Potato Rosemary Focaccia Pugliese / Potato Rosemary Focaccia

One of the best thing i did in the past year was i learned to bake 12 different Breads which i never ever tried or dreamed to bake at home. Its all possible only because of Aparna's We Knead To Bake Event. Thanks  to Aparna for all your wonderful bread recipes and am happy that Aparna extended the bread baking this year also with some new more members.

Now-a-days on seeing the beautifully displayed bread like Croissants, Donuts, Milk Bread, Whole Wheat Bread on Delis or on Bakery shops I feel so proud that i have tried these at home. Even my kids will not ask for those breads to buy from store instead they request me to bake at home. That too my little one used to say, mommy can you make BIG BIG more 2000 cookies, breads. According to him 2000 is the biggest number..LOL

Now coming to the recipe, For this month's We Knead to Bake Aparna picked Focaccia. It was Focaccia Caprese with tomato, basil and fresh mozarella topping but she also mentioned that we can pick our desired topping as well. Since we do not like cheese I took our famliy favorite Potato, Potato Rosemary Focaccia. Followed the original Focaccia recipe for the bread and for the topping referred this recipe. Rosemary & potato combo was great, very flavorful and tasty bread. We all loved it with Marinara Sauce.
It can be served as a snack or as a meal with some soup for dinner. I used only the half portion of the dough to make this Potato Rosemary Focaccia Pugliese. With the other half made Spicy Onion Bell Pepper Focaccia (recipe coming soon). I could not slice the bread nicely since it was hot and no sharp knife and other side my kids were urging for a slice. But the bread was super soft, spongy and delicious. Now off to the recipe...

Recipe Source : My Diverse Kitchen  

Preparation Time : 2 hours 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 25 minutes

Makes two 8" bread or 4 medium bread

Ingredients
For the Dough

1. Bread flour  3 and 1/2 cups
2. salt - 1 tsp
3. Sugar - 11/2 tbsp
4. olive oil   1/4 cup 
5. Warm Water  1 and 1/2 cups 
6. Yeast - 2 tsp (instant yeast)

For Herbed Oil (optional) (i used the same oil for brushing)

1. Olive Oil    1-2 tbsp
2. Parsley, dried    1/4 tsp
3. Oregano,dried    1/4 tsp
4. Red Chilli flakes    1/2 tsp  

For Topping

1. Potato   3 medium(peeled & sliced 1/4")
2. Pepper    as needed (coarsely ground)
3. Sea Salt    as needed
4. Fresh Rosemary  1-2 tsp (if using dried one use 2 tsp)

Method

• First Mix all the ingredients "For Herbed Oil" in a small bowl and keep aside.
• Then Mix all the dough ingredients for Dough. Knead well until you get a soft and elastic dough. Keep it in an oiled bowl and allow to rise.

• Meanwhile wash and peel the potato skin(optional) and slice it thinly. And par-boil them in salt water,instead you can also microwave it by placing the sliced potatoes in a microwave safe bowl and add 1 cup water and 1/2 tsp salt and cook in microwave high for 2 minutes. 
• Once done remove from water, pat dry and keep aside.

• After the dough has risen, punch down the rough and divide into two portions.
• Stretch or roll each piece in to 11 inches by 7 inches.
• I used a 9" square pan and placed one portion of dough and stretch it.

• Using your fingers, dimple the top of the dough and brush generously with herbed oil.
• Sprinkle rosemary; arrange the potato slices and sprinkle more rosemary, salt and pepper.
• Cover and allow to rise again for one hour or until it looks puffed up.

• Bake in a 425 F preheated oven for 22 - 25 minutes until the top is golden brown. Cut into slices and serve.

Notes:
Instead of 2 large ones, you can also make 4 medium ones by dividing the dough into 4 pieces and stretch each to 5 inches by 11 inches.
If you using dried rosemary, you can add 1/2-1 tsp along with the dough ingredients.

This is off to Aparna's We Knead To Bake - 13 , Vardhini's Bake Fest happening @ Divya's Culinary Journey.