Rosemary & Potato Focaccia
This beauty is also smothered in garlic butter before baking. Leave the potato off if you prefer. It will still be just as delicious. I like to use it to make fat sandwiches with mozzarella, basil and mortadella but you could eat it plain or dunked in olive oil. This recipe asks you to put the dough in the fridge over night. I started mine mid afternoon and then used it the following morning. You could make a quick version and skip the fridge, but the longer you leave it the better the flavour. The dough is quite a wet dough so when performing the stretch and folds don’t be afraid to wet your hands so the dough doesn’t stick! I generally wet my hands fully under the tap, shake off the water and then perform the folds.
Ingredients
(Makes a 25cm skillet size focaccia which will make 4 solid sandwiches)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp dried yeast
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 medium potato, thinly sliced
4 Tbsp freshly picked rosemary leaves
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp flaky sea salt
Prep It
Place warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Set aside for about 10 minutes to let the yeast do its thing. It should go frothy. Sometimes it doesn’t, just check the use by date before you use it and you should be fine.
Add flour and salt and mix with a spoon, until it forms a kind of shaggy dough. Set aside covered with a tea towel for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes we need to perform the first set of stretch and folds. Dampen your hands with water and reach underneath one side of the dough. Lift the dough up stretching it up and fold it over top of the dough in the bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and stretch and fold it again. Repeat this process, until you make it all the way round the bowl (4 times).
Cover the dough again and leave it to rest for 1 hour before stretching and folding the dough again. Let it sit for an hour, stretch and fold once more and then she’s ready to go into the fridge.
Drizzle a good amount of olive oil over and around the dough. Cover and pop it in the fridge over night.
Finish It
Preheat oven to 250°C.
Grab your baking vessel. I used a 25cm skillet but you could use a similar size baking dish or cake pan. It just needs high sides. Line it with baking paper and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I use baking paper to start because this dough is quite wet it gets very sticky and I have butchered many a focaccia trying to scrape it out of the baking dish. We remove the paper later to crisp the bottom so all good.
Get your dough out of the fridge and perform 1 last set of stretch and folds. Place the dough, seam side down in your baking vessel and allow to rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes press the dough out to the edges of the dish. If it springs back leave it to rest for a little longer. Rest for a further 30 minutes.
Meanwhile,
Roughly chop garlic and place it in a small pot with butter and olive oil. Heat on low heat, until butter is melted and garlic smells fragrant. Pick rosemary leaves and thinly slice your potato. I used a mandolin to slice the potato. This meant the slices were very thin, about 2mm. If you can’t get the slices that thin I suggest putting the slices in a heat-proof bowl and pouring boiling water over top. Leave for 5 minutes to par-cook/soften and drain well.
Bake It
Back to the dough, oil your fingers and press down and into the focaccia to create the dimple effect. Using a pastry brush (or you could spoon it) brush over half the garlic butter mixture. Top with a single layer of potatoes and then brush over remaining garlic butter. Sprinkle over rosemary and sea salt.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove from oven and carefully slide the paper out and away. Return the focaccia to the oven but on the bottom shelf now and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until bread is oh so golden brown on the top and bottom and cooked through.
Now, this is important but I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t… ALLOW TO COOL. Bread does well to cool whole to retain its moisture.