Sweet potatoes Focaccia with cherry tomatoes and oregano

This is what Italians call focaccia. It's similar to pizza but as you can see much thick and softer. Like pizza, there are many different ways to make focaccia and many different toppings and filling. Infact you can find plain focaccia, focaccia with toppings like this one, or stuffed focaccia. This is just one of them. I have used sweet potatoes although the "original" recipes requires white potatoes, but I do like the orange color so I used them. This kind of focaccia it's typical in the south region of Puglia (Apulia) in Italy, which is where I come from originally, but you can find it all over Italy nowdays. You can make this thicker or slightly thinner and you can fill it with mortadella or Parma ham as I have done, or just eat it as it is. The potatoes make the dough softern than usual and of course also reacher than a normal dough, although you won't taste potatoes.

Ingredients: 250gr durum weath flour, 250gr white flour, 400gr sweet potatoes, 4 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp dry yeast, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 100gr cherry tomatoes, oregano

Prepare the yeast accordingly to your favourite brand. I usually diluite 1 Tbsp of dry yeast into 600ml of warm water, add 1 tsp sugar, mix well and leave in a warm place until it forms bubbles. Boil potatoes and mash them well. Sift flour, add salt, 2 Tbsp olive oil and mashed potatoes. Work it well for about 10 minutes or until you get a soft and smooth dough, adding only as much water (with yeast) as you need. Leave it to leaven in a warm place for 1 hour. Work it again on your work surface for a couple of minutes, put it into an oven well oiled pan. I used a 24cm squared pan but you could use a round one. Shape the dough in the pan very well with your hands, pour 2 Tbsp olive oil and spread it on the surface. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and arrange them over the focaccia pushing them in slightly. Sprinkle with salt and oregano. Leave it in a warm place to leaven for another 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven at 220 C. Cook the focaccia for 30 minutes or until golden, making sure the tomatoes don't burn. Serve warm or cold and if you like, filled with ham or mortadella (if you can find it!).