New blog post about another of the countless traditional focaccia made in Italy 🙂

This time we are in Puglia, a beautiful southern Italian region. And focaccia barese it’s so good that it’s famous almost through the whole country.

As the name say, it is typical of Bari, which is the capital city of the region. Its particularity is the fact that also potatoes are being used inside the dough.

This is a recipe that in its place of origin can be found through the whole day, it is perfect as an aperitive or for a merenda 🙂 obviously the best season to make it is summer, when the local delicious tomatoes are well ripe.

Traditionally it is made in large round shaped oven pans, and its thickness it’s not more than 1,5 cm but of course each location make it different, so in some villages far from Bari it is made also thicker. But if you don’t have a round shape, in a rectangular shape it will good too 😀

Olives: traditionally they use “olive baresane“, which are olives of the type “Termite di Bitetto” kept in brine and unpitted. Personally I have used the type “Bella di Cerignola” (unpitted) in brine, and also some “Taggiasche“. Moreover, the more traditional recipes are made with sourdough, but nowadays many people do it with fresh yeast too.

The following ingredients are for 2 round shapes (32 cm) with the classic 1,5 cm thickness, or for a larger rectangular shape with a higher thickness.

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 g durum semolina
• 250 g flour
• 350 ml cold water
• 100-120 g potatoes
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 15 g salt
• 10 g sugar
• 5 g fresh baker’s yeast

For the topping:

• 500-600 g large cherry tomatoes
• olives
• coarse rock salt
• oregano
• extra virgin olive oil

1. First of all boil the potato (with peel), then peel it and squeeze it. Pass it also through a strainer, to have a thin grain.
2. Take a bowl and add the water, the extra virgin olive oil, the sugar and the potato, and start mixing together. Then add gradually the flours with the crumbled yeast, and when the dough is almost shaped add the salt. Work the dough for 8-10 minutes.
3. Take a greased bowl, place the dough and cover with a plastic wrap. Let it grow until it doubles for about 6-8 hours (depending on temperature and flour) at room temperature.
4. After this time, take your oven shape and grease it with extra virgin olive oil. Pour the dough in it and spread it with your hands.
5. Cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze them over the dough, spreading their juice over the dough. Push them gently in the dough. Add also the olives and wait another 1 hour (cover with plastic wrap again) if you want to have it thicker and softer, otherwise if you want it thinner you can bake it immediately (as more common in the city of Bari).
6. After this time, sprinkle some coarse salt (or fleur de sel) and some more extra virgin olive oil over the focaccia, then place it in the bottom part of the oven at 250 °C for the first 10 minutes, fan assisted mode, and then place it in the middle at bake it for other 8-10 minutes, static mode.
7. When it’s ready take it out. I spray some water on the surface not to have it dry.
8. Add some dried oregano. Enjoy 🙂 Crunchy on the bottom  and on the edges, soft inside, with juicy tomatoes…perfect!

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Products used:

Flour: stone ground organic “farina Buratto, Tipo 2” and stone ground organic “sfarinato di grano duro Senatore Cappelli”, both from Mulino Marino.