Janet had a chance to join us last minute, and we all set off on a recent cloudy Wednesday morning eager to see what all the buzz was about.

Decisions, Decisions at Big Sur Bakery

I was initially surprised at how small The Big Sur Bakery is from the inside. There are probably about ten tables and a nice wrap-around deck outside. The folks having lunch were a mix of tourists (donning hiking boots and cameras) and locals swinging in for a quick treat to take with them as they continued down the road. It has the kind of slow pace that makes you want to order a little something else when you're finished with your meal just so you can sit and languish away the afternoon. If you go for lunch as we did, do know that it's counter service only and the menu is much more limited than it is during dinner. Limited, but darn good. They display the lunch specials of the day in the bakery case right when you walk in, so you simply order and pay and they'll bring it on out to your table.

My two dining companions each ordered the seasonal corn soup and a slice of foccaccia: one with local tomatoes and caramelized onions and the other with leeks and goat cheese. Big Sur Bakery makes all of their breads and foccaccias on site in their wood-fired oven and it's apparent from the first bite. The crust is pleasantly soft yet chewy, and the toppings are thoughtful and would've been utterly delicious all on their own. That's the thing about the folks at The Big Sur Bakery: they're adamant about using local eggs and produce whenever possible, and you can taste this decision in the final product.

Foccaccias and Seasonal Corn Soup

For my own lunch, I decided to try the potato frittata and a side of house greens. The frittata was perfectly seasoned with a mix of herbs and a little salt and pepper. And the greens with shallots, roasted carrots and a lemon poppyseed dressing were quite memorable. A perfect compliment to the more substantial frittata.

Potato Fritatta and House Salad

Danielle was smart enough to take home a Citrus Morning Bun for the next day and reported back that it was a little pillow of heaven (yes, those were close to her exact words).

Breakfast Pastries at Big Sur Bakery

And my friend Janet made the wise decision to buy a jelly donut on our way out. They just looked too good to pass up. We had every intention of waiting until later that afternoon to try it, but we barely made it out the front door.

Strawberry Jelly Donut at Big Sur Bakery

This is, quite possibly, the best jelly donut I've ever had. We puzzled over what made it so extraordinary and decided it had to be the heaps of homemade strawberry jam, the fact that it seemed like the jam was actually baked right into the donut, the light airy dough, and the gentle and completely perfect dusting of sugar. If I lived close to Big Sur, I could be in a whole lot of trouble if this is a standard breakfast item.

I've been thinking about how to sum up our few hours at Big Sur Bakery. It's a special place-- that you can gather through recommendations from friends, numerous media reviews, and their very lovely cookbook. But I think the reason it remains so special is because there's a sense still --somehow-- that you've stumbled upon it. You leave feeling like it's your little place, and you can't wait to tell the friends back home who you know would appreciate it. I'll tell you this: I couldn't imagine any other place I would've wanted to be at 1 p.m. that Wednesday afternoon.

Big Sur Bakery
Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
(831) 667-0520
Hours: Mon 8am-3pm; Tue-Sat 8am-8:30pm; Sun 8am-2:30pm

What do you eat when the grapes are ripe? Well, if you're surrounded by vineyards in northern Italy, you take your grapes and make a merenda, a snack, by pressing them into focaccia dough, sprinkling on olive oil, sugar, maybe a little anise seed, and baking the whole thing puffy and golden. And you call it schiacciata d'uva, which translates, appropriately enough, as "squashed grape thing."

But what if you can't get to Italy this autumn? While I was living in New York City, I discovered schiacciata d'uva on the fall menu at the Sullivan Street Bakery, along with a bunch of other rustic Italian-inspired breads and pastries. I'd walk 8 blocks from my office in Hell's Kitchen to get a slice in a paper bag, then eat all of it on the way back, wiping olive oil from my fingers as I went and wishing I'd bought two.

Spring, summer, and winter, I'd make the same walk for a slice of their Roman-style, thin-crust pizzas, topped with mushrooms or celery root, radicchio or potato. And they were good, but fall's grape flatbread was spectacular: pockets of juicy sweetness nestled into chewy, yeasty crust and crumb, accented by the surprising, subtly medicinal-herbal scent of anise.

Last time I checked, we had a lot of grapes growing around here, And what with all the slick Italian pizza joints around, you'd think we'd be rolling in grape-topped foccacia right about now. But nope: just as New York City has no Indian pizza, San Francisco has no schiacciata d'uva, as far as I've been able to discover. But, you have yeast, you have grapes, you have flour, sugar, a little anise seed and an inch or so of last night's white wine, and you can make your own.

