This olive oil and potato flatbread was my second weekly Short and Tweet Challenge, inspired by Dan Lepard’s recipe book Short & Sweet. It turned out to be a very satisfying bread: crisp and well flavoured on the outside, yet moist, soft and pleasantly chewy within. The grated potato in the dough gives the crumb a tenderness that makes the bread especially good for tearing into pieces and serving alongside a savoury meal.
Among the bakers taking part in the challenge, there was plenty of useful discussion about flour types and dough handling techniques. There was also some conversation on Twitter about whether using oil during handling can leave the dough feeling a little too oily for some tastes. Other bakers shared thoughts on the nature of a true flatbread, as well as the rather common difficulty of trying to save enough freshly baked bread for the rest of the family. That, of course, is often the best sign that a bread recipe has worked well.
I found the dough, even with the added grated potato, only slightly more difficult to manage than my usual focaccia dough. It is soft and needs a gentle touch, but it is not intimidating. The potato adds moisture, so the dough feels a little different from a standard olive oil bread dough, but it remains manageable if you work patiently and avoid adding unnecessary flour.
In my opinion, it is certainly not as tricky to handle as a full ciabatta dough. Ciabatta can be extremely loose and lively, whereas this olive oil and potato flatbread dough has enough structure to be shaped and moved with care. Anyone who has made focaccia before should feel comfortable with it after a little practice.
I have heard Dan joke about people following his recipes exactly, only to add, “except… except… except…” when they explain what they actually did. I was not completely innocent of that myself. I made one small change in the way I handled the dough, and I added extra flavouring to the topping so the bread would better match the dish I was serving with it.
We really enjoyed this bread both on the day it was baked and the day after. That is one of the most appealing qualities of potato bread: it stays pleasantly moist rather than drying out too quickly. The crust gave a good contrast to the soft crumb, and the bread had enough flavour to stand on its own while still being very useful at the table.
For the full olive oil and potato flatbread recipe, it is best to get the book and follow Dan Lepard’s instructions. I used Shipton Mill’s Organic Ciabatta flour and No. 4 Baker’s flour, which worked well for the dough. The combination gave the bread a good texture, and the dough had enough strength to cope with the added potato and olive oil.
For the topping, I made a salamoia. Salamoia is Italian for “brine”, and in this context it is an emulsion of extra virgin olive oil, water and salt. It helps create a crisp crust while supporting the moist interior that makes this flatbread so enjoyable. I added crushed fennel and coriander seeds because those flavours suited the cold, slow-roast pork I served with the bread. The result was aromatic without being overpowering, and the topping added a savoury lift to each bite.
Dan recommends using oiled hands and an oiled surface when handling the dough. I did keep the dough in an oiled bowl, but for the actual handling I used wet hands and a wet dough scraper. That small adjustment made the dough easier for me to manage and may have helped avoid the slightly oily finish that some other bakers noticed. It is a useful reminder that dough handling is often about feel as much as instruction.
This is a great recipe and a gentle introduction to using potato in bread dough. One of the reasons I enjoy Dan’s books is that he introduces different baking techniques in approachable ways, without making them feel complicated. After making this olive oil and potato flatbread, potato has become another ingredient I feel confident adding to my bread-making repertoire, and one I would like to experiment with again.