Impasto di Focaccia Barese con Patate

Ingredients

• 300 g semolina flour (semola rimacinata)
• 200 g boiled floury potato, mashed while still hot, cooled to 30°C before use
• 240 ml water, lukewarm — 80% hydration by flour weight
• 7 g dried instant yeast
• 10 g fine sea salt
• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided: some in the dough, remainder for the tin and surface
• For the topping
• 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 60 g pitted black olives
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• For the tin
• 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil, minimum — for the base of the 30 cm tin

Method

1. 1
   Boil the potato until completely tender. Drain, peel, and mash immediately while still hot so the starch hydrates fully. Spread on a plate and leave to cool to 30°C — test with a finger; it should feel barely warm. Cold potato will produce lumps that refuse to incorporate.
2. 2
   Combine the semolina flour, yeast, salt, and cooled mashed potato in a large bowl. Add the water gradually and mix until a shaggy mass forms. Add a small pour of olive oil and work the dough with wet hands, folding rather than kneading aggressively — this is an 80% hydration dough and must be handled gently. Continue for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, cohesive, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl; it will remain tacky.
3. 3
   Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, approximately 1.5–2 hours. Alternatively, shape at this point and refrigerate overnight for slow fermentation; the dough is ready when it has doubled and holds a finger-poke impression that springs back slowly.
4. 4
   Pour the 50 ml of olive oil into the 30 cm round tin and tilt to coat the base and sides entirely. This is where the dish lives or dies: the oil must pool visibly and generously across the entire base — insufficient oil means the characteristic crackling, deep-fried-style crust will not form, and the focaccia will be soft throughout rather than crisp-bottomed and tender-crumbed. Turn the dough into the tin and press it outward with oiled fingertips to fill the tin, dimpling the surface as you go. Allow to rest, uncovered, for 20 minutes until the surface looks slightly puffed and the dimples have relaxed open.
5. 5
   Set the oven to 250°C (conventional) and allow it to come fully to temperature. Press the halved cherry tomatoes skin-side up into the dough, pushing each one down firmly so it contacts the dough rather than sitting on the surface — the juice must absorb into the crumb during baking. Scatter the olives across the surface, pressing them lightly. Drizzle a further thread of olive oil over the top and dust with dried oregano.
6. 6
   Bake at 250°C for 20–25 minutes. The focaccia is ready when the base is deeply golden and audibly crisp when the tin is tilted and the base tapped, the surface is blistered and amber at the edges, and the tomatoes have collapsed and stained the surrounding dough red. Remove from the tin immediately to prevent the base softening in residual steam.