Selena Robins, Author

Light and fluffy, Focaccia (pronounced — foh/KAHT/tchah) is a flat Italian bread with a crisp, salty, with air pockets that gives it a slight chewy texture. It’s made with olive oil, herbs and topped with minimal ingredients.

Let’s get baking. . .

Ingredients:

1 tsp. honey
4 TBSP fresh rosemary
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (1 ½ tsp.)
1 tsp. salt
1 cup warm water
3 TBSP olive oil (good quality extra virgin olive oil is best to use)
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
sea salt to taste

Steps:

Boil the peeled potato until tender. Drain, and mash well or pass through a potato ricer. Set aside to let cool.

In a small bowl, dissolve honey and yeast in 1/3 cup of warm water (100 F), then put a cloth over the bowl and let stand for about 10 minutes.

You can use a stand mixer or knead by hand. Your choice.

In a large bowl add: flour and salt mix together.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour bowl; stir well to combine.

Add the mashed potato and rosemary and work into the dough, and then add one tablespoon at a time of the warm water (adding the water one tablespoon at a time, will ensure you don’t make the dough too wet) until all of the flour is absorbed.

When the dough is pliable, (not too wet and not too dry) turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead for 2 – 3 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl.

Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat the dough with oil.

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume. Takes about 30 – 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Take the dough out of the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly.

Pat or roll the dough on to a lightly greased baking sheet. (You could also use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper).

Using your thumbs, press into the dough so there are little thumb print-like marks on the dough.

Brush the dough with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea-salt.

At this point, you can choose to leave as is, or add black olives, and cherry tomato’s. Or use your imagination, but remember, this is not pizza, so keep the toppings minimal.

Bake Focaccia in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Depends on how crispy you want the bread.

Enjoy!