Potato Focaccine ~ BBB

November 16, 2020 by MyKitchenInHalfCups 13 Comments

I will never forget my first Focaccia.  We were driving around Italy and wanted to stay in Portofino.  It got late, very dark and very rainy.  We stopped at the first hotel we came to just off the road and almost in the sea.  All night it rained and the waves washed upon to the patio just outside our room.   In the morning we discovered we hadn’t quite made it to the city.   We would have needed to stay on the road and go around one last curve.  The choice was to drive into the city and find a place to park OR cross the road and follow a path over the hill.  The path wound through olive groves and past several homes.  When we topped the hill, Portofino was at our feet.  We sent hours wondering the streets and finally ended up along the warf where there was a food market.  One of the town bakeries had tables displaying so many breads … I was in heaven.  We settled on a small flat loaf that measured maybe 9×9.  It had been slathered in olive oil and generously infused with rosemary.  That was the be all and end all of focaccias! 

Over the years I’ve baked focaccia many times.  There are many recipes, many just slightly different, all very good.  Carol Field (The Italian Baker & Focaccia: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven) has been my Italian bread geru for may years and indeed she talkes about Focaccine.  

Hard to stop eating to snap a photo!

Pat from Feeding My Enthusiansms is our Kitchen of the Month for November 2020.  She found this recipe on My Pinch of Italy.  Now, let me say this may not be the be all to end all focaccias after all we’re not in Portofino, but it is totally beautifully worthy of your baking. I’ve alread found myself baking it for the third time and know it will be coming out of my oven again soon.  The sage is excellent! The small size is wonderful.

Potato Focaccine ~ BBB

Recipe By: Pat “Feeding My Enthusiasms” 
Yield: 12

150 g of yellow or white mealy potatoes
300 g of Italian flour 
100 grams Durum flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
3 tablespoons of Evoo – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
200 grams Lukewarm water
10 fresh sage leaves chopped
Maldon salt, to taste

Peel potato. Boil the potatoes in plenty of unsalted water.

Whisk together flours, salt, chopped sage and yeast. 
Add lukewarm mashed potatoes, olive oil and lukewarm water to flour mix.

Alternate shaping: My total dough weight was 820 grams. Divided by 12 makes for 12 balls each weighting about 68 grams. Mine ranged from 67 to 70 grams.

Pat the dough ball flat to about  1/2 inch – 3/4 inch thick. Use a large biscuit cutter and cut about 8 rounds of dough. The scraps of leftover dough divide and shape into about 4 more rounds. Place rounds  (stretch them out a little) on parchment lined sheet pan.  Dimple the dough with finger tips so the olive oil can collect in little puddles.  Allow to rest for another 30 minutes. 

Pour and or brush tops of disks with olive oil. Sprinkle with Maldon salt to taste.  

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Bake at 180 ° C (160° C convection/fan) (350° F) for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. 
Give them a moment under the broiler to give them golden brown color.
When cooked, flavor your focaccine with a drizzle of olive oil and more salt if needed.. 

Potato focaccine are good to eat freshly baked, however you can store them in a paper bag for a day.  I found these kept very well for several days.
These were excellent split in half and toasted.

Not to worry. YES you really should bake these! They are really that good. Check out the other Babes baking. Bake them for yourself and let us know what your experience was.

If you would like to be a Bread Baking Buddy, just bake by November 29th and send Pat an email with a photo and the URL where you posted. She will post the round-up as close to Dec. 1 as possible. Send your email to plachman at sonic dot net.

I look forward to how your little Focaccine turn out!