Pimento cheese focaccia

Pimento cheese spread: grate cheddar in a food processor or on a hand grater. 

Add cheese to a large bowl with sugar, Miracle Whip, or mayonnaise and stir to combine. 

Add everything back to the food processor with the blade attachment instead of the grating attachment. 

Pulse the processor until you get your desired consistency. 

Add half of the pimentos and some of the liquid from the jar. This will loosen the cheese mixture in the food processor a little and should allow it to become a bit smoother. 

When the cheese mixture looks like it would be spreadable, taste it and add any salt and pepper that it might need. 

Add the remaining pimentos and all the liquid from the jar and pulse one or two more times. This will allow your pimento cheese to have visible pimentos in it. If you add the pimento all at the beginning, you will blitz it until it's all too small to see. 

Package up the pimento cheese and store the cheese spread in the fridge for a week or so. 

Focaccia dough: add flour, salt, and yeast to a medium-sized bowl and stir all dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. 

Measure and add the first of the two portions of olive oil and the water, and stir for 2 minutes to ensure that all dough components are combined and there are no dry flour spots. The dough will be very sticky and probably difficult to handle with your hands, so keep using the spoon. Stir until no dry flour spots are left.

Spray the inside of your pan with non-stick cooking spray, and then add the second portion of olive oil from the ingredient list to the pan and tilt the pan a few times to allow the olive oil to spread out some.

Add the sticky dough on top of the olive oil in the pan, and moisten your fingertips with some of the olive oil to prevent sticking. Using your olive-oiled fingertips, press the dough to flatten it and try to get the dough to reach close to all four corners of the pan. Flipping the dough after you've flattened it will help to coat the dough thoroughly with olive oil and make it easier to handle with your fingers. 

Once the dough is flattened and has stretched close to the corners of the pan, cover the pan and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until it's almost doubled in size.

After the dough has risen and doubled in size, it's time to do some stretch and folds with the dough. Grab the dough right in the center and pull the center fully out of the pan. Fold the dough over on itself like you're folding a piece of paper. Rotate the pan 90 degrees and fold the dough over again. After you've done this a couple of times, stretch the dough out just a bit and add 8 to 10 tablespoon-sized dollops of pimento cheese to the top of the dough. Fold the dough over on itself, covering the cheese inside the dough, and with your fingers, press everything down until the dough is about to reach the corners. Let the focaccia rest for another hour.

At the end of the second rise time, preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C).

Dimple the top of the focaccia dough with your stretched-out fingers. Make several dimples across the surface. If the dough is sticky, add a sprinkle of olive oil to lubricate your fingers.

Add a drizzle of olive oil to the top of the dough and then sprinkle it with 8 to 10 tablespoon dollops of pimento cheese, more pimentos, and about 1/3 cup of shredded cheese.

After the oven has preheated, bake the focaccia for 25 to 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, if the top of the focaccia dough isn't quite as brown as you would like, you can raise the rack in your oven to the very top and bake the focaccia at the top of the oven for an additional 5 minutes to add extra color.

Remove from the pan and put it on a cooling rack to cool before slicing.