This recipe began from the Focaccia from Genoa recipe in Carol Field's cookbook Focaccia: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven, further adapted by baker/blogger Jen McAllister, then messed around with in my own kitchen. Jen, who became a friend while we were both living the sweet outer-borough life in NYC (she in Queens, me in Brooklyn), wrote one of my favorite blogs, Prepare to Meet Your Bakerina. We shared a similar obsession with making bread, cake, jam, and pie, and an equal enthusiasm for the late Laurie Colwin, out-of-print British cookbooks, and the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Arkansas, where we both did fellowships.

Sadly, law school's gain is the blogosphere's loss; she's now out on the West Coast, a good thing, but too busy as a lawyer-to-be to blog much anymore. Happily, though, her site offers a big archive to sift through, including step-by-step pictures of this very focaccia in action.

But, back to the schiacciata. Given that the word means "squashed," this is a thinner, flatter focaccia than the usual fluffy mattress. It's mostly crust and topping, with just a thin layer of chewy, pull-y crumb inside. Tiny garnet-colored champagne grapes are perfect for this, but most red, blue, or purple seedless grapes would be fine. I wouldn't use Concords or Muscats, though, as they're too sweet and strongly flavored.

Unless you have a huge aversion to anything remotely licorice-flavored, don't skip the anise seeds. You don't need a lot of them, but you do need some. If you have some larger-crystal sugar, like turbinado (also sold under the brand name Sugar in the Raw), it adds a pleasant crunch.

This is a delicious before-dinner nosh with a little smudge of ripe, oozy tallegio. For breakfast the next morning, I'd warm up a slab in the toaster oven and serve it with some of Bellwether's crescenza cheese, the recipe for which these Marin cheesemakers learned from a small dairy near Milan. Buon appetito!

Schiacciata d'Uva

Sponge
1 cup flour
2/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp regular yeast
Dough
1/2 cup tepid water
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white white
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
olive oil for bowl
Topping
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups grapes, removed from stems
1/2 tsp anise seeds, or to taste
1-2 tbsp sugar

1. To make the sponge, dissolve yeast in a little of the lukewarm water. Add flour to the yeast mixture, then stir in enough water to make a stiff dough. You may not need all the water.

2. Cover sponge and let rise until softened and very bubbly, about 2 hours.

3. Scoop sponge (it will be sticky and stringy) into the bowl of a stand mixer, if you have one, or into a regular large bowl if not. Using the paddle attachment or a wooden spoon, beat in the water, olive oil, wine, and salt. Add the flour in 3 parts, beating well after each addition. The dough should be fairly slack.

4. Using a dough hook, knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Or, knead by hand for 10-12 minutes. Try lightly oiling your hands if dough sticks to them. If the dough gets goopy and threatens to wrap around your hands and turn them into enormous gooey dough paws, add a little more flour, but go easy. Better to suffer a little now than to end up with a tight, heavy bread later.

5. Swish a couple of teaspoons of olive oil around a big clean bowl. Turn the dough into it, turn to coat, then cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warmish place for 2 to 3 hours. Because you're using a fairly small amount of yeast, don't expect a big jump at this stage of the game. But it should rise somewhat, and have a nice supple, stretchy texture.

6. Lightly oil a large sheet pan, about 10 x 15. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto the sheet pan, spreading and stretching until it is forms a nice even rectangle. Dimple the dough with your fingertips. Brush with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

7. Let dough rise again for another 40 minutes or so. Preheat oven to 425F. Just before baking, dimple the dough again and brush with another tablespoon of oil. Scatter grapes over dough, followed by anise and sugar.

8. Bake on middle rack for 30-35 minutes, until gently puffed and golden brown.

The Bay Area is full of beautifully baked fresh bread. From small operations like Tartine and La Farine, to bakeries with larger distributions, freshly baked bread can be found in almost every neighborhood. Even Cotsco has an aisle selling fresh Acme bread. I cannot stress enough how lucky we are. When I was growing up in North County San Diego, crunchy fresh bread was an exotic treat, only obtainable when we traveled to New York or sometimes Los Angeles, but nowhere to be seen in the near vicinity of my house. Yet although a fresh loaf can be found within a five-minute walk from where I live now, I still like to occasionally bake my own bread.

