Pugliese Focaccia (Focaccia Barese)

Focaccia barese is Puglia's magnificent flatbread—a thick, golden, dimpled focaccia topped with halved cherry tomatoes, olives, and olive oil, with a crumb that is simultaneously airy and moist, a bottom crust that is gloriously crisp from the olive oil pooled in the pan, and a top that glistens with tomato juices and oil. This is not Genovese focaccia (which is thinner, softer, and topped only with oil and salt)—the Barese version is thicker, more robust, and emphatically topped, making it closer to a pizza-focaccia hybrid that functions as a complete snack or light meal. The dough uses durum wheat flour (semola di grano duro) blended with bread flour, which gives the crumb its characteristic golden colour and slightly nutty flavour—a Pugliese signature that distinguishes it from all other Italian focacce. The dough is high-hydration (70-75%), mixed with yeast, salt, and a generous pour of olive oil, given a long, slow rise, then stretched into a well-oiled round pan, dimpled vigorously with fingertips, and topped with halved pomodorini (cherry tomatoes, cut-side down), pitted olives, and more olive oil. A second, shorter rise allows the dough to puff around the toppings before baking at high heat (220-240°C) until the top is golden, the tomatoes are blistered, and the bottom is crisp and almost fried from the pool of oil in the pan. The bottom crust is the glory of focaccia barese—it should be deeply golden-brown, crisp, and almost cracker-like, achieved by the generous olive oil that essentially fries the base during baking. Focaccia barese is sold at every bakery (panificio) and street corner in Bari, consumed at all hours from breakfast to late-night snack.

• Genovese focaccia (thinner, oil-and-salt only)
• Turkish pide (topped flatbread)
• Lebanese manoushe (topped flatbread)
• Sicilian sfincione (thick topped bread)