Potato focaccia

This is soft and fluffy but with a little crunch on the edge – perfect for splitting and filling.

Potato focaccia. Credit: Luca's Key Ingredient

• serves

  6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 7 g dry yeast
• 180 g (180 ml) water
• 250 g ‘00’ flour
• 50 g whole grain flour
• 90 g potato, cooked and mashed
• 7 g sugar
• 7 g salt
• 20 ml extra virgin olive oil (see Note)
• ⅔ cup cherry tomatoes, an assortment of colours, cut into quarters
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil

Filling

• 100 g prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced
• Tomato chilli jam (see Note)
• 300 g stracciatella

Rising and proving time: about 2 hours in total.

Instructions

1. Mix yeast in a large bowl with water. Add flour and start mixing with your hands. Add potato, sugar and salt and knead for 2-3 minutes. Add oil and keep kneading till all mixed in. Allow focaccia dough to proof in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours, or until the dough has at least doubled in size.
2. Oil an oven tray with olive oil. Gently stretch the focaccia dough onto a the oven tray, maintaining a thickness of 1cm. Add a little olive oil on the surface and gently use your fingertips to poke small holes onto the focaccia surface. Add cherry tomatoes to the top of the focaccia.
3. Cover with cling wrap and allow to proof till double in size (about 45 min-1 hour). Preheat oven to 200°C.
4. Season the tomatoes with a pinch of salt; do not season the tomatoes until this stage. Drizzle more oil on top of the focaccia surface and spray a little water on top.
5. Cook in the oven for 18-20 minutes till golden.
6. Remove the focaccia from the oven. Mix 1 tablespoon water to 3 tablespoons olive oil until emulsified. Brush over the focaccia and sprinkle a pinch of salt. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
7. When ready, slice the focaccia in half (lengthwise) and then start layering the ingredients: prosciutto di Parma, stracciatella cheese and tomato chilli and basil jam. Cut focaccia into any size pieces of your liking and serve.

Note

• The olive oil contributes to the flavour of the focaccia, so use a good quality oil.
• Luca uses his own ‘Chef Luca Ciano’ brand tomato and chilli jam and Vannella stacciatella when making this on his Tv series, Luca’s Key Ingredient.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.