Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough

Focaccia Barese, the recipe to prepare it with sourdough and long leavening

Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough

La Bari-style focaccia bread it is a typical dish of the Apulian culinary tradition: every country and every family has its own prescription, but what they have in common is the presence of the potato in the dough and the particular long leavening preparation technique.



The potato, rigorously boiled with the peel, gives the focaccia from Bari a delicate flavor and one soft texture, which is opposed, however, to a savory and crunchy edge.

Index

Ingredients for two round aluminum molds with a diameter of 26 cm

  • 120 gr of sourdough
  • 130 grams of potatoes
  • 500 grams of re-milled semolina flour
  • 300 grams of water
  • 10 gr of extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 gr of salt
  • 280 gr of Belladonna di Cerignola olives
  • 300 gr of already washed cherry tomatoes
  • extra extra virgin olive oil to taste



  • Preparation Time:
    40 minutes
  • Cooking time:
    30 minutes
  • Rest time:
    24 hours of leavening
  • Dose:
    for 2 focaccias
  • difficulty:
    low

How to prepare the focaccia from Bari: procedure

  • Rinse the potatoes and put them in a pot full of water, bring to a boil and cook them until they stick with a fork, then remove them from the water and let them cool, peel them and pass them in a potato masher,
  • to melt now the sourdough in the water and combine the flour and the mashed potatoes in a large bowl,
  • deposit the water with the mother yeast in the bowl containing the flour and start kneading,
Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough
  • to incorporate to the soft mixture also the oil and finally the salt,
  • knead vigorously for a few minutes,
Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough
  • then cover with food film and wait for the dough to double its volume,
  • finished leavening deflate the dough and knead it again for a couple of minutes, cover it again and wait for it to double again,
  • finished also the second leavening grease a pan abundantly with extra extra virgin olive oil,
Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough
  • place inside the dough and let it rest for about fifteen minutes,
  • passed which, with your hands greased with oil, turn the dough in the pan adding more oil on the bottom (in this way both sides of the dough will be well oiled),
  • enlarge with your fingertips the dough by gently pushing it from the inside outwards, thus covering the entire surface of the pan,
  • cut halve the tomatoes, taking care to let their juice fall on the surface of the focaccia and place them on it with the peel facing upwards and pushing them with a little pressure into the dough,
  • add in the same way also the olives
  • and cook in a hot oven at 200 ° for about fifteen minutes in the lower part of the oven, then turn on the grill and move the pan to the central part and cook for about another fifteen minutes or in any case until the focaccia from Bari is golden brown even on the bottom,
  • Cooking when finished, take it out of the oven immediately and let it cool down a bit before turning it out of the mold.
  • The focaccia from Bari it can be served either hot or at room temperature.
Focaccia from Bari: the traditional recipe with sourdough

One more tip:

The long leavening of the dough must be managed according to the atmospheric temperature, if this is very hot it will be necessary to make the first leavening in the refrigerator and knead again only when the dough has warmed; if, on the other hand, the atmospheric temperature is low then the first leavening can also take place outside the refrigerator. In both cases, however, it is important to knead the mixture again when it has doubled, otherwise the dough will rise and will therefore no longer be edible.



How to preserve the focaccia from Bari:

Should the focaccia from Barese be left over, it can also be eaten the next day, it can be safely stored in a plate, covered with a clean cloth, without losing its fragrance.

Curiosity:

Focaccia from Bari has always been cooked in round shape aluminum molds, however, if you do not have them, you can easily use a rectangular pan as long as it contains the dough with its edges.

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Ilaria Zizza

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