Focaccia Pugliese

By Fulvio Marino at Mulino Marino in Piedmont.
 

This delicious recipe is originally from Puglia, in the south of Italy, but it comes to us from the other end of the country, Piedmont, from Fulvio Marino, the third generation of the millers at Mulino Marino.

Mulino Marino produces organic flour from locally-grown organic grains and love to use their high-quality products in recipes that they share.

Enjoy focaccia pugliese on one of our tours in Puglia or make it with this recipe at home, and feel like you’re in Italy from your own kitchen!

Ingredients for 8 people (makes 2 loaves, each in a 10-inch round tray)

• 350 grams (2 and 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour (Fulvio recommends Mulino Marino‘s Type "0")
• 250 grams (1 and 1/2 cup) semolina flour (Mulino Marino’s or another)
• 150 grams potato (1 medium potato)
• 350 grams (1 and 1/2 cup) water
• 60 grams EVOO (4 and 1/2 Tbsp) 
• 7 grams of dry yeast (2 tsp)
• 5 grams sugar (1 tsp)
• 10 grams salt (2 tsp)
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 10 black olives (we used the ones from Cerignola in Puglia)
• 10 cherry tomatoes 

Directions:

• Boil the potato and set aside
• Pour the 2 types of flour into a large bowl 
• In another small bowl, combine 3 Tbsp of water with salt
• In another bowl, combine the remaining water with yeast and sugar
• In your flour bowl, make a small "mountain" and then a "little crater" in the middle of the "mountain" and pour the water-yeast-sugar concoction into the center, slowly combining these ingredients with a fork
• Peel the potato and mash it with a fork or a potato ricer
• Add the mashed potato into the dough and continue to knead
• Add the water-and-salt concoction and continue to knead
• Add 1.5 Tbsp of EVOO, little by little, continuing to knead until it is absorbed
• Note: The dough will be quite sticky, not dry at all
• Cover with a dish towel and let dough rise for at least 40 minutes (it will grow by ~50%)
• Pour 1.5 Tbsp EVOO onto the center of each 10-inch round tray, to coat the bottom well
• Slice the dough in half and place a half in each tray, turning over once so that oil coats both the top and bottom of each dough mound
• Leave the trays in the oven (unheated) with the oven light on to allow the dough to rise another 20 minutes
• Stretch and mold the dough into the trays simply by pushing it down with your fingers
• Make dimples in the dough with a fingertip (small indentations evenly across the top)
• Top the dough with half cherry tomatoes and half olives pushed into the dimples and dust with oregano
• Return the trays to the oven (unheated) leaving the oven light on for 20 more minutes
• Remove the trays and pre-heat the oven to 500 F
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the loaves look done and crispy
• Remove from the oven and place on a steel cooling rack to allow the bottom to cool
• Slice and serve

Buon appetito!