Focaccia Barese
As seen on CNN’s Searching for Italy with Stanley Tucci (Puglia Episode)…
Focaccia bread is enjoyed throughout Italy, and the world. The best bread in the world is said to be from Altamura in the Metropolitan City of Bari. Focaccia Barese, specific to this region, adds a potato to the dough which gives it a special body and texture. Also, I can’t think of a better food to highlight a high quality extra virgin olive oil. It perfectly soaks it in and transports it to your taste buds, while transporting your mind to Puglia!
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups of room temp water
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 1/2 tsp sugar (sometimes I use honey, your choice)
- 2 tsp active yeast
- 1 potato
- cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup olives (black or green, preferably pitted)
- oregano and rosemary
- sea salt (coarse or flakes)
- fine grain salt
- Mariella & Grace extra virgin olive oil.
Peel, boil and mash your potato.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in half of the water, followed by the sugar to activate the yeast.
Add the mashed potato (now cooled), 4-5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, fine grain salt and the rest of the water. Mix well.
Add all of the flour. Mix and knead until smooth and elastic. You can use your hands, or a mixer.
Coat two bowls with olive oil. Divide the dough in half. Shape the dough into balls, place them into each bowl, cover them with a towel and let rise for 2 - 3 hours.
Coat two pans (preferably cast iron, to get that nice crisp shell) with lots of olive oil (more of a pool than a coating). Stretch each dough ball out to cover the pan. Cover the pans with the towels, and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F - 500°F.
Brush the dough with another layer of olive oil. I always pour some extra ;-)
Sprinkle on your coarse/flake salt, oregano and rosemary.
Press the tomatoes into the dough. I usually half them first, and them squeeze them as I push them into the dough. This lets the juice flow into the dough. Spread your olives into the dough too. Make your own pattern.
Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes. Depending on the oven, it could take shorter or longer. I like patches of hard brown crust to form on the outside. Sometimes I get a few blackened areas, especially if you are in a traditional wood fired oven. The cast iron pan, and globs of olive oil help with this.
Drizzle more olive oil and enjoy!