Like most people, I love the smell of freshly-baked bread. I'm a smelly person. Not smelly, as in I smell bad (at least I hope not), but smelly, as in I am very olfactory-driven. This is both a blessing and a curse. While I am able to smell hints of lavender or citrus not always discernible to others, smells I hate – such as disinfectant or what it disinfects -- seem to shoot through my nasal passages and into my brain (right below my right eye). So making bread is an act to not only feed my family and myself, but to nourish my nose as well. Homemade bread fills the house with the most wonderful lingering aroma, and as a bonus I also get to eat it.

One bread I enjoy making at home is focaccia. In addition to thinking it's one of the easier breads to bake, I also love that it can accommodate a variety of toppings. Although it is most often baked with sea salt and rosemary, you can easily add thyme or sage instead, not to mention goat cheese, caramelized onions, olives, garlic, nuts, anchovies, and fresh tomatoes.

Focaccia is a traditional Italian bread; its recipe dates at least as far back as ancient Rome, when it was called panis focacius. Like pizza, it is made from a simple yeast dough that is often cooked with olive oil. The dough is pretty straightforward and easy to make. Best of all, making focaccia at home will fill your kitchen with warm and comforting smells, which is something you can't buy at Costco.

Following is my recipe for caramelized cipollini onion focaccia. The onions add a sweet flavor that plays off the salt nicely. Feel free to use chopped kalamata olives instead, add goat cheese, or just use herbs and salt. Whatever you do, your house will smell delicious.

Caramelized Cipollini Onion Focaccia

Makes: one loaf

Ingredients:
2 packages of active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
4-5 cups of flour
1 ½ tsp sea salt
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp coarse sea salt
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, thyme, or sage
1 cup carmelized cipollini onions (see recipe below)

Preparation by Hand:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for five minutes or until the mixture becomes foamy.

2. Stir 4 cups of flour, 1 ½ tsp salt, and 3 Tbsp olive oil into the yeast mixture and then stir thoroughly until you can make a rough ball. You will probably need to use your hands.

3. Sprinkle flour onto a work surface (either a solid countertop or large wooden board) and turn the dough out onto the floured surface.

4. Knead the dough for at least five minutes, adding the last cup of flour as needed to prevent the dough from getting too sticky. You may not need the full cup. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth.

5. Set the dough in large bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm draft-free spot for at least an hour or until the dough doubles in size.
6. After the dough has risen, coat the bottom of a large cookie sheet with the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil.

7. Turn the dough onto the oiled cookie sheet and press down so it fits into the pan. If the dough does not stretch, let it rest another five or 10 minutes covered with the dish towel.

8. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for another hour.

9. Press your fingers into the dough to dimple it. This will help the dough bake evenly and prevent it from inflating too much when baking.

10. Sprinkle the course salt, herbs, and onions onto dough.

11. Set dough in a preheated 450 degree oven.

12. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: Be sure to check the bread after about 10 minutes if using a convection oven.

Preparation with a Stand Mixer Using the Bread Dough Attachment:
1. In your mixer's bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for five minutes or until the mixture becomes foamy.

2. Add 4 cups of flour, 1 ½ tsp salt, and 3 Tbsp olive oil into the yeast mixture. Using the bread dough attachment, mix until a rough ball forms.

3. Sprinkle flour onto a work surface (either a solid countertop or large wooden board) and turn the dough out onto the floured surface.

4. Knead the dough for at least five minutes, adding the last cup of flour as needed to prevent the dough from getting too sticky. You may not need the full cup. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth.

5. Set dough in large bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm draft-free spot for at least an hour or until the dough doubles in size.

6. After dough has risen, coat the bottom of a large cookie sheet with the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil.

7. Turn the dough onto the oiled cookie sheet and press down so it fits into the pan. If the dough does not stretch, let it rest another five or 10 minutes covered with the dish towel.

8. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for another hour.

9. Press your fingers into the dough to dimple it. This will help the dough bake evenly and prevent it from inflating too much when baking.

10. Sprinkle the course salt, herbs, and onions onto dough.

11. Set dough in a preheated 450 degree oven.

12. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: Be sure to check the bread after about 10 minutes if using a convection oven.

Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:
1 cup sliced cipollini onions
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar

Preparation:
1. Heat olive oil in a medium to large pan.
2. Add onions and sauté on medium low for about five minutes.
3. Add the sugar and stir.
4. Cook the onions until they are soft and a light golden color.