Focaccia Pugliese
Why I Love This Recipe
I couldn't believe it when I found out the best Focaccia I had ever tasted used Potatoes in the dough! It works.
Ingredients You'll Need
4 1/3 cups flour
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup lukewarm water (110°)
10 oz potatoes
1 pkg active yeast
black & / or green olives
cherry tomatoes
rosemary sprigs
Directions
Preheat oven to: 400°
Peel potatoes and cook in vented, plastic bag in microwave until soft; then mash or rice. (You can use left over mashed potatoes, but decrease liquid appropriate to how moist they are.)
Combine the potatoes with the flour, yeast and a pinch of salt in a food processor with metal blade, pulsing until mixed.
Add the lukewarm water and then the oil a bit at a time until it absorbs into the dough mixing with the dough blade.
When the oil is all worked in, wipe a cookie sheet with olive oil, and spread out the dough over the surface with oiled hands.
Let dough rise for 2 hours in a warm moist place. (boil water in a Pyrex measuring cup in microwave for several minutes and leave it in the oven with the dough to rise as a "proofing oven".
(If you don't want to "proof" the dough in the microwave. pour several cups of boiling water into a pan in the bottom of your oven for heat and moisture and raise the dough in there.)
Decorate the top of the Focaccia with slices of the olives and slices of cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle on some fresh or crushed rosemary.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 400° or until golden brown
Serve immediately or when cooled, it is good either way.
