Authentic Focaccia from Bari – Recipe and Tips

Neapolitan pizza has taken over the world, but Italy abounds with lesser known regional flatbreads like Genoese focaccia from Liguria, crushed from Tuscany, sfincione from Sicily, just to name a few. Today I’d like to show you one of my personal favorites, from Puglia’s capital city Bari: focaccia from Barialso known as Apulian focaccia.

Much simpler to make at home than pizza, focaccia from Bari uses an unusual dough made from a mix of finely ground semolina flour and the usual “00” flour used to make pizza, along with a bit of mashed potato, which the Baresi say lends a particular fluffiness to dough. Laid out in a round metal baking pan, the dough is then topped with fresh uncooked tomato and olives, sprinkled with oregano and drizzled generously with olive oil.

After 30 minutes in a hot oven, you’ll have a beautiful focaccia from Barigolden and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, deliciously unctuous and packed full of flavors so typical of Puglia and southern Italy generally.

There’s no need for fancy equipment or special skills. So if you’re a fan of pizza and its cousins—and who isn’t?—focaccia from Bari is well worth adding to your repertoire. Just be careful as it can easily become addictive!

Ingredients

Makes two 30cm/12 inch buns

For the dough:

• 200g (7 oz) re-milled semolina (finely ground semolina flour)
• 300g (10-1/2 oz) “00” flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1 medium potato, boiled, peeled and mashed
• 350ml (12 fl oz) water, or as much as you need to form a ball of dough
• 2 tsp dry active yeast
• Sugar, just a pinch
• Salt, to taste
• Olive oil

For the toppings:

• 250-500g (1/2-1 lb) tomatoes, depending on tastes, broken into pieces
• Green olives, to taste
• Olive oil
• Oregano

Directions

Mix together the flours, salt, yeast and sugar. Add the mashed potato and then the water and a drizzle of olive oil. Knead until you have a smooth, pliable ball of dough.

Let the dough rest, covered, for at least two hours, better three.

Grease a round metal baking pan (or paella pan) about 28-30cm/11-12 inches in diameter with olive oil. Take 1/2 the dough and place it in the pan, stretching it by with your well-oiled fingers until the pocketed dough covers the bottom of the dish. (Repeat with the other half of the dough in another pan or reserve for another day.)

Lay the tomatoes, broken with your hands into small pieces, all over the top of the dough. Then place the olives here and there, gingerly pressing them into the dough. Sprinkle with oregano and just a pinch of salt, then drizzle generously with olive oil. Let rest for a half hour.

Place the pan(s) in a very hot (250C/475F) preheated oven, either on the bottom of the oven or on a pizza steel placed on the lowest rack. After 15 minutes, take the dish and place it on a rack in the upper third of the oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the focaccia is cooked through and golden brown top and bottom.

Serve warm (not heating hot) or at room temperature.

Notes

The dough varies quite a bit from recipe to recipe. Some recipes (including this one from the famous Panificio Fiore in Bari) call for 00 flour only like a Neapolitan pizza, but most traditional recipes call for a mix of 00 and re-milled semolinafinely ground semolina flour. The mashed potato is optional but highly recommended. If you omit the potato, you may need a bit more water for the dough to come together.

The cognoscenti say that the tomatoes shouldn’t be too big or too small. Plum tomatoes are ideal. Tradition has it that the tomatoes should be broken up by hand as directed here. (But if you want to roughly chop them with a knife I certainly won’t stop you.) Cherry tomatoes are also a popular choice, typically cut in half, sometimes separately dressed with the olive oil and oregano before topping the pizza. The amount of tomato varies wildly—you can find focaccias Baresi that are totally covered with tomatoes, others where the tomatoes dot the surface here and there. So go with whatever suits your taste and mood.

Recipes for focaccia from Bari also vary on how long to let the dough rise. Some call for as little as an hour, but most range between 2 and 3 hours. I made the dough in the evening and let it rest overnight so it developed richer flavor. The dough will last up to three days stored in an air tight container or plastic bag in the fridge. Take it out about an hour before you want to bake.

I like to place the baking dish on the bottom of the oven—or just above it on a preheated pizza steel—for the first 15 minutes. This ensures that the bottom will come out beautifully golden and crispy. And if you’re baking two focaccias at a time, you can save time by placing one on the lower rack and the other on the higher, then switching places. This is why it’s best to use a metal pan or dish, since ceramic may well crack. That said, don’t skip making focaccia from Bari if all you have is a ceramic baking pan. The bottom won’t tend to brown as well, but your focaccia will be quite tasty anyway.

I’ve specified a 250C/475F oven, because I know most people’s ovens will get that hot. But if your oven is able, you can go as high as 270C/520F for even better lift and a more golden crust. Either way, if the top isn’t done to your liking, you can pop it under a broiler for a minute or two.

When in Bari…

Bari’s old town has a number of bakeries famous for their focaccia from Barithe Fiore Bakery perhaps being the best known. Visitors will typically do a “focaccia run”, visiting various bakeries to compare and contrast their virtues. Expect long lines at the most famous places and, at least for some YouTubers I’ve seen, brusk service. When I was in Bari, I skipped this particular tourist ritual. I’m not big on queuing for my food. In any event, you can find perfectly delicious focaccia from Bari all over town, even at the most unassuming holes in the wall.

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