Potato Focaccia Pugliese

Oh how I love the cooler weather!!!! I can bake things in the oven without melting from the heat. I can bake breads again. WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!! There is something very calming and therapeutic about making bread too, at least for me. I made some potato focaccia Pugliese bread and we enjoyed every bite of it too. 🙂

Potato Focaccia Pugliese

Focaccia is a type of yeast bread that is very similar to pizza. It’s baked in a shallow pan, giving it a flatter appearance than regular leavened bread but with a spongy, bubbly crumb. The olive oil coating is part of what makes it unique, resulting in a deliciously crispy top and bottom crust.

Pugliese means it is something that originated in the Puglia region of Italy. Pugliese bread is a type of bread made from a soft sough that has large holes in the bread that come about through the baking process. The bread is soft in the center and crunchy on the outside and most often it is shaped in an oval shape.

My potato focaccia Pugliese is a combination of both types of delicious breads. Like with so many other wonderful dishes, it is made with simple ingredients, but most importantly, it is made with lots of love.

4 scant cups flour

1 TBSP salt

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

olive oil – I used both regular and garlic olive oil

8-10 small new potatoes, sliced thin

rock salt to sprinkle on top

2-3 sprigs of either fresh rosemary and/or sage

Combine the flour, yeast, water and salt together and form into a soft dough ball. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough ball into prepared bowl, cover and let rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

After the first rise, oil a baking sheet and firmly press the dough into the pan, trying to fill the pan as much as you can. Dimple it with your fingers.

Slice the potatoes into thin slices and top the dough with the potatoes. Cut the herbs into small pieces and distribute over the top. Add a sprinkling of coarse salt to the top. Cover and let rise again, for about another hour. I used a combination of both garlic olive oil and regular olive oil.

I didn’t have rosemary this time, but I did have sage. The sage complimented the potatoes perfectly.

Preheat the oven to 450*F or 230*C.

Bake for about 30 or so minutes, or until the dough is golden brown and a light crust is all around the edges. Drizzle with more olive oil, slice and serve warm. !Delicioso!

This recipe makes 1 large flatbread. Originally I cut my focaccia into portions and I was going to share with a couple of my neighbors. But neither of them were home when I tried to deliver it, so darn, we had to eat it all ourselves. 🙂 It took us a couple of days to finish it, but finish it we did. Now it is all gone and time to make some more.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.