Impasto di Focaccia Barese con Patate

Puglia

The definitive focaccia of Bari — a thick, soft, dimpled bread made with semolina flour, boiled potato mashed into the dough, olive oil and topped with halved cherry tomatoes pressed into the surface, olives and dried oregano. The potato makes the crumb extraordinarily tender and the crust remarkably crisp. Baked at very high heat in a round tin with a generous pool of olive oil on the bottom.

• Olive-oil-rich dimpled bread baked at high heat — the Genovese version uses more oil but no potato and has a thinner, crispier result → Focaccia genovese Ligurian
• Thick Sicilian pizza dough with tomato sauce baked in a tin — the Sicilian spongy pizza dough versus the Pugliese potato-enriched focaccia → Sfincione palermitano Sicilian
• Enriched dough baked in an oiled vessel with toppings pressed into the surface — different shape but same embedded-toppings-in-oiled-dough principle → Pide (boat-shaped dough) Turkish

Crisp and oily on the base, soft and airy inside; tomato juice absorbed into the dough; olive oil richness throughout; oregano adds herbal intensity — the focaccia that all other Italian focacce are judged against