JULIAN COLE passes on a recipe for focaccia-style flatbread which he has adapted from one of the best baking books around.

THIS is my slight variation on a recipe from Dan Lepard’s Short & Sweet, a modern baking bible worth every penny it costs (and, yes, I bought my own copy: no freebies were involved).

All I have done is replace some of the flour with golden semolina, an ingredient with many happy uses in bread making.

The chopped rosemary is an addition too, although this is common in focaccia. Dan’s main innovation is the use of grated potato. This wet dough is kneaded in the bowl: don’t go adding extra flour because that will spoil the loaf.

Ingredients

200g golden semolina (or ‘OO’ pasta flour to stick to the original)
200g strong white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh yeast (or the same of the fast-action variety)
1 large potato weighing about 175g (peeled if old, unpeeled if new)
225ml of warm water
Olive oil
Sea salt flakes and fresh chopped rosemary.

Place the golden semolina, strong white flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl and mix.

Grate the potato into the warm water and mix with the dry ingredients.

The dough will be very soft and sticky. Cover the bowl and leave for ten minutes.

Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bowl and push this into the dough. Pull the dough out of the bowl and let it fall back six or eight times, cover and leave.

Repeat this action after ten and 20 minutes, using more oil if needed to stop your hands sticking.

Oil a dinner plate and scoop the dough on to it. Fold the dough from the two sides and then from the back and the front.

You should have a neat but sticky parcel: flip this over on the plate, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave for 30 minutes. Repeat this action and leave for another 30 minutes.

Oil a baking tray and tip out the dough. Give it another fold and gently stretch to fill the tray a little. Cover with oiled clingfilm for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/425F/gas mark 7.

When the bread is risen, carefully remove clingfilm and dimple the dough with your fingers, sprinkle with sea salt flakes (I try to have Maldon for this: expensive but perfect for the job), scatter the rosemary and drizzle on a bit more olive oil.

Bake for 20 minutes and turn down the oven to 200C/180fan/390F/gas 6 and bake for a further 15 minutes.

The bread should be golden from the heat and the oil, with added glister from the semolina. Put on a baking tray to cool.

But don’t leave it too long: this bread is best warm and fresh, sans butter but perhaps with a nice dressed salad.